As funny as this topic might seem, it is not entirely rid of serious notions. The famous office gist is something that we all indulge in as a means to just get away and be distracted from the monotony of work for a few seconds. It can be done in the tea room, across tables, during lunch breaks or whenever the gist is hot to drop. However, one must take note of the kind of gist to indulge in and the ones to avoid. Let’s do a run-down of the kind of gist to indulge in and the ones to run from.
- The General Update productive kind of gist: Now this is a gist you should embrace if it includes general updates about the office that affect your work and how you can function better or positive updates about a colleague that can initiate healthy competition and motivation. This kind of gist helps get work done rather than stir up drama and if you as a co-worker should notice it stirring in another direction, RUN.
- The Rant: Everyone gets to the point in their work life where they are so frustrated that they begin to rant. Ranting is healthy because it helps you get things off your chest but you shouldn’t do it in the workplace or to colleagues because as it is popularly known “The Walls Have Ears”. It is best to rant to non-work friends and get a non-judgemental perspective to the problem rather than tell a work colleague which might stir up unnecessary drama and hate. This is a gist you should avoid doing and avoid engaging in.
- The Jealous chatter: Every office has that one person who seems to be receiving all the praises and being the standard everyone has to live up to. This doesn’t mean that you should engage in conversations about the person that stir up how the person is incompetent or how the bosses do not know the times that the person did not get the work done and you did. This is an unproductive gist that does not only affect the time you need to get work done and get praised but it just shows how you can’t handle healthy competition without resulting in unhealthy bashing.
- The Unintentional Intentional Low Blow: Basically, this is the kind of gist that begins with sentences like “Not like I don’t like her but she’s…” or “She has been working really hard but she forgot to…” This gist is unintentional because you or the person giving the gist don’t necessarily mean harm but it becomes intentional because you or the person are about to stir it into negativity with the phrase “But”. At this point, you open the floodgates for conversation on how the person has been incompetent. Run from this type of gist.
- The Angry tirade: There would always be that one colleague or colleagues that would just take pride in making you or your team look bad. Most times this person would unintentionally say your team is not working or all the work you do is child’s play. This kind of situation can make you go into an anger spiral where you begin to start gisting and bashing the colleague to another colleague and you might be this colleague. If you happen to find yourself in this situation, RUN.
Most times, saying “RUN” is easier said than done because there comes a time where you feel you need to contribute and air your opinions on the matter but when you feel this way, you need to avoid indulging the thought. The office gist is a tempting ticking time bomb that can stir up a lot of controversy if the wrong people hear it. It is impossible to not hear office gist but entertain only the ones that are productive and have a special answer for the ones that constitute what has been described above. Hold your ground against talking bad about another colleague because today it’s another colleague but tomorrow, it can be you being talked about. When you hold your ground with replies like “Sorry please I do not appreciate talking about the “said person” in such a manner” or healthy deflection “Oh really, she did that? I hope you are doing well though? How is your family?” or just state that you are busy and you actually want to be productive at the said time. With these type of replies, the wrong type of office gist would begin to miss you and you begin to set a trend that people would begin to notice and emulate.
