ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > January > 30 > Entry
Professional “Discourtesies”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Raise your hand if you’ve sat through a long, mind-numbing meeting pretending to care about the topic of discussion, while another meeting participant sits across from you typing merrily away on his laptop, or his blackberry or his cell phone.
Keep your hand up if this makes your blood boil. Somehow this laptop clicker, text messenger guy assumes that his time is much more valuable than yours and he can’t be bothered to sit there politely like everyone else and pretend to pay attention. The topic may not directly pertain to you either but by paying attention, you’re extending a professional courtesy to the person in charge of the meeting. It’s simply the polite thing to do.
Keep your hand up also, if the source or your frustration is the colleague who cuts you off mid-thought during conversations. You can scarcely finish your sentence, before she jumps in with a “Well, what you have to understand is…” and asserts herself as the most knowledgeable person in the industry. You do understand what you’re talking about. You’ve just not had time to finish your thought.
You may be able to name a hundred equally irritating behaviors exhibited by your coworkers during a meeting and how you handle the situation depends on the offender. Sadly, it’s sometimes not your coworkers, but your managers who are discourteous. This is most egregious because aside from poor etiquette, they’re setting a bad example for others in the company and destroying office morale.
How have you been effected by professional “discourtesies” in the workplace?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Denise314
February 5, 2007 8:07 AM | Link to this
Nothing is more maddening than to walk in your office and be attacked by employess and co-workers with requests before you make it to your desk and get settled in! The worst of it is, they never bother to say “Good Morning” before attacking you!