The everyWoman Blog: Whispering And Other Terrible Ways To Tell Secrets In The Office

Taken from here.

You might think that you’re being sneaky, but there’s a secret sonar that every office employee has for whispering. We can drown out any boring Power Point presentation going on in the conference room. We don’t blink an eye when the blowhard down the hall starts screaming at his poor, abused assistant. And we hardly notice all those personal calls made by Greg with the girlfriend in California. None of that gets anyone’s attention when you’re comfortable working in an office with an open-door policy.

Then, someone starts whispering and our ears perk up. Even if we can’t understand the conversation word-for-word, you’d better believe we pick up key words and name drops. The minute your voice register lowers, people understand that it’s secret time. Let’s face it, an office has a lot of similarities to a high school cafeteria and everyone wants to know the gossip. Whispering is like a bat signal for nosey co-workers.

In fact, there are lots of terrible ways to keep secrets in the office. Whispering is really the most basic no-no. There are plenty of other not-so-discreet ways to let your entire office know all your sensitive information.

Email. Why do people keep emailing damaging information? Seriously, why can’t we learn our lesson? You may think that the dreaded “Reply All” fiasco will never happen to you, but it will. Maybe you’re positive that bestie in PR will never share your email, but she could. And for Heaven’s sakes people, sarcasm does not translate well.

Lunch Date. Some co-workers have lunch together every week, or every once in a while. No one thinks twice about them heading out together. But there are some manager-assistant teams or project team leaders who never do anything together outside of work. And when those pairs start heading to their cars, looking uncomfortable, everyone knows that they’re having a discussion they didn’t want to take place in the office. Then, everyone spend the next couple of days guessing what the conversation is about.

The Lunch Room. Really, just stop gossiping over lunch. If you have a shared kitchen, you might not notice the random intern who popped in to grab a Diet Coke. Your gabbing away and she’s taking notes, getting ready to spread that information to anyone who will listen to her.

The Front Office. The hub of your company where the office administrator reigns supreme and knows everyone’s business is not the place for a private chat. Ever. I’m not sure what possesses you to think that it’s a good idea to share personal information in the busiest part of your office, but you should probably stop that. Just because the receptionist is a sweetheart who always tells you it’s going to be alright doesn’t mean that you should use her as a personal counselor. And if you do, be prepared for everyone in your company to overhear your dirty laundry.

So what should you do if you need to share personal information. Um, shut the office door and pretend that you’re on a conference call. It’s honestly that simple. Just stop whispering in the hallways because you aren’t fooling anyone.

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