The New PostSecret Book
9 years ago
Office drama has always seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. There's no point in getting up in each other's faces when the very environment separates us into our own little cubes. My goal when I work in an office is to sit in my cube, not talk to anyone, do my job, and do it well. It is not to earn appreciation from the bosses, it is not to show off my ability to learn faster than the average office citizen, it is not to have how many tasks I do a day counted and touted to the rest of the group.
So I don't really dig this tactic of group cohesiveness and competitiveness. I've been working there all of 2 weeks, and my name is topping the lists of what is done each day, and I hate it. I've gone so far as to try and slow my pace down and goof off a little in order to avoid being recognized.
Unfortunately, I cannot work slowly. I cannot work sub-par. I make mistaks, as I am human and often full of foibles. I ask a lot of questions to ensure those mistakes don't happen again, however, and they normally don't. There is absolutely no way that I have found to make my brain stop working at the pace it's used to, and the same goes for doing computer work in an office. Even when the goal is "slow down and make each task last longer" I find myself clicking and alt-tabbing just as efficiently as before.
It's a curse, I swear.
I just realized this is like my "I hate making good grades" rant from high school - there is no way to discuss this without sounding like an arrogant jerk. Oy.
At any rate - office drama. Everything from memos to emails to refilling the coffee maker can offset some kind of office rage in your standard cubicle worker. The funny thing is that everyone in an office tends to express their issues the same way - passive aggression. Very few people in a quiet, sedate office environment, where everyone stays in their little cages, are going to start yelling and punching others in the face.
No, we resort to tactics like post-it notes, messages on the dry-erase boards, intra-office instant messages, talking behind each other's backs at the coffee refill station, and, the topper of all passive aggressive moves - CCing the boss on an email exchange.
The BossCC tends to indicate that you are not only frustrated with someone - you want their supervisor to know about it. You think they are at fault for something, and should be punished. You think they are in trouble for what they've done or failed to do, and you are not content to merely sit on your hands and let it wash over. No, you want the boss to hear about this!
It's childish.
But what if something has happened the boss does need to know about? What if the system has hiccuped and is duplicating assignments and making 2 people work the same task, for example? What part of CCing the boss while you contact the person you're accidentally sharing a task with (to let them know of the mistake, nothing else), is passive aggressive? There's not ANY kind of aggression in that email, and yet.
It was not a bad day, just an interesting look at how people prefer to handle things. There originally was no blame to be had for the system being stupid, but somehow it turned into my fault to the other person, and he'd prefer if we just handle it ourselves next time, okay? No need to bring the boss into it!
/eyeroll
The world does not revolve around you any more than it revolves around me. I'm the new girl, what could I stand to gain by throwing someone under the bus for something that very obviously is just a technical error? What could possibly be garnered from an email of "Oh whoops we're both working this and I finished mine, have you finished?" full of smilies and an explanation for what's going on, could indicate that I was trying to get someone in trouble?
Meh. One of those situations where you have to shrug, guess they were having a bad day, and move on, I suppose.
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