What you miss, is that the disrespectful behavior that prompted the like response in most cases has probably been going on for a while before the victim finally responds in kind...meaning the boss, owner, management, whomever, were not doing a very good job of maintaining that respectful environment in the first place. Indeed, the harassment may have been reported and not taken seriously.

Also, the knee-jerk response would normally be for the victim to snap and get violent, rather than respond with irreverent, crude humor to match the crime. I'd give the victim credit for good humor and a little creativity. But I guess creative people don't fit into some companies.

Moral of the story...and you should know it as much as anybody...get all the facts before making rash, one-size-fits-all judgments.