Hey guys, have you noticed some things some of your coworkers do that annoy you? Sometimes you may even be doing it without noticing. It is because at work, there are some unspoken rules that people may not understand. Here are 8 examples of office mistakes everyone does but doesn’t talk about!
Taking Small Items For Yourself
Taking small things like a paper clip, a stapler, a pen, making personal photocopies.
Sometimes, the office has just what you need, and the office manager actually knows that people take tiny things for personal and not business use.
Furthermore, the attitude for this behavior is “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
This is unprofessional behavior, and people have been fired for petty theft, which is why nobody talks about taking a few small things when they really need them.
Most of the time however, people do not care and it just is rude to do so.
But, it is never okay to steal, not even a paperclip, and doing so may get you fired.
Jamming The Copier And Walking Away
Let’s be honest, it is embarrassing to jam up the photocopier.
It is even more embarrassing to walk away and later admit you were the one who delayed office work for an hour while the repair person worked on fixing your problems.
It is a mistake to leave the copier jammed, especially if you create the issue, but nobody seems to talk about it.
If you don’t believe me, ask anyone in the office if they ever walked away from a paper jam they made, they will always deny it. But we all know.
Not Making A Fresh Pot Of Coffee
Whether we truly forgot, or we’re “too busy,”, or we are rushing, we have all made the mistake of drinking the last of the coffee and not making more.
It is common courtesy to make a fresh pot of coffee however, as none of us like walking to the coffee machine to find it empty so we have to make it and wait for it.
So regardless, try your best to fill the coffee pot up once you are finished with it, makes office life easier for everyone!
Coming Into Work Sick
Sometimes, people come into work sick, and the intent is usually to save their sick days for personal time and nobody really uses sick days when they are actually sick!
It is so true! But nobody will ever openly admit it to the boss, and especially the HR manager, coming into work sick so you can use sick days as personal days is something people do all the time.
Perhaps you take those days as “mental health recharging opportunities,” because we all know you either use them or lose them.
Try your best to actually use sick days for sickness though, as you don’t want to infect everyone else in the office.
Taking Your Phone Into The Bathroom
Ask anybody in the office if they take their phone to the bathroom at work and they will outright deny you. But we all know the truth.
If you are going to be sitting and doing nothing for 5 to 10 minutes, your phone is a personal entertainment device perfect for the job!
You can use it to do so many things and plug in the headphones, nobody will ever know.
If you think you are the only person that does it, an internet poll shows that 61% of people said they have done it, you are definitely not alone!
Try your best to not bring your phone into the toilet as you may waste more time than usual.
Browsing The Internet
Chances are, you could be doing this one right now as you are reading this article haha!
At the office, we have access to a computer, which gives us the Internet, and a good chance to waste time online content, and you do it, your boss does it, the boss’ boss does it. Everyone does it. Nobody admits it.
However, it has a lot of people worried. If you google up “browsing Internet at work” there are 71 million results.
Topics like “How to secretly browse internet at work?” and “how to slack off at work and not get caught” are everywhere. But nobody talks about it ?????
Taking Credit For Someone Else’s Work
This one is a BIG mistake, and a rude thing to do, if you do this intentionally, I don’t like you.
But realistically, sometimes, it just happens.
You can be in a meeting with your boss and he or she gives you props for a project someone else was mostly responsible for. What do you do? COnfess, and look like an honest but unproductive employee? Gladly take full ownership, and gloat? Or say nothing and just hope you are invisible?
Most of us choose the latter. Yes it is a mistake and hopefully a very rare one.
But sometimes, the easiest way out is not talking about it.
This has happened to me personally, and my reply was “ It was not solely on me, I’d give credit to so and so and my team, as it was a group effort, without us working together, this would not have been a reality!”
It looked good on me, and everyone else involved! So if it happens, try something along those lines the next time!
