
Office Oops – 30 Thoughtless Things that Sabotage Workplace Civility
I am often approached by both corporations and the people working within them on how to handle incivilities in the workplace. This is a list I compiled on what many people experience. In the next blog I list options on what to do to improve workplace civility.
Check to see if you are familiar with any of these!
- Leave an unwashed coffee cup in the office kitchen
- Leave lunch in the refrigerator and forget about it
- Make a mess of the microwave or other kitchen areas, and not clean up after
- Talk overly loud on the telephone, especially in a cubicle situation when there is no door to close
- Stop by your desk for a chat, and you have work to do
- Not smile and say “good morning”
- Over-do fragrance
- Have unpleasant body odour
- Have unpleasant breath odour
- Have a messy desk loaded with personal items
- Make / take too many personal calls
- Eat in a meeting
- Have an unkempt appearance
- Dress inappropriately (too-short skirts, too-low necklines)
- Gossip
- Swear
- Complain / criticize
- Promise something and not follow through
- Be nice to the boss, but no one else
- Treat others as ‘less than’
- Be rude, angry, threatening, or lack civility
- Pick their teeth with a fork
- Use a toothpick in public
- Eat peas with a knife
- Not use a fork and knife properly
- Be loud, obnoxious, uncouth
- Ask too-personal questions (“Have you had a face list?” “Do you colour your hair?”)
- Talk too much (so you can’t get a word in edgewise)
- Give too much information about their personal lives (ie. sex life)
- Take too many or too-long breaks (for smoking, etc.)
In the next article I share some solutions to improve workplace civility; you can choose the best option to handle your situation!
Karen Brunger is President of International Image Institute Inc., and Past-President of the Association of Image Consultants International