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| Tattletale | 60% | 735 votes | Total: 1224 votes | |
| Gossip | 40% | 489 votes |
Tattletale
by TJ Henderson
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Add to FavoritesFrom an employers point of view, tattletales are much more annoying in addition to adding to the normal stress of the workplace environment. Their apparent self proclaimed importance and unsolicited information places them in the position of judge, jury and hangman. It is beyond annoying, it is destructive, both for their future in the company and for the effectiveness of the workplace in general.
There will, unfortunately, always be those few individuals who feel it is their duty to keep running to the boss, informing them of what they feel to be important information that apparently the boss doesn't know about, but should. Don't get me wrong, there are times when important things do happen that do not get noticed. Those are welcomed. However, the truly important pieces of information are not what I'm referring to. It's the petty, insignificant details of the day, the things that will eventually and naturally occur when there are people working side by side in the same office space. Those are not necessary to report,they are actually a waste of time for both the employer and the employee, taking each away from important duties. By placing themselves, unrequested in the place of unauthorized office monitor, tattler's diminish their worth in the eyes of their employers, waste their time and put undue stress where there is already too much.
Employers sometimes choose to overlook minor indiscretions to accomplish the overall larger picture of production. When it is in our face constantly, through the glaring eyes of an employee, piercing us with the "what are you going to do about that?" glare ... it puts us in a very stressful, unnecessary and exceedingly ungrateful situation.
The pettiness and stress this causes the employer places the tattletale in an invaluable light, probably not the place they thought they are heading.
Our company is small and our workers, for the most part, like working there. However,at times, due to the behavior of a few, the normally enjoyable atmosphere of the office can turn sour as the decay of the tattler's pettiness spreads, affecting all those within reach. The tattletale would definitely increase their value to their company if they spent more time concentrating on their own duties and performing them in a professional manner. This would allow their employers more time to pay attention to running the company without spending time on their useless prattle and putting out the little fires of discord they spread.
So, tattletales beware! You may feel your information and actions are helping you move into the the inner circle of your boss. While in reality you are placing yourself on a shaky foundation, destroying your worth to the company and literally driving in that final nail in your own coffin of future employment.
Learn more about this author, TJ Henderson.
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Gossip
To be honest, both types of people are annoying for different reasons. The reasons they are annoying are reasons that make both types of people the types you don't want to work with. Both make it difficult to perform in the work place and they both put other employees at risk of either losing their jobs, or losing the respect of others in the work place. In my opinion though, the more detrimental of the two, is the gossip. The tattletale may be annoying and they may get you in trouble when you don't deserve it....but often times others can vouch for your good performance if the tattletale is being less than honest, or is simply mistaken in their pointing of the finger.
The gossip though, they can hurt your reputation if people believe them. Of course, many people choose not to believe or listen to a work place gossip...but from my personal experience...the work place gossip somehow finds an in with everyone and has some people believing what they say as though it is the truth. Some gossips even feel they are telling the truth. See, with a tattletale, you know the motive. They want to get you in trouble for something stupid. They may have gotten offended that you did something slightly wrong, and feel it is their duty to tell everything that goes on to the boss. Tattletales are generally pretty one dimensional and pretty non-threatening. If you and the others in your place of work are good workers and mostly honest people, you have nothing to fear from a work place tattletale because your boss can be dismissive about information that is passed from this person.
It is always easy to spot a tattletale because they are the ones running to the person in charge with their tails between their legs....or running to the person in charge with an indignant air about them. Either way, this person inevitably soon becomes obvious as a simple tattletale and people eventually learn not to listen to them or believe them.
A gossip can be harder to spot right away, especially if they know they are a gossip and try to remain elusive as such. They will look for moments when it is 'alright' to gossip and they will jump at those chances. Some gossips never know or learn when to shut-up, those are the ones that are easy to spot. Unlike their one dimensional tattletale counterpart, the gossip comes in many dimensions. They can be obvious, elusive, they can be honest, or deceitful. Not all gossip is exaggeration and lies...some people love gossiping the truth. They spill anyones beans whenever they can without any need to exaggerate. Some gossips are the kind of people that make sure they are in two places at one time so they can have all the juicy info later. Some gossips have to wait to be told their information....but they have sources you would not believe. Some gossips know how to hold on to something they deem useful, being able to pull it out of their store and use it for ammo later on down the road.
These people, the gossips, they can either be sleazy or honest...trustworthy or totally unable to be trusted....there isn't much of a way to tell until you have been exposed to them long enough to learn which category of gossip they fall under. The point of the gossip is to hurt the reputations of others no matter what kind of gossip they are.
Even though most people know better than to listen to a gossip, there is the small factor that at times people do not know they are listening to a gossip. Some gossips hide their slander better than others, and it can get people in trouble. If you do something they don't like, they may find something out about you and spread it around. They may tell the boss something that could cause you to lose your job, whether or not the something was true. You have to be careful around gossips because you never know if they are in with the boss or not, you never know who trusts them and who doesn't...unless there are other gossips to tell you. Many people don't know a gossip is in the midst until it is too late to do anything about it. It is hard to believe someone who comes up after the fact. If a gossip gets there first, people may believe them over the truth teller.
Gossips are more annoying for so many reasons that go beyond the ones I just listed. In many ways, a gossip has the annoying ability to also be a tattletale, whereas the tattletale is almost never also a gossip.
Out of the two, the gossip is by far more annoying, and more detrimental, as a co-worker than the tattletale is.
Learn more about this author, Kittie M.
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