Journal
Dealing with Inappropriate Professional Behavior
First things first… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!You’ve probably forgotten about Lauren’s estranged business partner, AiLun (me), by now… it’s been a while. But I’m back!
Let’s recap:
Remember that entry about how I gave my two weeks notice to my crazy boss? Well, it took me a little while to recover from that. My lovely coworkers from that job took me out for a farewell party and it was by far one of the sweetest times I’ve ever had. Even though my boss was out of her mind, I met really really good people. So, in the end, my year under intense micromanagement was worth it.
The Monday after my last day at my former job, I started a new job in an academic institution as an assistant/researcher/coordinator. All jobs take some adjusting, so that’s one of my excuses for not having written for so long.
I’m happy to announce that the new job has been treating me great! I work with great people who are my friends and I learn new things that I am interested in everyday. My boss is a great guy who cares about all of his staff and the work we do. All-in-all, no complaints.
But one question arises: How do you deal with inappropriate professional behavior with friendly coworkers?
Here’s an example:
Even though everyone at my work shares an egalitarian view of the structure of staff, I know that in reality, I have the least authority and the lowest title. It makes sense because I have the least working experience and everyone else holds higher educational degrees than I do. I completely accept this fact.
But there’s this one person, whom I am least friendly with, that addresses group e-mails as such: “crew of equals”. I am not a part of that e-mail group. Insulting? Yes. Since everyone at work is very friendly, this makes it hard for me to act otherwise. I don’t want to be the person to ruin a comfortable working environment. I can’t seem to find a way to approach her in a professional manner and tell her that that is simply inapproapriate.
How would you deal in a situation like this?
Posted by AiLun on January 08, 2006 at 7:32pm
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