The cliques-Every company has them, usually a few different cliques. Reminds me a lot of High School Days, sometimes making me smile.
Good Ole Boys: It has been my experience that many of the companies I work for tend to be ran by none other than the "Good Ole Boys" group, this group is made up of men in the Mid to late 40s - Mid to late 60s. In this "Good Ole Boys" there are the pervs, the gentleman (whether acting or genuine), the immature one, the obnoxious one (could also double as the perv), the leader, and then the random followers. They tend to go to lunches together, talk about their sports, and act like they are all in a position of power, even if they aren't but are just in a group where some of the "members" do. My role with this lovely group is always very interesting, I walk a fine line of the fun young, "party" girl with "a pretty face" struggling for respect for more than just a "fun, young girl with a pretty face", because I have more to offer such as my skills set, experiences, and fresh new sense of TODAY vs their old fashion way of doing things. I am all about having fun and joking with them but I want to be taken seriously! I am tired of being treated as though I am their little sisters, daughters, or fantasy mistresses!
THEE Women: My experience with this group is that they are made up of older "hags" that look at me as the fun young, "party" girl with "a pretty face", that pisses them off! I am sure they think I want the attention, (which I don't) so they automatically shun me! And again tend to treat me like their "red headed stepchild" sister, or the "new girl" in HS. They usually make assumptions until they get to know me and realize that I again, have more to offer.
The Outcasts: The ones that don't fit into any other group, they generally always look lost or alone. I tend to feel bad for these people and befriend them. This causes me issues in the work environment, again, if I would learn to follow the office politic rules I would probably be ok, but I don't. I refuse to make judgements based on THEE Women's opinions of these Outcasts, or because the Good Ole Boy's aren't paying them any attention. I don't follow the rules of only hang around people that are in a position of authority, believe it or not, many of these Outcasts have most of the knowledge and do much of the work for these Good Ole Boys. Just saying.
Bottom line on the Cliques, is I don't care to participate, I don't kiss the Good Ole Boy's asses, I don't try to get THEE women to like me, and I don't judge and or avoid the outcast simply because they are "Outcasts", I tend to go against the grain and do much of the opposite. I am not just going to smile at the Good Ole Boys even if I know that might get me some were quicker, I want my job to be earned with an amount of respect that is known by all.
Email Etiquette- Another office politic that I have struggled with throughout my career.
Fluffing an Email: I don't do this by nature, I sometimes but a lot of effort in trying to follow this stupid rule but I just down right struggle at it. We are in a business world here people, I do not feel the need to put cotton candy, smilie faces and or any other kind of FLUFF in my emails. I am straight and to the point, get over it! I can assure you I would not put anything in a WORK email to intentionally offend or hurt anyone's feelings. I don't take cheap shots or beat around a bush, if you did something wrong, own it, if you feel my emails are too stern maybe you should consider your feelings are too weak?!
CCing vs BCCing: One of my biggest pet peeves! I understand there are circumstances where it is necessary to carbon copy someone else, it is a way of letting the TO: person know you have also made the CCed person aware of the subject matter so that they (the TO: person) doesn't have to do it. However, for the morons that use this stupid tool for all the wrong reasons I want to say "GROW UP". I see this CC and BCC tool used more often than not as a way for an adult to tattle tail, blackmail/bullying, and or gloat.
Scenario # 1: If you are going to CC someone ask yourself why, "is it because I want recognition, a pat on the back, or a fucking cookie?" If so, it may be just, but it also may be over kill, but if you are going to do it, might I suggest a BCC in this case.
Scenario # 2: If you are going to CC someone ask yourself "is it because I want them to know what TO: person did", again it may be just, but is it because you want to give them deserved credit or tattle tail? If it is the later, might I suggest you use BCC.
Scenario # 3: If you are going to CC someone, ask yourself "am I including this person so that TO: Person does what I want them to do knowing CCed person is "watching?", if so again it may be just, but wait...have you given them the opportunity to do it without the CCed babysitting, or are you making an assumption, if you haven't given the TO: person a chance, might I suggest you do that first, if not and you want to be a bonified ASS go ahead and CC, if not BCC and or address it with TO: person and or TO: person's boss, probably the Good Ole Boy who is boss of said TO: person.
I have suggested in all the above cases to use BCC over CC however this just means you are covertly doing all the above childish, or in some but very rarely, justified things. There are other ways to go about accomplishing these things without abusing the CC or BCC tool, I would encourage you, as a grown adult to consider these alternative options!
Possers-This could also be considered a particular group of people, but I felt as though they deserved their very own office "Politic". This is when people do things to make themselves look good just for the sake of looking good. Including but not limited to:
Over Achievers: Coming in early and or staying later is perfectly acceptable if you are coming in early or working later the operative word there is WORKING. Coming in early to check your FB, read about sports, watch news clips does NOT warrant a pat on the fucking back! Staying late for these same reasons also does not constitute a "good", "above and beyond" employee. I am sorry I like my life outside of work enough to want to spend time with my family and friends, vs coming in or staying late to do these things. These same people tend to take longer lunch breaks and or smoke breaks. I am no office hall monitor, and actually dislike those that declare themselves such however, I realize you think you look good to boss man but I promise...I know better!
Rump Kissers: those that go into the BIG Mans office for nothing more than face time. These people don't really have anything to say, or to contribute to a days WORK but they are going to go in wanting to talk about life, sports, etc, while throwing in the occasional line about work to just get face time. I can't imagine a good reason for this other than the "In your face" side of "if you are going to be known be known in a good way" sort of office politic. Be "buddy buddy" with the Good Ole Boys group. These people do this for long periods of time, not just in passing. Rump kissers are also ones that offer to get, generally, Good Ole Boys their coffee, make copies, etc., things that are "below my pay grade", that I refuse to do just to kiss someones ass!
A combination of Rump Kissers and the Over Achievers: These people are the ones that at the very least are at work on time and don't leave a minute earlier that they allotted time, but generally speaking they are just a little early and stay just a little late to make themselves look good, the kicker her is they make themselves LOOK like they are busy. So to clarify, not all Over Achievers coming in early or staying later even make the effort to look busy with work, but they still look great because their office light is on and ass is in their chair. Also not all Rump Kissers are the type to come in early or stay later, however this combination are those that make themselves look like they are busy, sometimes so busy they complain about how overwhelmed they are with their work. This combined rump kisser/over achiever may LOOK busy to the powers to be but I am willing to bet if you ran a scan on their computer to see how much time is spent doing what they would find over 80% of their day is shopping online, Facebooking, catching up on the news, my personal favorite is Solitaire, but there are endless possibilities.
**Confession**
Don't get me wrong, if you were to run this scan on my computer you would find the very same thing, difference is I AM BORED OUTTA MY MIND, trick is to not scream that from the roof tops and get fired, yet not look like a rump kissing, over achiever looking for busy work. I would gladly take on more work, extra projects but I will be damned if I am going to be handed "busy work", I can fill/waste my own time thank-you
Truth is, I am struggling with the above issue, coupled with the fact that I don't follow office politics very well. Here I am a grown ass adult with NOTHING to do (at work), I am expected to sit in my chair, occupying my desk for the sake of occupying my desk. If I wasn't here, people would have something to say about how I am not working...but JUST because I am sitting at my desk, I am a good employee who is hard working (hardly)! Yay me, can I get a cookie!-DUH I hate that I am expected to sit here until 5 pm (if I was a GREAT employee it would be later), doing nothing. I get an occasional email that I respond to accordingly, but very rarely is my presence actually needed. I do NOT appreciate being in this position. I would much rather be busy as hell with more to do than I would know what to do with (I was there, oh about 2 years ago). I prefer that over this. I hate
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