From forgetting to return a borrowed pen or stapler to perpetuating office gossip, seemingly innocent things can essentially torch your career without you meaning to. Not everything on this list may apply to you, but I think most of them are pretty good things to just keep in mind in general. The checking your email one stands out most to me personally as something to really keep in check. If I can see you check your email 10 times during a funeral? You're a rude slave to technology.
10 workplace habits that could cost you your career
10/14/2011
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where I work if you are caught with having your desk unlocked more then 2x you can get fired. Leaving customer information, company information, procedures, etc.
Originally posted by
Jul!a
From forgetting to return a borrowed pen or stapler to perpetuating office gossip, seemingly innocent things can essentially torch your career without you meaning to. Not everything on this list may apply to you, but I think most of them are pretty
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From forgetting to return a borrowed pen or stapler to perpetuating office gossip, seemingly innocent things can essentially torch your career without you meaning to. Not everything on this list may apply to you, but I think most of them are pretty good things to just keep in mind in general. The checking your email one stands out most to me personally as something to really keep in check. If I can see you check your email 10 times during a funeral? You're a rude slave to technology.
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We have had a woman get fired for sassing rather high up management.
We also had a man and a woman get fired by getting caught having sex (that one was really quite funny)
10/14/2011
The only one of these that I've ever done is the "stealing" thing. I used to walk off with the doctor's pens all the time. But, in my defense, she still does it with mine!!! I end up pen-less by the end of the day!
10/14/2011
I used to always take kids hairclips home from work. They'd loose them during the day (especially naptime), so I'd put them in my pocket, forget about them, and go home. Once or twice a year I'd return a stash of about 20-30. I know it's not 'stealing', but I always felt really bad!
10/14/2011
The only one of these I do is accidentally steal people's pens! I always leave their office and walk all the way back before realizing I'm still holding a pen. Then do a 180 and have to go back just to return it.
10/15/2011
People always steal my really nice ink pens. I'm a hoarder though so I religiously ask for my pens back, like, immediately after someone borrows. I'm like "ARE YOU DONE YET? ARE YOU? CAN I HAVE MY PEN BACK??" lol!
10/15/2011
I think the two of these I'm mostly likely to suffer from are the over-the-top multitasking (sigh), and what they call brown-nosing. Being raised in a family business, I'd call it a strong work ethic (and I can't imagine what would happen to me if I ever said no to a task in the family business... but I can guarantee my folks would *not* have a newfound respect for me)
But I actually did notice that irritating my coworkers once. I had a minimum-wage summer internship at a government office, and when their 15-minute 10:30 and 2:30 breaks would start to drag to 20 minute, 30 minute, or 45 minute breaks, I would start to get really nervous, and start sweeping the break room or tidying up. "ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh I'm wasting the taxpayers' money by taking a 17 minute break..."
Kinda hard-wired in me at this point, so I've solved the problem by avoiding it, and only working in environments where everybody else has the same work ethic. In a restaurant, nobody resents you for taking the initiative to wash all the tables or chopping extra onions. In academia, everybody spends all night, all weekend, all holidays at the office sometimes. Salaried positions suit my work ethic much better than hourly ones, because people are unlikely to resent you for working harder for non-immediate compensation.
No more government jobs for me! I just felt weird... everyone looked at me like I was reminding them they were supposed to be working... but I couldn't help it! I couldn't just sit there drinking coffee on the clock!
But I actually did notice that irritating my coworkers once. I had a minimum-wage summer internship at a government office, and when their 15-minute 10:30 and 2:30 breaks would start to drag to 20 minute, 30 minute, or 45 minute breaks, I would start to get really nervous, and start sweeping the break room or tidying up. "ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh I'm wasting the taxpayers' money by taking a 17 minute break..."
Kinda hard-wired in me at this point, so I've solved the problem by avoiding it, and only working in environments where everybody else has the same work ethic. In a restaurant, nobody resents you for taking the initiative to wash all the tables or chopping extra onions. In academia, everybody spends all night, all weekend, all holidays at the office sometimes. Salaried positions suit my work ethic much better than hourly ones, because people are unlikely to resent you for working harder for non-immediate compensation.
No more government jobs for me! I just felt weird... everyone looked at me like I was reminding them they were supposed to be working... but I couldn't help it! I couldn't just sit there drinking coffee on the clock!
10/15/2011
Total posts: 7
Unique posters: 7