If I Wanted Drama, I’ll Watch TNT: Workplace Headaches
Bad customers can totally ruin a workday in retail, but bad co-workers can do just as easily, and be even more difficult to handle. It seems like everyone has to get their nose in everyone else’s business, for no reason other than to have something to gossip about or to just cause trouble for drama’s sake. Just in the last few days, we’ve had floating(read:substitute) pharmacists calling senior management worrying about employees calling out because of the employee’s dislike of them, even when said employee shows up on time. I’ve heard co-workers shoving words in the mouths of other employees and talking bad behind their back. And no one, NO ONE wants to address the situation directly with the source of their seemingly imaginary problems.
Now, it’s hard for me to judge if this is a universal retail problem that many employees face and transcends gender, or if this has to do with a bunch of women with clashing personalities who refuse to talk like adults and instead gossip like a bunch of teenage girls(My sample is rather skewed, seeing as how me and a pharmacist are the only males in a store that employs a dozen people. And no, I haven’t tried explaining to my workers that I’m actually a demigoddess; Jane already thinks I have too high of an opinion of my self already because I won’t just roll over to her whims). And while I really like catgirls, a bunch of girls just being catty? Not so much, especially when it screws up the workflow.
So, I need to ask; is there a lot of unnecessary gossip and drama at your store that seems to serve no real purpose except to CAUSE gossip and drama? If so, does it seem to be evenly spread between genders, or does it tilt more toward one side or the other? Or is it just one employee in particular who seems to start all the trouble?
