Keeping sane at the office.
Surviving the workplace sometimes means biting your tongue. If you're looking for a job, or just trying hard to keep the one you have, you probably already know this. I have worked at offices where it seemed like every day was a struggle to keep from having a meltdown and telling my annoying co-workers and my boss off. Of course, those were all signs that it was time to find a different place to work. The problem was, the worst places I've ever worked were the same places that paid the best. It was hard to suck it up and not lose my mind, but the paycheck was so good, it was hard to walk away.
If you're in that same position, where you have no choice but to do well at a job you don't like in order to have some degree of financial security, you're not alone. Keeping your sanity at the office can be a challenge. Not only that, in order to succeed and hopefully be in a position to get promoted to another office or find a better job, just getting by isn't enough. You have to excel and be well thought of by your boss. If you aren't good at sucking up, then you have to work harder to make sure that your boss always sees you as a motivated team player.
Here are 5 things you should never say to your boss (and I'm sure that you can think of a few others):
- "I don't get paid enough to do this" - I've heard this time and time again, and I think I might have even said this once (but not to my boss's face). Whenever you feel that you want to say this, remember that most of the time it isn't true. Your employer pays you a salary to do whatever they tell you to do. The only thing it accomplishes is that it allows you to complain and moan about your responsibilities. The last thing you want to do is make your boss think that you don't enjoy doing your job. If you sincerely feel that you have too much responsibility and too little pay, then complain about it all you want at home and then look for a job (while at home, not in the office!) where you will be more fairly compensated. Just don't say this to your boss unless you want to have a whole lot more time to focus on your job search.
- "I got so wasted last night!" - Keep your personal life at home. Even if you were out at a business event and had one too many, and you know that everyone else did too, don't say this. When your boss hears this type of comment, it makes them think that you are letting them know that you plan to be very unproductive today. Also, if you can't keep your personal life from spilling over into your professional life, no manager in their right minds is going to trust you with added responsibility.
- "Let's be friends on Facebook" or "I'm going to follow you on Twitter" - Trust me, just don't. If you send them a friend request, they will most likely feel obligated to accept. However, I think that it crosses the professional line. It would be the same as inviting your manager out to the bar with your friends. You can't be friends with your boss, period. You might be friendly with them, but we all understand that there is a line. When you ask this type of question, you are indicating that you aren't aware of the line. This means that you don't understand how to be a professional, which doesn't make you look like management material.
- "This isn't in my job description" - If you ever want to say this, do me a favor, get out your job description and rip it up. When you get a job, the job description is used as a guide for both the employer and the employee to understand the general responsibilities of the position. It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination an exhaustive list of tasks. I'm sure that every day you do things that aren't in the job description, and if your boss asks you to do something, even if it is above and beyond you typical duties, show them that you are willing to take on any task. You can be sure that they will notice that you are someone who always chips in.
- "...sigh..." - I have seen this often at offices I've worked in. It's incredibly rude and the sad thing is, I don't think that the people doing it are even aware that they are sighing. In fact, it can be done in such a way that you can even say that they were just hearing things. It's passive-aggressive and it clearly indicates that you are annoyed and feeling put upon. Even if you think that you are being sneaky about it, the mood and the negativity is easy for your boss to notice. Think about it, if you ask someone to do something, you can tell just by their attitude and demeanor if they are willing to do it or it is an imposition. Your boss can too. You can bet that when it comes time to promote employees and give them additional responsibilities, your name won't even come up.
I know these are kind of silly, but if you pay attention, you'll hear these phrases come out of your co-worker's mouths fairly frequently. Just, don't let it happen to you.
What other things do you hear that make people look bad? Have you ever been guilty of saying one of these phrases? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for Administrativejobsblog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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