BEING OFFICIAL
Office is not home. You can’t treat it as private space no matter how friendly you are with your colleagues. You have to follow a code of behaviour which is not as strict as they have in schools. It’s about following very simple, basic etiquettes:
Ah! That Phone: Keep the volume of your fixed phone low. Don’t forget to divert calls from your desk phone if you are leaving and are going to be away for a while. When in office, let your mobile phone vibrate and beep.
Lower the pitch: Remember you don’t really make a difference in anybody’s life. They’ll be more concerned about their headache than your accident on the highway. So you may lower your voice while sorting the last night’s squabble with your boyfriend on the phone within the office premises. It’s irksome.
Let them eat in peace: If you spot a colleague having a meal or a snack, don’t approach for work-related issues until she has finished eating. No one even you won’t like being startled as you struggled to separate hilsa’s delicate flesh from its treacherous mess of bones.
Printer manners: You have reams of paper to print. You know it’ll take you not less than 20 minutes to do so. There’s a colleague who needs to print just one paper. Wouldn’t it just be logical to let her finish it before you? She’ll take just a few seconds to print her one paper as against your ream.
You Smell Strong: Wear Eau de Toilette instead of Eau de Parfum when going to office. You need to smell just right. The olfactory epithelium plays an important role in helping you carve your special niche in the office.
Mess in the Kitchen: Clean it up. No one would oblige to clear up after your mess. It’s actually a sign of respect for fellow colleagues to leave the place fresh for them to use after you. Also, inspect the cheese you parked in the fridge last month to make sure it has not sprouted a green disguise.
Its noise: Music to you will be noise to others in office. Its work place you see. Just at the moment when you feel like taking a musical break, your colleague may have started some number crunching. He may wish only if he could trample your iPod under his left foot and forget all about it before you figure out what struck you.
Oh! Those Sniffles: You won’t get showered with eulogies if you
soldier into work with your cold and flu. Instead there’ll be some scornful
faces turning as you would breathe audibly through your choked and running
nose. It’s better to stay home if you are sick. If you inevitably must appear,
be considerate enough to use tissue and don’t blow your nose in public. You may
use the loo for that.
Don’t Forget to Return: It’s irksome to be on a scavenger hunt to track down your borrowed pen which was just around here till someone came borrowing and forgot to return. So if you borrow from your colleagues, remember to return. Also, it doesn’t go down too well if you just pickup things from other people’s desk. Please ask before using your colleagues’ stuff.
On the Button: Punctuality appeals. Remember this ever and forever. Show up a few minutes before a meeting is scheduled to begin. Don’t chat with others while the meeting is on. Don’t cancel appointments and meetings at short notice. Switch off your mobile phone or put it on silent mode when in a meeting.
The Loo: Toilet hygiene is taught very early in school. Yet the administration concerned is forced to put “directions to use” notes in comfort rooms. The most annoying is to find sanitary napkins around the bin. Maybe you missed the target and then felt lazy to pick it up from the floor and put it in the bin! The only thing you have to remember is that the person using the room immediately after you should find it the way you had or had expected to find it. If you didn’t make the mess, leave a note on the door and inform the department concerned to get the restroom cleaned.
