Know When to Zip Your Lips

Here's some very good advice: Watch what you say, when you say it, and where you talk about it.

While at a restaurant the other day, some women wearing jackets identifying them as local hardware store employees sat in the booth behind me.

I wasn’t eavesdropping, but they were talking loudly enough for those at neighboring tables to hear, and I couldn’t help but overhear one say that her boss had walked by her the very moment she called a fellow worker a name involving a part of the male anatomy … out loud.

She was complaining to her co-workers that although the boss didn’t write her up, he did give her a warning and reprimanded her for using offensive language in the presence of customers. And he did write an informal note to put in her personnel jacket.

I couldn’t believe my ears when the others in the party supported her – not with consoling “aww too bad” sentiments, but with some “the nerve of the guy,” and “he didn’t have to do that” sort of "anti-boss" comments.

Employees can be so stupid, so dense, so irresponsible sometimes. One can never tell when a customer will overhear what’s being said – on the sales floor, or even in a restaurant.