No, that's how sh*t gets started at work.

You can have a friendship, always do lunch, or have cocktails after hours, but you HAVE to always stay neutral when it comes to talking about other co-workers and bosses.

plain and simple.

Ya I did, but I never brought it up. Someone would be talking about a person and I would listened. That was at all of my jobs Ive had. U shouldn't be, it happens.

I talk about my boss Hogman, but everybody does also. I don't stab my coworkers in the back because I wouldn't want it done to me. If anything I look out for them. My back up happens to be my best friend, and then this other guy runs the other half of things. We've all been there for a while anyway.. it's like home away from home annoyingly.

No because I'd have to work with those people and besides I'm not one for gossiping about others nor am I into the drama that goes along with it.I think people who do nothing but gossip need to seriously get a life.

Ya no way man. I don't say anything behind people's back I won't say to their face.

my motto is i won't say anything about a person that i won't say to their face...my problem is i WILL say it to your face. with work, you just can't do that. it's not professional.

you could be talking about your boss at lunch, and then a rumor pops up that you were talkin' sh*t. even though everyone from accounting was saying the same thing, sh*t falls back on YOU.

sometimes running with the gossipy girls (or guys) at work can lead to guilt by association.

i try not to talk about people to others - co-workers or otherwise. my assistant is the only person who hears me vent - but i try to keep it on a decent level since i know that i'm her superior and in a position that she wants - so i have to set an example.

at my past job, i know that people talked about me, and they thought that i never knew. it made for some very uncomfortable times, but i figure that if someone was talking about me - it was from their own uncertainty - not for any other reason since i didn't do anything to them.

There's one male coworker I'd trust with my venting, and it's mainly because he talks a lot of crap about many of our coworkers. Also we're in two different departments and are not in competition. I'd never allow people I'd be competing with (like in my department) to hear some of my venting.

cjmara, that sounds a little sketchy...
IMO, it's always the loud ones that stab you in the back silently when you're not there.

I worked at a small bakery with a very close friend of mine, and we both hated an extremely b!tchy and bitter lady that worked with us.

I disliked her so much that I honestly did not have a care in the world about her feelings. We always had inside jokes about her, and it was THE ONLY and BEST way to get my frustrations out.

but sh*ttt... I need to kick this nasty habit at my new job

1. it's not about competition
2. guys gossip and run their traps worst than girls do

a friend of mines (who is an exec) just told me that a girl got fired from her company for gossiping today. i guess they knew they were going to fire her, but they used her up for the entire week and fired her like an hour ago.(my friend feels a bit bad because it was unexpected for the girl and she started crying and begging). Her replacement is coming on monday.

i burst out laughing because that's bad.

"so, what happen to your last job?
"oh, i was let go....for discussing non-work related matters during work hours."

LMBAO...that's the nice way to say it.

I work with a really nice team of guys (engineers) and its a tiny team, so no we dont gossip or anything like that. Besides, theres no time, we are so busy working!!!!

That and the fact the rest of the company is in the USA, so we dont really know them much...

I try not to. I tend not to talk to the people I work with about other co-workers. Unless we're ragging on the boss. Then it's a free for all. ;p

I'm not a gossipy person at work. It just not professional. But I understand where CJ is coming from about not allowing your competition to hear you gossiping about people. Say the two of you are competing for the same job and the other person knows you're a gossip queen and or talking about one of them. They are going to try to use everything in their power to keep you from getting the job the two of you are competing for. Sometimes the chips fall that way, sometimes they don't. I always feel in business, it's ALWYAS a competition. Watch who you're gossiping about and who you are gossiping to ladies

I don't, and I work in a two-person office now anyway (me and the boss--what am I supposed to do, trash him to his face? ).

It's so easy to make friends at work, but you've got to remember that above all it's work, and therefore politics come into play even if you're just doing lunch with a coworker you get along with.

My boss gossips more to me about my co worker than anyone else. I just listen, never say anything lol

big no no.
i know a girl at my job was amazing at her job, one of the top performers, but her gossiping non stop prevented her from advancing within the company..needless to say when everyone else kept moving ahead and she was stuck behind she quit.

laluna ditto..

...that's why I don't feel bad about talking about him. He's a two-faced back-stabbing Christian that buys his friends so he won't feel lonely about his tired marriage and so everybody will think he is SomeThing. (He's the owner, btw. I work for a video production company.)

I love my job because I get out of the house, and can be creative, and I have a lot of flexibility... But all in all, I've been there 7 years.. and honestly, I don't Have to work. (I work to provide extra things for my family and because I don't want to be a stay at home mother since I actually have a chance to provide my daughter a pre-preschool education. I took a maternity leave and stayed at home w/her for 16 months, until she was ready for more structure.)

..my boss KNOWS when I've had it with him because I tend to get loud about it.. And he doesn't tell me what is wrong to my face, he tells everyone else instead... And then my coworkers have to pull me aside and shut the door(s) and talk me out of quiting. He's not stupid. He hears it. He's standing right around the corner going "Oh Sh!t".

He might sign my checks and all, but I want to be respected just like him. Once he knows he's crossed a line with me, he completely changes and is nice to me and tells everyone how wonderful I am all praising me... comes up with new projects for me to take care of, etc. All in all, he and I don't have to talk much... we are both abstract-minded left-handed oddities. We can practically read each other's minds anyway.

Sometimes I just have to throw my hands up and leave for the day though. But he knows that no one else has been willing to put up with his sh!t and over all I'm the only one that comes back because I can handle him. Sometimes people need people to tolerate them.

I'd rather deal with him than be MORE miserable like I was at my previous [major] job before this. [I've work at two lingerie/novelty shops on the side in between all of this.] My previous boss was so covetous of me she wouldn't let me move up into different positions. (and good god her next assistant was dumb as bricks -- she even had me come back months later to teach her everything.) Her superiors saw my potential and gave me raises for it, but she did want me to grow or anyone to see my potential. She even told her other coworker not to hire me when the position I wanted more than anything was up for grabs and everyone knew I could handle it. She was so paranoid that I was out to get her, but I just wanted to get away from her and move onto something I was even better at.

But back to my current boss.. even my bestfriend/backup doesn't have to work there really. [her husband makes more than the boss does some 100K a yearish.] Our kids both go to school together.. but if we really wanted we could stay at home and play with our children all day long since we live right by each other. We just want to hold on to our independence and make some easy money.

...I truly don't believe that ALL of you haven't talked about your coworkers or your superiors before, lol. We all like to sleep better at night.. so it's okay.

did/didn't

g1amourpuss, your boss sounds like as much of a moron as mine Doesn't that suck?

It does suck sometimes. He is SO oblivious about the real world sometimes, but he thinks he knows all about it.. like Britney Spears seems real to him or something.. he's bizarre, but after all this time I get him.

He uses funny words like:
Corporate.
Logistics.
101 blah blah blah.

He told me once he wanted me to get something Cinema and Corporate-looking done with the floors like we had at our previous building put down in there.. And we looked at this carpet sample.. And I just died laughing later on thinking "Cinema Corporate Carpet".

Sometimes for a good laugh we'll sit down in the morning time to make a list of words he says that are just ridiculous. Ten words. Or ten sayings. We have to get his lunch too! So we'll sit and make a list of what all he eats...

Smothered Steak.
Chicken Fried Steak.
Mongolian Beef w/caterpillar roll
Double order of wings.

It's like are you kidding me? No one else would put up with this. Who else gets their boss' lunch everyday? My sister lives in Seattle and she gets so pissed about it. But it's easy money, and it's right by my house and my daughter's school.

The Assistant before me even spit in his coffee. I can't count the amount of employees we have been through, or the assistants I have had to train for me or under me. I just want to be happy and out of the house and have a good laugh for the day though. Somehow I manage to avoid his grumpiness usually, and sometimes I can make him laugh or feel important. It's all about TRYING to get along with people (especially when I'd rather give it to him and tell him how it really is).

His wife is oblivious also. She's like Satan. Thank god I rarely see her.

Dude, if you think your boss's wife is horrible, you should meet mine. For some reason, she's allowed to copyedit everything I write on the job, and she has no training in, um, English grammar, so she'll tell me to put commas in where they're unnecessary and take them out where they are necessary, because "there are too many commas here" and "there aren't enough commas there."

My boss occasionally walks into my office and asks, "Do you know what happened to that piece of paper I was holding this morning?"

(Yes, like in Devil Wears Prada, but more annoying.)

The things we do to make money...

My boss's wife complains about how big my breasts are. =/ How embarrassing. But my boss has said, "Who doesn't like to look at a nice rack?"... She had told him and my other boss that I shouldn't be wearing high heels!!!?! I was like The Audacity.

...and I'm so intimidated now that I know you are a writer, lol. I'm a Fruitloop here.

OMG are you SERIOUS?!

What a big old B! Then again, your boss's response was maybe not so appropriate

Don't be intimidated! It sounds like your writing is more than fine! Anyway, the only things I write for work are fundraising letters, really.

yes...but there are only 5 of us...and we all have the same issues with just 1 of us...however she knows how we feel, so we really aren't saying anything that we aren't or wouldn't tell her to her face...and it's not so much gossip as it is point blank what she does or how she acts, which reflects on all of us.

when i worked for a company of 150+, a little harmless gossip never hurt, but if it was something bad...I wouldnt repeat it.

Sure, I'll admit that I do engage in gossip, and I have to agree with glamourpuss: I find it hard to believe that so few people posting ever discuss others. Anyway, my work is filled with gossipers. Everyone talks about everyone and this isn't the type of place where you'll get fired for it.