Career Sins

[oceanus]

These came out of my head, based on things I’ve see (or heard of) people doing.  In fact, I committed one of these sins myself, more than once, and it cost me.

I know there are more sins (or plain bonehead moves) than what I have listed, but please just choose one from this list of 6.  Confessions are welcome!  (We won’t tell.)

[artk2002]

Other than refusing to socialize, which I don't consider a sin at all, these are all "Professional Darwinism" in my book.

[oceanus]

When I was a lot younger, I had two bosses (at two different jobs) I butted heads with.  The tension was bad, and instead of quietly finding another job (back when jobs were plentiful) and moving on, I stayed and fought a stressful war of wills.  Dumb. 

In one case I fought the battle (actually a cold war) for a couple of years and finally quit, in the other I was the first to go when it came time to cut the budget for the particular program I was working on. Sigh.  Live and learn.

I see sabotage is getting a lot of votes.  Yes, that can be ugly.  I know of a case where it was suspected an employee was going into the office after hours  and destroying someone’s files/projects, riffling thru their desk, planting things, etc.  This was before video surveillance and it was never proven, but would have made a good movie.

[MissBrit]

I chose "gossiping too much about coworkers" because I am currently in a situation at one of my jobs where my work environment is toxic because of the amount of gossip and trash talking happening.

[nuit93]

I chose "too much time on personal business".  Not that it's something that can necessarily be calculated--if you can get your work done, it isn't too much time in my book. 

I've had coworkers who were doing literally a fraction of what I was doing in a given day because they spent so much time dealing with personal stuff.  My rule: personal phone calls should not be made within earshot of coworkers.  I don't even like scheduling appointments at my desk if other people can hear it.

[MariaE]

I think habitual tardiness and sabotaging another person are equally bad from a Professional Darwinism POV, but the later is the more cruel one, so that got my vote.

[cicero]

I think a lot depends on the particular climate you are working in.

I worked in a place where there was gossip and sabotaging going on - however , it was encouraged and sanctioned by the boss, so it didn't harm the actual gossiper and sabotageur's career - it harmed *my* career and i didn't do anything wrong. in *that* situation, in order to survive, you had to become one of them or leave.

and i know bosses that will fire someone for being habitually late - and others who dont' care as long as you get your work done.

I think that spending too much time on personal business combined with not socializing (if your particular company encourages socializing) are probably big no-nos.

[Margo]

I voted for the sabotage as being worst, as it is actively and intentionally harming others, whereas most of the rest are only going to harm the culprit.

I can see that refusing to socialise might be unwise, in terms of career progression, depending on the culture of a particular work place but I wouldn't see it as a 'sin' on a par with the others.

[Zizi-K]

Obviously, the worst thing is to actively sabotage someone else - that's just malicious.

However, I have seen firsthand the damage that is done by the last selection - refusing to socialize. There are a couple of people in my department who never come to parties or out to lunch informally with their colleagues. We are always left wondering why. It doesn't seem to be personal - we work together just fine, and enjoy it. But these colleagues usually have some other 'cause' or 'group' that takes up much of their time and attention, and they end up neglecting what I would call their 'professional-social' responsibilities. (Note: I'm not talking about weekly parties - maybe one or two a semester.) Then they end up feeling isolated and left out, but it's totally of their own making! Further, they're always welcome to join back in! It's frustrating...

[siamesecat2965]

I chose spending too much time on personal business, because I have a boss who does as little as possible, and does ALL her personal stuff on work time. whether it be the multitude of phone calls each and every day, or the coming and going as she pleases, due to appts, errands etc. I'm convinced she doens't want to give up any of "her" time for this stuff, so she does it on "work" time.

And our head honcho is never here, and as long as she gives him what he wants, there are no consequences.

[oceanus]

I think a lot depends on the particular climate you are working in.

I worked in a place where there was gossip and sabotaging going on - however , it was encouraged and sanctioned by the boss, so it didn't harm the actual gossiper and sabotageur's career - it harmed *my* career and i didn't do anything wrong. in *that* situation, in order to survive, you had to become one of them or leave.

and i know bosses that will fire someone for being habitually late - and others who dont' care as long as you get your work done.

I think that spending too much time on personal business combined with not socializing (if your particular company encourages socializing) are probably big no-nos.

Re: bolded
Yes, I had a boss he actually pitted people against each other.  He would literally keep dossiers about who said what, and in various ways made it clear that one would be rewarded for participating in the cloak-and-dagger operations.  Very toxic atmosphere, and the turnover was high.

As far as ‘refusing to socialize’, I don’t personally feel that’s a ‘sin’, but a LOT of people do.  Even if a person is productive, efficient, pleasant, and has other good qualities, if s/he doesn’t want to join the group lunches or attend parties at people’s homes, some people take it as personal rejection and get very offended.  I’ve always thought it best to establish boundaries but not everyone feels that way and it can be turned into a criticism for not being a team player.

[bopper]

If you like Professional Darwinism stories, see this thread.
http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=74341.0

[oceanus]

Yes, I've seen that thread.  Lots of good stories.

[Venus193]

Sabotage was my vote because I consider that to be the most destructive.  However, I agree with the statement that all of these apply in varying degrees.

When I recently had an argument with a friend she tried to say that I was possibly let go from my last place because I declined the invitation to the company's pool party that year.  Granted, that company's employees in general had very faint boundaries and being seen in a bathing suit is one of mine.

[oceanus]

Just wanted to say something about habitual tardiness.  I worked in a situation where a co-worker was 5-10 minutes late every day, and I do mean every day.  She usually arrived with a story about the traffic or some problem with one of her children or whatever.    However, she also left 15 minutes early every.single.day (she apparently had some agreement about this when she was hired).  But she was close personal friends with the supervisor, and complaints fell on deaf ears.  It wasn’t just a matter of “that’s not fair” because her position was one where others had to physically cover her desk when she arrived late and left early.  This favoritism (which is how I saw it) caused a lot of resentment.