"'[M]ere utterance of an ... epithet which engenders offensive feelings in an employee does not sufficiently affect the conditions of employment to implicate Title VII. Conduct that is not severe enough to create an OBJECTIVELY hostile or abusive work environment -- an environment that a REASONABLE PERSON would find hostile or abusive -- is beyond Title VII's purview. Like- wise, if the victim does not subjectively perceive the environment to be abusive, the conduct has not actually altered the conditions of the victim's employment, and there is no Title VII violation." Harris (again, quoting Meritor; ALL CAPS added for emphasis by this writer). click
http://www.law.nyu.edu/foxe/fall01/torts/slides/torts_negligence092101.pdf
THE NEGLIGENCE ISSUE DUTY BREACH CAUSATION- • The reasonable person does not normally expose others to unreasonable risks – therefore (?) what a reasonable person does is not negligent; we tolerate this conduct even if, by accident, it causes harm • But who is the reasonable person? – By what gauge do we measure?