Office politics

You know, I just don't understand office politics. My company just had their holiday party this weekend (they normally wait until Jan because so many people have other things going on over Christmas) and I just thought it was funny. The tables weren't assigned but there was a definite "supervisor" table with the Contract director, assistant director and 5 supervisors, with their husbands, wives or guests.

It's the same thing at lunch. One of the newer supervisors I helped train when she was first hired, and while we weren't best friends, we WOULD eat lunch together sometimes. She got promoted (which is great, she did deserve it) but now she eats at the "supervisor" table and doesn't mix with anyone else. On the flip side, there is a guy that was a supervisor for most of the time I was there, and switched to part time and gave up the position (because of family reasons) and now is shunned by the higher ups.

And the backbiting that goes on is unreal! I've gotten to the point where I don't say anything to anybody unless it has something to do with animals or our stupid customers. I am on the "helpline" which is where other reps can call me if they have questions about a call or if they want to talk to a supervisor (which I am not...but I guess I'm good enough). I was taken off of the helpline for a month, and I heard 5 different rumors about why. Everything from I was too rude to I tested positive for drugs. Truthfully...I was taken off because I went over my occurances for the quarter because I was sick.

I think this whole thing is ridiculous! Honestly, this is the first time I've worked for a large company. In all my other jobs I've felt like I was part of a family. Heck, I used to get drunk with my old manager and was even a bridesmaid at his wedding! Now I feel like I'm back in highschool. Didn't we all outgrow this years ago? Is this the way most workplaces are?

I think I've said this before but my boss is the worst for that kind of stuff. And we are all friends..so when he talks about one of us, the others know pretty much right away It is so tiresome...Yep offices suck sometimes. You just gotta not say anything to anyone ever!

Originally Posted by calico2222

! Now I feel like I'm back in highschool. Didn't we all outgrow this years ago? Is this the way most workplaces are?

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yep, Men still like toys, and most women never get past high school gossip. how else do you explain all the
celebrity gossip junk.

Originally Posted by theimp98

yep, Men still like toys, and most women never get past high school gossip. how else do you explain all the
celebrity gossip junk.

Click to expand...

That has been my experience in most offices, too, unfortunately. So different from the restaurant where I worked for years & years
Now, it's me in my husband's office with a 16yo secretary which is great - we work in total harmony together, BUT we hired a new bookkeeper about a month ago, who is my age, & sure enough, seems to want to play the "Quien es mas macho" with me When she is in the office, both my secretary & I feel the tension; we are on edge Needless to say, I hope we can find a replacement soon - harmony is so very important in an efficient business You have my sympathy

The workplace is worse than high school...because everyone's at that age where they should know better.

"Office politics" were a normal procedure at my last job, and the one before that (the call center). It wasn't that way at the food bank I worked at: just about everyone there was pretty cool, and there wasn't too much back-stabbing going on. When I worked at the phone company and a job employment office there were a lot of office politics in those places, too. It used to bother me quite a bit at first, but after awhile I just ignored it and did my job. I figure life is too short to let a bunch of childish adults get the better of me: they're not worth it..

I feel for you, Calico. I know how it is..

~KK~

Originally Posted by catsknowme

That has been my experience in most offices, too, unfortunately. So different from the restaurant where I worked for years & years

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See, I worked in a restaurant too for 9 years, and that is where I felt like part of a family. Maybe it's because we were constantly serving dinner, but we had to work as a team. Now, everyone is so mean to each other, behind their back. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I just go and do my job and leave. I'm not in to the little "cliques" or trying to be popular. I just want a paycheck. But, I just find the whole situation sad. I guess I'm finally meeting the real world.

I don't think it is just offices. My Dh is a mechanic . he changed jobs about 18 months ago, he hated going to work, there was a new manager, from the day he started. he gossiped and caused trouble for everyone, i don't think there was anyone he left out, he pitted everybody against each other. I was so happy when he left there,

Yeah, I understand about the high school thing. I went to a high school reunion, and the "in" crowd sat at the same table and ignored everyone else. The rest of us had a really great time without them and we had lots more tables than they did and we looked pretty good. Pretty successful, too.

Originally Posted by calico2222

Now I feel like I'm back in highschool. Didn't we all outgrow this years ago? Is this the way most workplaces are?

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Some companies are very "cliquish." I've worked for a few of those myself. One being a law firm. My boss shared space (Rented an office for him and my desk was in the secretaries area along with all of the other secretaries for the main firm and a couple other independent lawyers who were also sharing space.

The girls who worked for the main office, even though we all sat across from one another were very cliquish and always did lunch together. Rarely was I ever invited. At first I felt slighted until I was there a while and had watched them over a period of time. I realized that they were grossly immature and superficial and not really the type of people that I care to associate with outside of the office, so at that point my attitude changed and I really didn't care that I was "excluded."

Even at the hospital there are some very cliquish wards where many are "best friends" and exclude new staff. One ward in particular is really bad and people who have accepted positions on that ward have left not long after because of how out of place they feel.

I now make it a policy to not really get involved with my co-workers outside of the office. I will go to a shower or a christmas party, but I don't hang with anyone that I work with outside of those occasions or work. I just go to work, do my job and mind my own business and then go home. I find it best to keep work and life separate.

When I worked at the call center it was like that there is always atleast 50 rumors going around...Like when I quit I heard that I was suing XM that I was having a baby(news to me) that I left because my DH and I were getting a divorce...its awful!

My last job the office politics were terrible. There was one women who could do no wrong.
In fact mgmt created a position for her when she told them she could only work pt due to one of her children's health. Did they do that for anyone else???? This is out of about 30 employees at the time. Whatever she told mgmt was the truth even though it wasn't. She messed up promotion possibilities for me and several other co-workers.
One of her office friends could do no wrong either along with not being able to do her own work. Several of us had to help her almost daily as she talked so much it interferred with doing her job. Of course mgmt didn't see that!! Just that me for instance wasn't a team player as I didn't like to help her get her job done!!

Can't say I miss that at all......

Petty office politics and the higher level junk too, are the reasons why I struggle so hard to remain a freelancer. That's no dream-land either. People sometimes just don't get that the bill you sent is for real, 30 day terms aren't respected and you get treated like an inconvenience when you want to get paid. Poeple slip stuff out from under all the time. Sigh...

I recently spent four months at a contract position for a major auto supplier. I didn't like the two women who interviewed me and didn't like the dynamic between them. Took the position anyway. I hate to say that I was right. What a miserable situation that was. Glad I am gone, tho' I miss the $$$.

AB

I worked in my previous office for 7.5 years and the politics in that office were horrible, it was mostly busy body women who had nothing better to do then talk about other people My new office is better, but I'm classified as "support" and the rest of the people are "sales", and they do tend to exclude the support.... but I don't really care. I'm not here to make friends so I just keep to myself for the most part

Yes, office politics stink. However when you have the right management in place that do not tolerate that sort of behaviour then you don't get the whole gossip crowd and snubbing.

I know that the place I work at now they make it a point to discipline anyone who has a negative attitude or attempts to put a negative face on their coworkers. This is the first place I've ever seen that happen at. It's so weird....

Anyhoo, its not perfect, but the less you associate yourself with it the better. If someone is too good to talk to you anymore, forget it...they won't help your career anyways because they're just about themselves.

Originally Posted by theimp98

yep, Men still like toys, and most women never get past high school gossip. how else do you explain all the
celebrity gossip junk.

Click to expand...

The staff in my office are young, VERY young. About 75% are less than 2 years out of college. And so we still have cliques and gossip. In the beginning of 2007 I was in a different department which was a higher ratio. The manager was in his early 30's. One day I sat there and listened to him and his "girls" make fun of my cubie mate. When he made a comment that the jokes would be funnier if she was still sitting there, thats when I had to say something! I mean, GROW UP!

I definitely like working for smaller companies. Or at least a company with older employees teaching the younger employees manners!

I can totally relate! I also work in a call center... I also work the "help Line" and take the dreaded supervisor calls...

But there are so many "clicks" and if you are not a "you know what" kisser, you most likely will not get promoted. I have lost count on all the times I have been pass over for a promotion. A lot of the people that passed me on the promotion ladder are not even there anymore!!!!

But there are a couple of supervisors, mine included, that are the best.

My last job it was great in our office, but once you went to the main office it was allll office politics. What got me was, my boss' supervisor was sooo friendly and what not when at our office, even when her bosses were around. But then when you'd see her at the other office, you could tell she was in her own little 'assigned spot' or something.

We never had problems in our office until our boss stopped doing her job. And even then she was the only one we had problems with. I liked that it was a small office too. I think that did help keep that stuff down. I think the only gripe we ever had was when the placement staff (the boss plus 3 others, so only excluding me and my co-instructor) would frequently have meetings over lunch at restaurants. But then they started having them in the office and ordering in so we got to order take out too. That's not really a big deal, but it did make things nicer for us.