I just recently had someone ask me not to curse when I said “ah, damn” in relation to some trivial thing (from memory I was just expressing disappointment that a project wasn’t going ahead, or part of a project).

It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever met someone (over 10yrs old) who considered “damn” to be cursing but apparently they do exist.

It is informal speech. Some people choose to use informal speech in work environments. Others believe it to be inappropriate. I'm in the latter camp but I don't push my language preferences on others - just as I don't push my coding style. So now you've met two people, but in reality you probably are familiar with many more who are silent.

i usually say 'darn' just to be safe, unless/until everyone knows each other, etc.

and i'm still surprised when an interviewer drops an S-bomb or F-bomb or whatever.

when i moved from north (US of A) to the south, back in the day, some religious folks would cuss by saying things like 'Dah-gommit' and things like that.