Wow, some days dealing with people at the job, I feel like we’re all in Animal Kingdom. Sometimes, the dynamics are so guided by territorial and survival instincts, I have to tilt my head back and bray at the fluorescent office light on the ceiling to underline the point (only with friends, not in the middle of meetings). Recently, Co-worker A went to Boss with grievance about Co-worker B, and without going into detail on the freaking Web, Boss was clueless and Co-worker B smoothly dodged the lobbed ball-style attack. Naturally, Boss was shocked that the office wasn’t one big happy family and was rendered paralysed, until he was gently guided back to his delusion by Co-worker B.
Not that Boss is a bad person, but everyone should understand, behavior you exhibit to your peers is usually different than the one you exhibit to Boss, so how could a Boss really every fully grasp a department’s dynamics? And as for Co-worker A, I thought fighting behind the scenes would have been more effective. It reminds me of a story of one my husband’s cousins–she instructed her daughters (ages 4 and 5) to not fight, and so now, instead of fighting in front of their mom, the girls fight quietly behind closed doors. When she passes their bedroom, she can hear them grunt once in while as they punch each other.
And that, is how, I think a proper office fight should go.
Sorry to be so oblique, but you know you’re not supposed to write about jobs online. In fact, if any of my Esq. friends tell me to take this down, I will!