What is it in our nature that eludes us to gossip? And by nature, I talk of women. I know men gossip as well but it is rare how often we see it. Gossip is quite common amongst women and I’m going to add that it is even more common at the work place.
I’ve mentioned in my previous articles that I am an individual that doesn’t like to mix my personal life with my professional life. I consider my professional life a different world and I do not like it to penetrate into my personal world.
As I progressed through my career life, I realized that gossip always was a part of it. It never subdued. I seem to witness the women who linger in the hallway and whisper in each other’s ears and suddenly go quiet the minute someone walks by them. Gossip not only causes problems, but leads to a great amount of miscommunication as well.
Sadly though, there are individuals that simply enjoy and make it a must to gossip in their daily work life. I, in particular, avoid these things. My purpose of going to the office is to work. And it shouldn’t be any of my business what is said about an individual, myself, etc… If I maintain a good relationship with my superiors and aim to always be honest about my work, then I really don’t have to worry about it.
We will always find someone whose purpose in life is to only make problems for others, especially in the workplace. In my opinion, it occurs more often amongst females. I, for once, would like to be part of an honest group of professional employees who just come to work in order to ‘work’. However, since I have begun my career, I have also found that in some way or another, problems occur.
There were always silly misunderstandings but the intention was always to harm the other. Let me give you some live examples that my friends were part of at one point in their lives.
A male friend of mine was seated in a meeting with three girls. There was a presentation featured in the meeting and the presenter was a lovely young lady presenting it. Once she was done and left the room, the three girls turned to the male employee and said out of the blue ‘you know she had a botched plastic surgery recently.”
He blinked in surprise and told himself that he really didn’t see anything wrong with her face. However, the girls kept going on and on that she had a surgery done and it went really bad and that her face was uneven.
Why would you share that piece of information with someone you don’t even know? What added value is it to your life if her surgery had gone bad?
As I was writing this article, our editor in chief pointed out to me that men can get worse than women when it comes to gossip, and that it entirely depends on the gender ratio in the company as well as sector of your company. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; everyone generalizes based on their own experiences and exposure. It’s true that men share facts as a general thing but women seem to always twist it into a more creative front than anyone else.
I know I’m generalizing and not everyone’s like that but it was worth pointing out from the things I’ve seen. There are so many examples and personal experiences I can share but then I’ll never finish this article. I would love to write more on this and even have the readers share the absurd stories that they’ve been a part of. I look forward to reading them.
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I am sorry to disillusion you, but men are far more odious in their gossip, which generally is of a self-serving nature, especially within this society.
I have caught many out, as they believe nobody will actually tell the truth when asked. I remember one client in front of his female boss asking me how were things. My response was "bad, due to your inability to pay contracted amounts on time".
Of course I should not have told the truth and shown him up for the liar that he was and most probably still is, because in this culture such truthfulness is frowned upon, especially when it detrimentally affects the grossly inflated ego of the male involved!
Gossipers should always know and understand a simple rule which is: If they gossip behind people's backs, eventually people will end up gossiping behind their backs.
Gossiping is wrong, whether done for fun, to pass time, or to belittle another, it shouldn't be done. I think a lot of times people do it for fun. But it is still wrong. In general, if you can't say something to someone's face, then don't say it.
What can be done to stop gossiping?