7 embarrassing breaches of workplace etiquette

I recently dropped my underpants while talking to a colleague. I wasn't wearing them at the time (I was dashing off to get changed into my running kit when I bumped into him) but there was still a moment of awkwardness, which naturally I filled by saying "oh look, my knickers are on the floor." I don't know what the correct etiquette is in such a situation, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't it.

This got me thinking about other breaches of workplace manners; not all of those listed below are mine, I swear...

1. Losing track of gossip. There's nothing worse than sharing a juicy piece of semi-anonymous scuttlebutt with a colleague only to get halfway through the story and realise that it's about them. "Did you hear about that bloke who has been sleeping in the stationery supply room on level three for the past week because his wife kicked him out? Oh, right. Yes. I suppose you have."

2. Inaccurate blamestorming. Righteous anger has its place but shouldn't be let loose indiscriminately. It's hard to come back from "I've never seen such incompetence"...particularly if it transpires that it's your own.

3. Referring to a colleague by his nickname and only later remembering that, until you spoke to him, he didn't actually realise that people referred to him as Stalin.

4. Leaving the lavatory in an unpleasant state. I don't know why people do this, but I hope that one day they step out of their stinky cubicle to discover that their manager is next in the queue. Maybe then they'll step back in and flush properly.

5. Mentioning a colleague's hangover/faked sickie/history of cocaine abuse in front of the boss. You think that you're being matey and fun. Your colleague thinks that you're trying to get her sacked.

6. Hitting reply to all. By now there have been so many warnings about why not to hit this button that, if you do tell everyone in your company exactly what you think of your chief executive's dress sense, people are likely to think it's a deliberate ploy rather than a fit of idiocy.

7. Sending out a recall three days after the dodgy reply to all. If you've left it that long it's really too late. All you're doing is reminding people of your initial faux pas.

(Knicker picture by scared_little_animal)

Comments

[Charles Helliwell]

BUTT-UGLY BUT BRILLIANT !

It is a symptom of our media-obsessed world that so much value is put into the art of presentation these days - and never more so than in the jobs market.

Whether recruiters are looking to attract talent, or people are actively searching for new jobs and careers, how you look and present yourself is increasingly becoming as important as your CV.

Companies will always want to put the best gloss on their organisation and the job on offer, whilst candidates will always seek to look their best and present the correct image for the job they are applying for.

Well, they would, wouldn't they. And so would you.

It's just that more and more, the image of an organisation as seen through the multiplicity of media options available today, requires organisations to seek out those who are considered to look the part, rather than those who don't.

This gives a somewhat disjointed – and, I suspect, false - impression that there are more SAD (Self-Absorbed Dimwit) managers in the marketplace than BUB's (Butt Ugly & Brilliant) managers. At a guess, I'd say it's somewhere around a fifty/fifty split.

And yet image and presentation are such important factors in business these days it's becoming increasingly harder to rationalise the trade off between a candidate who looks the part versus one who can do the job.

Let's face it - it's going to be nigh on impossible for the former to mysteriously 'grow a brain' at a swish of a wand, whereas transforming the latter is often eminently more achievable.

Unfortunately, I suspect more appointments are made on the basis of the former than the latter, simply because human beings are built to respond that way.

We make judgements about people within 10 seconds of meeting them, and have a greater propensity to judge the book by its cover than its content, in spite of all the training and guidelines to the contrary.

So, how do candidates overcome such obstacles on their journey to the boardroom (or wherever) ?

The keep-it-simple-stupid answer is self-awareness and self-confidence. You are what you are, so be what you are, not what you think someone else expects you to be.

Most professional recruiters - and even some of the more enlightened and aware bosses - will see through the make-up and veneer and find the real you, whether you want them to find it or not.

So my advice is to just front up at the start and save them and you a whole load of 'fishing'. Nothing sells better than the real Magoo. The best prospective employer is the one who sees you for what you are and what you bring to their organisation, and not how good you might look as a chattel on the corporate shelf collecting dust.

[publishing]

Workplace etiquette should dictate that when having an email conversation with one person that you should not, halfway through (or because you feel, Tracey in accounts should know) CC the rest of the company in so that they can all then highjack it for their own means. I get this all the time and in such a large company it is counter productive.

Likewise, an email circular requesting information of many people. Fine, but don't reply all so that we know that "yes, I'll be there". We don't need to know. We didn't initiate the email.

Worst email etiquette? Those that forward a long email string and ask you to deal with an aspect of it without stating where to find the information. Have some manners; you want me to deal with it, point out what I'm looking for!

Yes, I use email for the majority of my role...

[Paul]

Here's a tip for delaying sent emails in Outlook to avoid the 'Oh No! I wish I hadn't sent that!' scenario.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/microsoft-office/use-outlook-rules-to-prevent-oh-no-after-sending-emails/

[Ali from The Office Diet]

Using the last of the milk/teabags/etc and not going and buying more is one of my pet office peeves...

Though, oddly, no-one EVER eats the last biscuit!