It's 3:45pm on a Friday, LEAVE ME ALONE!

I understand, you don't want to go home for the weekend because you'll have to spend it with the family you've built. This is why you are calling just before I am out the door with 15 minutes to go, with a conversation that is bound to last for 45 minutes!

Look, I want to go home, and I will go home when the clock allows it. I could care less if your kids have Karate practice or your spouse is sick with the flu, and you don't want to deal with it. You will not keep me from leaving my office when I am allowed!

Why are you calling or stopping by this late on a Friday anyway?You know that people are getting ready to leave the office. Why didn't you finish your project this morning? Oh yea, you were yammering your mouth this morning and now you want to bother me. Hardly!!!

Here is what you should do... Stop procrastinating and get your work done early. Leave me alone. I know that I am on the clock, but you're breaking an unspoken rule, "When Friday's time is winding, don't come arriving!"

Nobody's Home, so Go Back to Yours!

You may have done this before and had no clue of it. In the workplace, there are multiple levels of associations going on. We at OHW used the “High School” metaphor a few times to show how people connect with one another at work. Your boss is the principal, while the receptionist that speaks to every person that enters the floor could be the Class President or the Varsity Cheerleading Captain (because he or she knows it all). Who are you in your office?

Well, have you ever wanted to talk to a particular person that wasn’t in their office at the moment you walked by, so not to waste a trip, you talked to the next person in the vicinity? If so, you just “second best’d” someone. You'll most likely yammer their ear off about subjects the person could care less about. And don’t think that this person doesn’t know that you are just trying to pass time until the person of your choice gets back. How do they know? You’re just busy talking to “second best” while continuously looking around for your quick escape.

Yea, you know the feeling. It’s similar to when a good friend of yours gets a significant other, then falls off the face of the earth on you; only to come back when the relationship is dead. This is how you just made “second best” feel. Yes, when you walked by that persons’ cube without acknowledging them, to see that your friend that sits next to this person isn’t at their desk, for you to suddenly acknowledge the person you just ignored, is too late of a strategy.

So if you don't want to be the black eye on morale in your workplace, say hello to everyone you make eye contact with and if the person you are looking for isn't there, go somewhere and sit down.