Bad Words

We are not allowed to use bad language at work, which to anyone who works in a technical field, I imagine, is like not being allowed to urinate for 24 hours. If I don't cuss at an inanimate object or use a colorful adjective to describe a key concept at least 3 or 4 times a day, I start to do a little uncomfortable dance and cover my mouth. But my boss is conservative in ways I never expected to see this side of 1965, so we live with it, which is to say everyone in the office ignores this rule when he and his wife are both absent.

I like to be the first one to break the rule in any given day because of the cascade effect. The first person to drop the F-bomb gives the green light to everyone in earshot. Suddenly I'm in a room full of sailors. If you listen closely, you can hear the release ricochet down the office corridor, like lighting a string of firecrackers. Fucking fun as shit.