Communicating At Work

This article is about difficult work situations.

I once worked in a place that even on orientation day gave me the blues. I met my soon to be boss on orientation day. I did not know who the person would be before that. I was interviewed by someone in the company’s personnel department.

On day one I was introduced to my boss by a member of personnel. My boss did not smile when he/she saw me the first time. The person said hello and little of anything else. At the time I thought the person was just having a bad day. The first impression was actually an eery sign of things to come.

By the end of the third week I was already screamed at unfairly by this person. I had remarks made to me in front of his/her manager coworkers about me thinking I’m better than the company. The boss also never had a one-on-one conversation with me about his/her expectations.

My coworkers doing the same job were tasked with the ‘difficulty’ of telling me about the ends and outs of the job. The coworkers did what they were supposed to do. But they also added lies in order to address their own self interests. I later found out later that there were racial biases among my bosses and how they were treating some customers.

I deliberately received the harder assignments that could cause me serious medical compromising. My boss continued to say sarcastic remarks to me. I did complete a task incorrectly twice. However, I always worked to rectify a situation in order to make sure that it was corrected before effect to a customer was imminent.

I went through a lot on this job. However, I still won. God used the job to send customers my way that gave me advice on life experiences they had that I was interested in doing. I also gave people advice based on my experiences. These experiences I speak of are very unique and less than seven percent of the United States population typically experiences some of them.

I have some tips on how I made it through this difficult time.

-Do your job and that’s all. Do not respond to your coworkers requests for you to do your job like they ask in order to make their life easier. You are working for a company in which your boss dictates how the company is to be portrayed to the public. Yes, there are social rules that dictate pleasing seasoned coworkers in order to remain in favor with bosses. However, doing what your bosses say and finding another way to show coworkers that you care is paramount.

Joining in on a joke. Laughing at appropriate jokes with ease. Comfortably and without sucking up to the coworker is how to do it. Only you know each coworker and what they care about the most.

-Ignore bosses who abuse power. My boss screamed at the top of his/her lungs at me for a minor error and said sarcastic things things to me every other day. I asked a friendly coworker (who did not try to take advantage of my newness) why our boss always treated several people this way. I was told that that my boss was going through personal issues. I continued to only use one or two words of answers in response to my boss. I was trying to keep my job and not give the boss and excuse to lie on me. He/She obviously could not be trusted.

-Do not join in on constant negative talk about the company at work. Many coworkers and some bosses let me know their disdain for the company. I kept silent. Anyone can lie at any time and cause you to be in trouble for your words. These bosses who voiced their disdain of the company to me also contributed to the broader lack of communication issues between the departments.

Do your work. Stay silent. Go home. Life does get better.