So…your colleague decided to heat up last evening’s dinner in the microwave for lunch today. The problem? He had baked potato, broccoli AND salmon. Now, the office has a pungent odor, clients are commenting about the “peculiar” smell and YOU have to explain how they should look beyond the distraction and focus on the meeting with you.
Yikes! How is it that some employees have either forgotten all about office etiquette or carelessly consider only their interests?
Let’s get specific. Put yourself on the receiving end of this colleague, Joe, and tell me how you would feel:
Every morning right at 8:30 a.m., Joe stops by your desk and for 15 minutes offers the latest office gossip, newest gadget he recently bought and gives the “run down” on the new hire. You know he is in the area because his aftershave arrived before HE did. After he has coughed his way through his monologue (he is so sick that he REALLY should have stayed home), he attends the morning meeting. He is interruptive and manages to take credit for the team assignment on which he contributed VERY little. After the meeting, he returns to his cubicle and engages in personal telephone conversations so loud that people in the next building can hear him.
Joe is seemingly an unproductive employee and displays the consummate definition of someone who displays poor office etiquette.
Given the fact that so many of us spend more time at work with colleagues than we do with family, it is important to be aware of and to respect the rules of etiquette by which to live and work. The consequences for not following office etiquette are many and can have a negative impact on your promotion/career path, a low level of respect from executives.
Make yourself a committee of one and leave a legacy of excellence for your business.
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