I'm a mean girl, and that's not fetch......

One thing that annoys me is gossiping and talking behind each other’s backs at work.  Especially where I work, most of our efforts should be focused on our patients and tasks at hand, not who’s on a personal call or wearing the wrong kind of shoes.  It has always irked me to hear whispering, crouched and mushed into a cubicle where all you can here are the gossipers “sh’s”.  Like, “SHE blah blah blah blah SHE blah blah SHE blah blah blah SHE.”  Believe me; you know what I’m talking about if you work in a quiet office with a bunch of women. 

 

The reason I’m bringing this up is that I, believe it or not (ha ha), was the gossiper yesterday at work.  I was having a really rough day and I received an email that rubbed me the wrong way for no reason at all.  It was someone asking me a question about something she didn’t know and I took it to somehow be degrading to me.  I still have no idea why it bothered me so much, but I did what all other dumb chicks do when a co-worker bothers them…..talk shit to another co-worker.  I felt bad instantly and knew I had become the very thing I hated so much.  I wanted so bad to suck back in the words for two reasons, 1. I didn’t even really mean any of the things I had said and 2. I didn’t want to be known as the asshole that everyone steers clear of like I do to some people I work with.  So, I talked shit yesterday, and today, the person I talked shit to told the person I was talking shit about.  Follow that?  (If you’re a girl, you did.  If you’re a boy, you might as well stop reading right now and go play Xbox or something.)  OK, so, my co-worker told my other co-worker that I talked shit and that she shouldn’t trust me.  How do I know she told the person?  Read on, my friend…..

This morning I was summoned by the very gal I was a mean girl to.  She asked if we could talk privately and I knew right away what it was about.  My heart sank.  She had always been so sweet to me and now she thinks I’m a total dick.  Which I was.  We went to an empty area and she gave me the best speech I had ever heard.  It went something like this:

“Robyn.  I know that you said some things about me yesterday and I’m not quite sure where it was coming from, but I know that’s not you.  You have a good heart and I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt.  I didn’t want to talk badly about you behind your back and perpetuate the negativity on our team, so I thought I’d come to you and let you know that people here think you’re awesome and I don’t want you to sink to other people’s level.”

I couldn’t believe it.  She was saying all the exact right things.  I felt so bad, but good at the same time?  She is an amazing woman and handled this with such grace.  I felt like a real turd.  Like when you were little and your Dad says “I’m disappointed” instead of yelling at you.   I apologized and let her know that I didn’t really mean the things I said and that I instantly felt bad when I said them.  All was well and we went back to work.

The moral of the story is this, don’t talk shit about a co-worker unless you’re 100% sure they won't ever know.  Just kidding.  The real moral is don't be a jerk and talk smack behind any one's back (at least at work) because you'll be an even bigger jerk than the jerk you're talking about.


XOXOXOXO