ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > September > 19
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Divulging ‘too much Information’ in the office?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How many times have you been in the middle of a conversation with someone when they blurt out something totally inappropriate? I’m not talking about people who bring up issues like politics and religion in mixed company, although that’s dangerous conversational territory, too.
I’m referring to people who share entirely too much personal information with you when you’re really not that close. It may be Bob down the hall, who tells you more than you care to hear about his bunions. Or maybe it’s Stacy in Accounting who goes into a little too much detail about her wild weekend at the beach.
Office environments often lull people into a premature sense of camaraderie with others. Because we share space for 40 or more hours a week, people can sometimes forget that co-workers aren’t friends and family who love us despite our quirks and personal issues.
I have a very dear friend who seriously lacks an internal filter. On a personal level, I love her for that. She can be counted on, in her typically hilarious way, to say (out loud) the very thing that everyone else is thinking. She’s bubbly, well-educated and articulate and if we’re having a conversation between friends, I’m willing to overlook her tendency to tell me things that make me cringe.
That said, she usually has the good sense to watch what she’s saying in front of polite company and in the workplace. If we hadn’t been friends for more than 20 years, I would probably not be so charmed and amused.
How many of us, however, have worked with people who are oblivious to the fact that they’re divulging too much personal information on the job. Most of us, I would suspect.
Even if the offender isn’t overtly sharing too much information, we can still know more about our co-workers than we’d prefer to know. In cubicle-land, our private telephone conversations usually aren’t so private. So, someone’s marital spat or their personal medical issues can easily be overheard.
And don’t EVEN get me started on people who have these intensely private conversations on their cell phones in the grocery store, on the train, or in bathroom stalls!
When it comes to discussing personal issues at work, just how much information is too much information???
