workplace etiquette

Workplace Etiquette: Losing Your Temper At Work

A_Black_and_White_Cartoon_Woman_Pulling_on_Her_Hair_In_Frustration_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_110103-157001-1910531I lost my temper at a colleague during a meeting today, it was the first time since, I don’t even know when. I have had the occasional (private) teary outburst or pang of annoyance, and if we’re being honest, drawn out bouts of annoyance,… however an angry outburst really isn’t like me at all and the situation rattled me for the rest of the day.

So I thought I should turn this negative into a positive by reflecting on losing my temper at work, how to avoid it from happening next time and how I should have reacted instead.

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Workplace Etiquette: Meetings

I once sat in a 2 hour long meeting, having a vivid daydream about how great it would be if I started projectile vomiting. In my daydream, everybody cleared the meeting room in disgust and panic, thus I escaped the air-conditioned prison that is more commonly referred to as a bad meeting.

If you’d prefer to avoid having people daydreaming about escaping your meetings, these are some of my observations regarding ‘meeting etiquette’.

S02E15_Jessica,_Edward,_Dana,_and_Harvey (more…)

Workplace Etiquette: Emails

I’m hoping that if this post stops just one terrible email from going out, it could prevent just one stressed out employee from finally losing their marbles and stabbing their colleague through the neck with a Bic pen.

Copying half the company into your email
This should be avoided for many reasons. First of all, it could give the impression that you are incapable of discerning the appropriate audience for your communication. Or that you don’t value people’s time. Also, people could start ignoring your emails assuming that they’re irrelevant if you are a habitual over-CC-er. Yep, that’s a thing. Personally, the worst thing is when I’m suddenly copied into an email chain where I’ve had little or no prior involvement in the topic being discussed. Do you want me to action something? If I don’t respond am I taken to have been consulted? I’ll also sneak the good old ‘Reply-all’ into the category of ‘think before you hit that’, alongside people who go to night clubs regularly but don’t ever dance. (more…)