Sharing is NOT Always Caring

Let me start this post off by clarifying that I am not a saint. I have been known to curse like a sailor when having general conversations with people - even at work - without thinking twice. I will drop the F bomb around folks without batting an eyelash - and sometimes I will apologize for the same - if I'm speaking with someone I'm not extremely familiar with. However, I will never direct my foul language at someone, using it to call someone an inappropriate name, nor will I talk about someone using foul language unless I'm in a closed office or conference room with a very select few individuals, who I know believe that the language I'm using is appropriate, and who I also know wouldn't be offended by my use of such language. Let me demonstrate:

The following is appropriate for a general office conversation in my book - which I know is going to be vastly different from other people's books. Especially my Mom's book - just in case she reads this, I will clarify - I would never use any of these sentences in front of my Mom - not because I'm ashamed of my foul mouth, but because I like the back of my head sufficiently unbruised, thank you very much.

Ahem - back to the point.

Appropriate
Co-worker: Today they're giving out free ice cream in the cafeteria
Me: Why the hell are we sitting around here then? Let's get our asses to that cafeteria, stat!

No Bad Days For You!

Today I had a training class geared toward defining your leadership style, motivating others, and keeping momentum in a not so positive environment.  One of my classmates, who I have nothing but the utmost respect for, revealed that one of her strategies for dealing with frustrations of her staff includes hanging positive statements on her office walls that help her to remember that she needs to maintain a positive outlook on her work and our organization if she wants to be a positive influence.  Specifically, she said she has one statement typed in bold, large print hanging on her wall that reads:

"Managers CANNOT Have Bad Days."  

Her basic managing principal is that she does not let her frustration, stress, aggravation, or unhappiness show to her staff.  She was quick to clarify that she does, in fact, have bad days, but she makes a conscious decision NOT to let her staff know when she is having one such day.

Highlighters

It's pretty bad when people at work nickname you ANYTHING.  My *almost* decade of work experience has educated me to understand that people are very creative, and will use all readily available information about you - including your educational background, marital status, diet preferences, personal habits, and fashion sense to come up with some pretty accurate nicknames that perfectly capture your persona at work.

Personally, I know that I have been nicknamed by co-workers on several occasions - and anyone who works in an office environment and thinks they haven't been given a nickname is just fooling themselves.  The nicknames I know of are:

Clarice - Apparently I reminded someone of Jody Foster's character in Silence of the Lambs when I was trying like hell to keep up with some pretty messed up stuff going on at work and I had to have several conversations with people who were practically geniuses about the topic I was working on.  Despite the thoughts conjured up about working with a delusional cannibal, this nickname is actually my favorite.

Young Sarah - Which is pretty obvious - I work with a bunch of middle aged men and I (at the time) was a 20-something trying to figure it all out, and

Stompin' She-Beast - OK - this one was given within my first 2 years of employment, by a group of my peers, who had to listen to me moan and groan about all of the problems I was having with my boss.  At the time, I wasn't confident enough to approach him with my issues and develop a way to work around it.  So, instead, I would let my frustrations build up to the point of explosion then go to lunch with "friends" and let it all out - apparently with LOTS of GUSTO!

An Ounce of Decorum, PLEASE!?!?!?

Someone told me this morning that I look tired.  And that someone wasn't my mom, my sisters, my husband, or even a friend.  It was one of my male co-workers.  Someone who I consider more of an acquaintance than anything else - someone I know BECAUSE I work with him.  Someone I would never, under any circumstance, relate any personal or intimate details of my life to.  Someone who spends lots of time complaining about the fact that I am in the position I'm in, who has always asked for things that are not appropriate to his position, and who, two seconds before telling me that I looked tired, tried to give me advice about my job that was unsolicited and totally unnecessary.  Immediately after the the word "tired" left this guy's mouth, I wanted to lunge across my desk and claw his eyes out.  It literally took every ounce of energy I had stored, to get me through another hellacious day at work, not to wind back my (until that moment) limp hand and slap the smug bastard square on the cheek.