Common Courtesy My Ass!
Handyman on Feb 03 2010 at 8:30 am | Filed under: Office Rants
I haven’t had the chance to research Veridian Dynamics but I do like their philosophy.
I mentioned this notion to a co-worker or two and they laughed. Like it was a joke or something. I laughed along with them but I don’t think it’s funny at all.
Some people actually feel like they’re providing a benefit to the company they work for by ‘politely’ inquiring ‘How was your weekend?’. But seriously, if you ask that of 8 people – haven’t you done nothing for the first hour of a Monday morning ?
And come on, let’s be real, we mostly don’t care what our co-workers did on the weekend. We’re just asking because it’s the ‘polite’ thing to do. And some people don’t really get it. They actually think you’re interested and tell you all about the t-ball game on Saturday that the ‘little one’ had and how Sheila had brought the most god-awful mango-coconut water for the wee babes after the game.
See Sheila, recently divorced, has become a health fanatic and has restructured the diet of her 4 children. She has also become a bit strident. Imposing her views on other children to the extent that some parents won’t let their kids over to her home anymore. And she’s criticizing other parents about their lifestyles. And nobody even asked Sheila to begin with. Who the hell does she think she is? And she shouldn’t talk cause her eldest, Mikko (what type of name is that?) isn’t the type of child most of us dream of. But let’s not . . .
What did I just do? See what happens. We’ve wasted goodness golly gracious how many minutes here and we’re not even talking to or about a friend. We’re talking about co-workers simply being ‘polite’ to each other. Imagine how much time is wasted between ‘friends’.
I guess we’re talking about how some people don’t quite understand everyday common courtesies and niceties. When a co-workers asks “How ya doin’?” The appropriate reply is “Fine, thank you”. Cause really nobody wants to hear about your sciatica or your hemorrhoids or your lack of sleep due to Little Stevies bronchitis.
And another thing, when you start to talk about or reveal personal intimate details about your life you’re being rude and inconsiderate. You’re putting somebody else in the uncomfortable position of having to listen and pretend to be concerned. And that’s an awful position to be put in, let me tell you. You don’t even have to be the person that’s being ‘revealed to’ but just being within hearing distance can make you squirm and thank god that you can walk away while poor Joe has to listen to the drivel.
Turn the baby and spank the roast, some people just don’t get it do they?
Right, so back to Veridian Dynamics. They are right – not just about the lost productively due to ‘friendship’ and (by association) general abuse of common courtesy and workplace decorum. But this ‘friendship’ is frequently assumed and not real. So the workplace has now become uncomfortable and awkward as well as non-productive.
If you want to talk to people do it on your own time. These people who chat and inquire and reveal and confess and whisper (read ‘wasting time while getting paid’) are also the same people who eat lunch. Don’t get me started, there’s a time and a place for that as well.
So please, send me the name of the HR person at Veridian Dynamics. E-mail and regular address would also be appreciated. I’m dusting off my resume right now.
And I’m doing it during regular work hours.
EDITORS NOTE: The views of the author do not reflect the views or management philosophy of Blue Q.
Wouldn’t a workplace be so drab and boring if all you did was come in from 9 – 5 and kept your nose to the grind? Not acknowledging your co-workers and showing little to no interest in their lives that exist outside of work? I picture a place full of cubicles and painted from top to bottom in sterile bright white paint with dull fluorescent lighting. It would be a real shit hole to work at. I’m glad the management at Blue Q does not feel the way you do.
Well John, you sound like the type of person who’d tell me all about your wife’s sister Veronica’s second eldest Birch’s recent successful completion of her piano recital where she played Chopin’s Nocturne and didn’t miss a single arpeggio. She’d been working really hard on her left hand.
I’d pretend to care John, and you might think that I actually did.
But at home, I’d be twisting the last arm off of my carnival won Gumby. Do you want to hear that story? I didn’t think so.
Co-workers are generally really, really boring – once you get to know them. So why bother ?