Listen Up! It's The Office Eavesdropper

You'll find them hovering over a shared printer, sauntering outside doorways and consistently lowering the volume on their computer speakers. We're talking about the Office Eavesdropper (O.E.), found in Every Office, USA.

If knowledge is power, this control freak soaks up every drop. The O.E. has several potential motives:

- Acquire knowledge to disseminate (gossip)
- Hold onto info for a rainy day (power)
- Listening for the sake of listening (loser)

Surreptitiously listening to a private conversation is not only unethical but it is bad career karma.

The O.E. comes in all shapes and sizes, making this animal difficult to find in the Cubicle Zoo. Several giveaways:

- They become silent when people in their vicinity are talking

- The O.E. spends an inordinate amount of time in 'common' areas

- They share trivial information about other people with you. (If they do it to them, they'll do it to you!) They tip their hand by revealing how much useless knowledge they've accumulated.

- You find them with a glass against the conference room wall.

It is important to understand what is happening around you at work, but listening in on other people's conversation should be the exception - not the rule. If you find that the bulk of information you possess is coming from eavesdropping on your coworkers, you clearly need to reflect on how you are communicating.

Have you identified the Office Eavesdropper? Tell us how and help your fellow office workers.

Comments

[Nancy Jarvic]

You can usually tell who the eavesdroppers are. You will often find them to be introverts and a wee bit creepy.

[Nikki]

Nancy, just because someone isn't engaged in conversation all the time doesn't mean they're listening to yours. Gossip isn't a tendency of an introvert. The busy bodies around this office tend to be extraverts.

[VK]

Ah, yes there are office snoops and then those-such as we have where I work-that do it professionally! I'm talking about Internal Security Units, and if you think that this smacks of paranoia, you are so wrong. Many corporations employ such units to perform internal police functions, to include not only investigating who stole some office supplies, or lied on their time sheet, but also address such real concerns as industrial espionage, sabotage, etc.

So, and as I've said before, 'YOU'RE THE MASTER OF EVERYTHING YOU DON'T SAY, AND THE SLAVE TO EVERYTHING YOU DO'. Remembering this simple maxim hepls avoid making enemies, but also discourages those gossipers who are more than willing to share their pathology with you.