Swear Jar – I’ll Buy Three Swears, One Curse and a Taboo for $1.35


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Who doesn’t remember the ol’ swear jar? The idea was simple in that by paying money for each time you swore, you would begin to swear less, ultimately ceasing to swear altogether.

At one of my previous workplaces there was a swearing issue among the employees, and they would swear loudly. When sales reps were on the phone, potential clients would hear the curses in the background and as a result hang up. Therefore, at work, a swear jar was put into place. Each swear would cost a quarter. With the amount of swearing going on, it was expected that the jar would fill up and the amount of swearing would be reduced significantly.

What happened was simply a laugh riot. Some of the people were DYING to swear, and one person in particular was fond of telling dirty jokes. Therefore, when he heard of the swear jar concept and how much swears cost, he decided to “buy” swears. In his mind, telling a good, dirty joke was worth the couple of dollars worth of swears. It so happened to be that thinking this way was ultimately reflective of this person’s moral compass, of which there was none. I complained that this was completely distorting a good and wholesome concept, but was told to lighten up. Whatever.

Everybody was wondering where the money from the swear jar was going to go. In the end, everyone had the answer: someone mysteriously stole the swear jar and never told anyone about it. Personally I suspect the one who “bought” swears in the first place, but there’s no way to know for sure.