I Have An Irreverent Sense Of Humor

I hate it when people tell me that I have an... uh, irreverent sense of humor. And they always say it exactly like that - prefaced with a little pause and an "uh" or an "um". And instead of laughing, that is typically the response from people whenever I've said something that is totally hilarious.

Telling somebody that their humour is irreverent is pretty much the same as saying that it is obvious that they are trying to be funny, and that it is clear that they think that they're funny, but that nobody else on the planet thinks that they're even a tiny bit amusing. It's the same type of passive-aggressive bullshit "compliment" that my mother loves to make.

For example, a coworker was recently talking about how Japan has had to introduce women-only subway cars in order to deal with the issue of how two-thirds of female Japanese subway riders have reported being groped on crowded subway cars. A serious topic, but I thought I'd make a joke: "Wow, riding the subway in Japan sounds awesome!"

In the subsequent meeting with my manager and a lady from the HR department to address allegations that I'd admitted to being a depraved subway groper, I found myself reiterating over and over that I had just been trying to make a joke. And they kept responding that I had an... um, irreverent sense of humor, and that I needed to be more sensitive to others.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'm not allowed to be "irreverent" at work anymore, which is total bullshit.