About Office Gossip

Office gossips are at times like smoke from the fire of unheard grievances. And for this reason, I find them rather unavoidable, although I don't think that I fully condone them. The truth is, whatever the "bosses" decide - company policies or otherwise - there is bound to be someone unsatisfied, but forced to join the majority, putting up a false front - and I don't blame them, life is such. What I don't understand are "bosses" who show zero tolerance for gossips. My second big boss is a fine specimen. Let's just call her the "Enforcer" for obvious reason.

One year, at a year-end company event, we had our lunch packed from a caterer. I think the lunch boxes must have been sitting too long before they got to us. But anyhow, the meal was unappetising, cold and simply foul-tasting, such that I had to exclaim aloud at the appalling lack of quality to some of my colleagues. I never expect to foul up that time. Somehow, words reached the "Enforcer", who decreed my boss, Hitler's Young (HY), to grant me a sharp, though half-hearted reprimand. I suspected then that the caterer was a relative of the big boss's secretary. Mind my words, no one offends a secretary and expects to survive in an organisation - not even the "Enforcer". But seriously, who would think an off-the-cuff comment could almost spiral into a career crisis.

There was another instance, when the "Enforcer" hired a replacement manager - way before HY's reign - in an ex-trainer. Now, my office basically deals with financial, payroll matters; what the hell was a trainer doing there? Beats me, except that the ex-trainer had a skin colour no different from the Enforcer. The rumour mill went overtime then, and somehow the Enforcer caught the wind that HY was the chief instigator. Needless to say, HY had a closed-door blast, hair-dryer-like, from you-know-who, that left her teary-eyed.

Recently, I found myself caught in another of those situations, though for once, the Enforcer was not involved. This time, I had shared during a morning drill, about a colleague from another branch. My story went that her reaction was rather unbecoming when I approached her for some information on a customer's query. I felt I had ample evidence to show she was deliberately holding back - so that she didn't need to review the case twice - and delaying our reply to the customer, although HY had showed me that perhaps this was not the case and openly stated so. Somehow, words still get to her. She felt like a victim of some conspiracy, and almost in tears, complained to HY with her own version of the story. HY suggested then that we meet to trash out the difference, which she refused outright. To us then, the matter had hopefully been laid to rest. But silence follows, the relation freezes, even now. To a certain extent, I feel the whole matter is completely childish, and I can't help thinking that nobody has anything to gain. One thing for sure though, time heals everything - give it another two weeks, we said.

PS: A colleague once exclaimed that office gossips are great amusements, simply because they can't come juicier.