so called "banter" at work

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hello
i work as an electrician and i am around people that are kind of nasty. thats what i think anyway. there are usually three to five other people in the workshop.
one old guy that moans all the time,
one fat guy that doesnt shut up,
one skinny guy that shouts and gets emotional at me,
my supervisor who isnt that bad,
my manager that tells the others what i say to him when i think there is confidentiality.
they tell me that its banter and that if i dont join in i wont last long. i dont think it is banter though.
the old guy is repeatedly saying that i am, lazy, crap at my job, that i dont do anything. he keeps saying things like, "hes a f***ing c**t that boy", saying that i do nothing
the skinny guy gets really emotional when i talk about things. it seems clear to me that he really doesnt like me and i think that he is trying to get me sacked. i talked about doing a course and he got very angry with me, trying to talk me out of it. then when i persisted that i would do it, he started shouting that i cant even do anything at work.
i dont want to go through everything. i was thinking about trying to record some of the conversations that i have with them to get proof and that may help.
question is, if someone shouts at me and its so called banter, what should i do in return?
say "f*** off"?
i am concerned that it would turn into a real nasty argument that i would not be able to win verbally. i feel that i may lose control and hit him. that worries me.
any help would be great, thanks
simon

What a bunch of bell heads or bumholes. Yeah ya know though you gotta toughen up unfortunately although I think you are all right as you are. In the US, we call it our workface. I don't care much for my coworkers but I pretend to at least like them a little. Real difficult for sure.

These guys clearly aren't your mates that you go to the pub with....but throw it out there. Give it a go. A few pints and you might find you have a lot in common.

I wish I lived in the UK. Love your culture and weather.

I work at a place like this too. There are always jokes and hijinks going on. But if you're not the type of person that can keep up with it all then it can be quite hard not to take it seriously.

I like all the jokes and banter that goes on in my workplace (a bus garage). There's none of that sh***y political correctness, you can swear and burp in front of the boss (not that I do), you can talk about dirty things and tell dirty jokes, and everybody's just laid back. It makes it much less stressful to be there and it feels more like a social club than a workplace. The motto there is "as long as the work gets done we don't give a f**k how it gets done". So you can chat, banter, have breaks when you want, and you are trusted that you know that you will get your work done. Some take advantage of this unfortunately but others use it to be self-sufficient and because they are happy they DO tend to get the work done effectively.

The supervisor shouts and yells all the time but it's all banter. He pretends to hit you, and when he tells you off about a mistake he adds something really funny to it that makes us all laugh. But we still listen and learn. I hope to work at this place forever. I like working with mostly blokes, because if a man judges me I don't get as sensitive as I do when a woman judges me.

I work at a place where there’s a couple who makes out after work in the dark.

Nobody gives two craps. As long as the work gets done.

"record some of the conversations"

In some states you have to have written consent first

Tape recorder

Manipulative arrogant judgmental entitled precious lil "people" have a legal "right" to freedom of speech

Freedom of speech has limits

For example death threats

But merely making wrong, provocative, insulting, racist sexist homophobic, rude statements, are still freedom of speech