Office Drama
We thrive on drama. We have a constant thirst to know what others are doing, how they're feeling, mistakes they're making and this thirst takes no break even while inside a corporate and professional environment. The office place can easily become a world in which everyone knows everything they shouldn't. The relatively small amount of space between most workers and the human's uncanny ability to "overhear" things creates a hotbed of social intrigue within the workplace.
It can not only be incredibly difficult to avoid the everyday drama of office life but its often a world we are sucked into voluntarily, something that we can crave as much as a mid morning snack or after lunch nap.
"Did you hear about Sara's marriage?"
"Can you believe Bill said that to his boss?"
If you've ever been a part of a close-knit group of employees, the generic quotes above might sound a bit too familiar. People talk, and they tend to have a particular passion for talking about other people. This is human nature, everybody participates in the practice. Whether this is because we enjoy comparing ourselves to others and take particular pleasure when the subjects being compared seem to be inferior or simply because of our never-ending curiosity in how others live, there will always be a constant noise of whispers and side glances that is almost impossible to avoid. But the thing is, we like it. We crave it.
Why We Take Pleasure in Knowing the Private Lives of Coworkers.
There are a few reasons why we tend to indulge ourselves in the private matters of our colleagues. The first and probably the most prevalent is simply the fact that we enjoy comparing. We like comparing so much that we do it with just about everything. We compare a particular baseball player's stats with that of another, we balance our ideas with that of our spouses, hold two similar cereal boxes at the grocery store and compare ingredients and price so it is only natural that we would do this with people. We want to know how we are doing relative to others. A reason this tends to be even more apparent in an office setting might be attributed to the fact that most likely the employees around you, assuming you do not work directly across from your company's CEO, are of a similar class/social standing/etc, thus becoming easier targets in the comparative process.
One other big reason why we find it so hard to avoid the grip of inner-office drama is simple. Working eight hours a day, five days a week is hard and by golly if trickling in a little gossip time throughout the week doesn't make that grueling schedule just a bit easier to take. Drama takes time, and more importantly, it takes time away from what your in the office being paid to do. Discretely listening to an employees private phone conversation or asking a cubicle mate if he knows why Mary went home crying can merely serve as another form of procrastination. And we love to procrastinate.
Avoiding the Traps of Office Drama
It not only is incredibly difficult to stay away from the pull of the private lives of fellow employees, but it is only getting harder as a result of the age in which we live. This overflow of the private into the public is becoming even more prevalent in today's Facebook and Twitter-run world, where a dubious or revealing "status update" made on somebody's home computer can draw countless questions and concerns from professional colleagues.
One way, although a very difficult method it can be, to stay away from the drama is to simply avoid asking personal questions. You may feel like you have a close relationship with the worker across the hall but if you see tears in their eyes or notice them having a bad day, it may be best to just leave them be. If they want to talk about it, he or she will be the one to most likely initiate the conversation.
Another and more obvious method to avoid inner-office gossip comes in the form of respect. Respect those around you. Know that like you, they have things they would rather not share of have discussed when they're not around. It should be obvious if truly and honestly focused upon to know what topics could be off limits or sensitive to the people involved.
So before enjoying a laugh or a smirk with a colleague at the expense of another, take a step back, ask yourself why you're enjoying it and whether or not those being discussed would share the same smile.
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