Big mouth

In the pursuit of fairness for all, I rarely know how to shut up. Today was a doozy, even by my standards.

The BB (big boss) at the office has been yammering lately about how there is entirely too much visiting going on among the secretaries. Owners translate visiting into down time which means no work is getting done. A little visiting is okay, but parking yourself in front of a cubicle with a cup of coffee and a 15-minute story about a misbehaving teenage daughter isn't. Can't say I disagree, but a certain amount of visiting builds relationships and improves morale. And nitpicking doesn't help anyone be a better employee.

So he's been making comments to me about a couple of the secretaries in particular. It's true, they do tend to have more down time than they should, or at least than they should display. When he's focusing on problems, he has a bit of tunnel vision, and doesn't notice anything anything outside of that. But the problem is, he's a bit chatty himself, and spends a good deal of time visiting with his secretary, B (for Bitch).

I frequently see him parked at her cubicle, shooting the breeze about country clubs and vacations and gossip. No big deal, except that he's told the staff that the visiting needs to be curtailed. And he's doing it right in front of them. And he's engaging one of the secretaries who the rest feel already has more rights and privileges than the rest of them. And if they were doing the exact same thing at the same time, it would be noticed and frowned upon and dealt with.

Here is where BM (Big Mouth -- that's me) comes in. We were covering some personnel issues today while he was in my office. We wrapped up and he got ready to leave and I told him I had something I wanted to discuss with him, but he could tell me to shove it if he wanted. Then I told him that it wasn't really fair to worry about the staff spending time visiting when lately I've noticed he's been spending a fair amount of time doing the same thing. Then I told him that I didn't think the visiting was the real problem, it's the one-sidedness of it that creates problems. If he was visiting across the board with the staff, that would actually be building relationships in a way that could improve morale. But when it's with only one member of the staff, the rest of them resent the fact that they are reprimanded for doing the same thing she does freely and right in front of them.

He was a little taken aback, but listened respectfully. He acknowledged he's been visiting too much lately and had even thought that before I brought it to his attention. I think he missed my point that I thought it would be beneficial to extend the camaraderie with the rest of the staff (he's a bit of a snob and probably couldn't even conceive it) as he said he thinks he really needs to pull back on interactions with the staff. Hmmm. Not where I was going with it, but okay.

Anyway, it's clear that someone just doesn't know how to shut up. BM has a touch of diarrhea of the mouth. Who died and made me queen of all that's fair? No one, that's who. I hope I don't use up all of my office political capital with stupid comments like that! Oh well, we never know until we try. But one of these days he really is going to tell me to shove it. Or else not to let the door hit me on the ass on the way out.