A study conducted last month found that rudeness can "infectious", with people who experienced rude behaviour likely to be rude to the person they interact with next.
We deal with rudeness all the time. From the commute to work to the angry email, insults and offhand remarks are hard to avoid.
But what someone might view as the most flippant of comments could lead to repercussions for both employers and employee.
Law firm Thomas Mansfield has pushed out a survey to find some of the most extreme cases of offensive comments to show what some people deal with in the workplace, and put them together in visual form.
Read more: 'No offence, but...' here's where you cause some offence
Rudeness at work is contagious, study finds
How the 'lowest form of wit' actually makes people more creative
Real examples include: "She’s tiny, she’s the perfect height for a…", "Bisexuals are just greedy", and, "You can’t contribute, you’re only 20."
Meredith Hurst writes that people commonly complain of "harassment" without understanding its "true legal meaning".
"Harassment in a legal sense must be on the basis of a protected characteristic including race, sex, disability and sexual orientation," she says.
"Harassment, or more generally, ‘being picked on’ for another reason (for example being overweight, hair colour, etc.) whilst not giving rise to an actionable discrimination may still cause staff to complain of bullying in the wider sense."
1) "The French are always on strike"
Thomas Mansfield
2) "Why is he so angry!? It must be ginger rage!"
Thomas Mansfield
3) "If she's pregnant, she doesn't want a career"
Thomas Mansfield
4) "In many respects women are people too!"
Thomas Mansfield
5) "She's tiny, she's the perfect height for a..."
Thomas Mansfield
6) "Eat your lettuce and shut up"
Thomas Mansfield
7) "She's only here because she's rich and she knows somebody"
Thomas Mansfield
8) "You can't contribute, you're only 20"
Thomas Mansfield
9) "Bisexuals are just greedy!"
Thomas Mansfield
