What Not to Share: Workplace Gossip

How many times have you heard a rumor in your lifetime? Odds are, it’s been more times than you could even begin to count. It can be fun to focus on others’ problems for a while, which is the reason tabloids and paparazzi exist. But, chances are, if you think about someone in a specific way, they’re probably thinking the same thing about you. Don’t you want that to be a positive thing? If you spend 40 hours a week with people you talk trash about, you’re going to be one miserable person.

Negative gossip can exacerbate low self-esteem. Many people spew negative information about others because they have low self-esteem and it makes them feel better about themselves to focus on someone else’ negative traits. This is not lost on your co-workers. They see right through it, and your inter-office respect drops considerably with every negative word you say about someone else.

Gossiping about others can also affect your physical health. Most of the time, focusing on what someone else has that you don’t by putting them down indicates jealousy, which can, in turn, cause mental and physical stress because you want what he or she has and can’t get it. Instead of being bitter, why not seek advice? For example, instead of, “Man, Sidney just got promoted over me, and she doesn’t even deserve it!” you could approach Sidney with a congratulations and ask for some advice on how to follow in her shoes. Backseat your pride for a second and you might just get somewhere!

Not all gossip is bad, however. While negative talk is more likely to make it around the office due to boredom, positive talk takes effort and can really get you ahead. Your co-workers may be surprised to hear you say something great and congratulatory about our aforementioned overachiever Sidney if you were holding out for her job, and chances are that will get back to the head honchos [come on – you know someone in your office (coughDWIGHTSCHRUTEcough) is chatty with the boss(es)]. I highly recommend spreading this kind of gossip, even if you don’t necessarily agree with everything you say. It will make you look like a team player and make your promotion even more likely.

Remember – you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

To Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes

We all know how hard it is to make a living. I complain about making enough money to support myself and I only have to support myself. I can’t imagine throwing a family and kids into the mix. Diapers, food, doctors, clothes, rent, and gas. That list could run down this whole page. Minimum wage in the United States is barely enough to support a single person. It is nearly impossible to support a family on it. How is our country blind to the millions of people working for minimum wage and living below the poverty level?

“30 Days” a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, the same genius behind “Super Size Me”, left New York City with his girlfriend to see if it was possible to live on minimum wage for thirty days. The results were mind blowing. Spurlock did random landscaping and labor jobs here and there which would usually last him eleven hours a day. By waiting for the bus to save money he would wind up committing to a thirteen hour day away from home. A day of hard labor and physical pain would produce $46. $46 a day won’t even fill up your tank of gas nowadays. If he got hurt on the job he had no health care and would have to pay bills topping hundreds of dollars. The situation was bleak and eye opening. Not only was it basically impossible for him and his girlfriend to buy food, furniture, and pay rent, but leisure activities were out of the picture. Can you imagine not being able to go see a movie or go out to dinner for a friend’s birthday because that extra ten dollars needs to go towards rent?

People making minimum wage usually average $10,000 - $11,000 a year. If you have to pay $500 a month for an apartment, which is $6,000 a year, then you have already exceeded more than half of your year’s income. Since 1997 the cost of living has gone up but there has been no increase in minimum wage. How do these people do it?

It is hard to imagine that the world is split between so many luxuries and such a high poverty rate. How can some people make hundreds of dollars a day while others aren’t even close to $50 a day? A change needs to be made to help the people who are behind such important operations such as waste management, security guards, farm workers, construction, general labor, and janitors. Thank you Mr. Spurlock for shedding light on the situation most of us overlook. Now we need to act on it.

Just Another Number

In the beginning he had been fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job the first day; but now he was second-hand, a damaged article, so to speak, and they did not want him... they had worn him out, with their speeding-up and their carelessness, and now they had thrown him away!
--Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)

Most Americans complain about how much they hate their job. I used to be one of them. There is always something that is unfair or depressing about where you work. But seriously, it’s not as bad as we rant and whine about. You don’t have to walk around the office with a smile on your face, but you should be privileged to have your current job.

A few weeks ago I decided to watch the movie “Fast Food Nation”. For those of you who haven’t heard of the book or the movie adaptation, the author explores the meat packing industry and the risks involved in working in slaughterhouses. The book goes more in depth into disease infested meat and health risks for people who eat it, but we are going to focus on the work conditions. Losing a finger on the job is considered a good day. Being maimed by heavy machinery or inhaling fumes and barely being able to breathe are all too common in this industry. Not only are people injured and face death but they are disregarded by these meat packing companies and never compensated for there health problems. Because most employees are illiterate and posses little to no education, they are easily replaced. Complain about your severed finger and you will be fired. It’s just that simple.

I was completely shocked. It took me awhile to digest these conditions and these jobs that I could never fathom doing. How dare I complain about work when I have an air conditioned office, a computer, and a kitchen I can pop into whenever I’m hungry. Next time your co-worker is taking ten minutes to heat up that frozen meal please don’t lose your temper. People are putting their lives on the line to earn an income, even if that means getting splattered in the face with blood or losing a limb. To them it’s work and money.

The point is that you probably don’t go into work in the morning thinking that you could die. Slaughterhouse workers do. Try to put your work life into perspective and consider job alternatives that you are lucky not to possess. For you Halloween is once a year; for slaughterhouse workers it is every day.