What's The Tea??

Happy TUESDAY, Corporate Sisters!

(I figured y’all wouldn’t pay attention to me yesterday)

Our topic today is about office gossip. Let’s get something straight: I love getting the tea as much as the next gal! Why did Dwight just spend two hours in the boss’ office?? Did you see how much Meredith drank at the company outing last night?? I can’t believe Jim got promoted to co-manager - what even is that?? (Can you tell my current favorite comfort show?)

If we’re being honest, corporate life can be super dull. Anything that happens that’s remotely interesting is automatically x2 spicier. There are definitely different levels to office gossip, some being way worse than others.

Privately commenting to your work bestie that Phyllis always makes the microwave smell like popcorn is still technically gossip, but Phyllis wouldn’t loose her job over it. She may not be happy you’re gossiping about her (which could cause you other problems) but likely no one is getting fired. 

Unfortunately, the juicer the gossip, the more likely you are to get in trouble if you get caught. It can be SO hard to keep quiet when it has something to do with, for example, staffing. Someone is moving teams, or about to quit, or just promoted their BFF even though they’re super unqualified. This is arguably the most important time to keep your trap shut. If word spreads about upcoming potential layoffs and it gets traced back to you… just don’t let that happen.

Another big one is talking about people’s performance. If you have a genuine concern about someone’s performance, and they’re hurting the team, that is a conversation for a private 1-on-1 with your boss. And even then, there’s a certain way you need to go about it. We can talk about this another time, but you should probably address it directly with that team member first. What should NOT happen is you talking about Andy’s low sales numbers in the break room. Don’t gossip about things that could hurt someone else’s career or perception with the boss.

Putting things in writing is worse than saying them out loud, because now there’s proof! A good rule of thumb is: 

A more extreme example here would be if there’s a lawsuit about something; your gossiping texts, emails, and Slack messages could get pulled in. If you Slacked your coworker “It’s super obvious that Jan only got fired because of her boob job - David Wallace is so sexist!” You may have to go to a deposition. With Michael and Toby. 

So, how do we handle it if someone comes to us with some piping hot tea? I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I would send them away, but I would be VERY aware of my surroundings. Just ask yourself if learning this information RIGHT NOW is worth a trip to HR. Go grab a drink with your work bestie after hours, and yap about it then (still being aware of your surroundings!!).

I’ll see you next week! Remember, you can either kick this week’s ass, or let it kick yours.