Did you hear about........

My phone rang while I was at the airport. Glancing at my phone, I saw a familiar name appeared on my phone screen. It was a company workmate from another outlet that I have not heard from for ages.

A low inqusitive voice break forth from my phone "Hey, Ray I heard your boss Jeff resigned. Why, did he resign? I though he was very close with the new boss? "
Honestly, I was a little put off because I dislike gossips and office politics. I bluntly told him I did not know and spoke in a disapproving manner. That cut short the conversation.

Office gossips and politics are two things that I felt strongly against. It is a superficial way to feel important by keeping oneself abreast with the current happenings in the company for the wrong reasons.

But I think it is a norm in the Malaysian work culture. Putting others down to further once career in the company. Gossiping ,just to let others know you have the upper hand information because of your connection.

The three reasons why I have avoided being sucked into the gossips and office politics circle are due to the following.

You are creating conflicts.
What you heard from others are merely speculation if you did not get the verification from the original source. So, you are very well be spreading malicious information about another person to others. This could lead to possible conflicts and create a lot of emotional distress.

You are deem to be untrusworthy.
Leta face it, I do not trust people who gossips because it tells a lot about the character of the person. If he can gossip to you about others, he can do the same to you behind your back.

You are perceived as a person with having too much time of doing nothing .
People who spend time to dig unverified stories and gossips to others meant that they do not have other important things to focus on.

Gossips and office politics are a horrible work culture and also can hurt friendship. So beware that you avoid such person and most importantly you do not become one yourself.