4 ms·
Ask HN: How to stay out of office politics?
How to stay out of office politics (as a junior):
- Always put your headphones on, at some point they'll get tired shouting at you and ignore
- Do not speak unless you have to, but don't look anti-social either
- Do not comment when the office is talking about a co-worker, it'll bite you
- Do not act weird (golden rule of life), speak, walk and sip your coffee slowly
- Arrive as early as you can, and leave as late as possible, you should OWN the office and shouldn't miss an important event
- Always smile and be kind, they will hesitate to raise their voice
- Smell nice, brush your teeth, they might use your shabbiness as an ad hominem argument
- Don't get too friendly nor too cold, both ways end in regret
Here are the tactics I've developed in my first 6 months. I'd love to hear about yours!
- Shinmon 4y agoNot sure if this is irony or not.
- PaulHoule 4y ago"Brush your teeth" is good advice.
- version_five 4y agoI think "smell nice" is pretty under-rated, though I'd suggest the nicest smell is so smell at all Personally (at a normal work-interaction distance from someone) Nothing > normal BO > food > cologne
- Shinmon 4y agoYeah, but...do besides a very few people actually have problems with that?
- PaulHoule 4y agoUnlike a lot of problems, odors are easy to fix.
- dave4420 4y agoIn your one-to-one meeting with your boss, demand that they protect the team from office politics. Find a different job where your boss is good at shielding their team from office politics. Sometimes it will be your boss’s boss who should be insulating you from office politics instead.