|
bad gossip can often make me feel better about my own situation if i'm not happy with it. knowing that i'm not the worst off, gives me reason to feel grateful. starving people in a foreign land didn't make me want to eat veggies as a child, but it did make me more grateful in my college years that i could at least afford ramen noodles.
and i find a lot of it invaluable in the work place. if someone screws up or doesn't do their job--knowing about it benefits me. i know not to make that type of mistake myself and i know that i need to be extra careful when i'm working with that person.
it can also allow someone who's out of the group, a way in. for example--one woman i work with is a total flake. we'll call her sally. she's just not all there in the head and she annoys the hell out of everyone. for months, sally was on the outside because she's not someone people liked as a person and her personal work habits created more work and stress for everyone else. then another new woman was hired. i'll call her betty. betty is outright rude to staff and we all feel she creates so much extra work and stress that the workday would go smoother if we were short and she just wasn't there at all. betty attempted to befriend sally--and sally relayed the horror stories to the rest of us. this gave her a common bond with the rest of us (dislike for betty) and also initiated sympathy from us because of the unwanted attentions she is receiving from betty. now, sally is considered a part of the group--the problems betty created gave a reason for people to bond with her. and while sally's work performance hasn't improved, we are more tolerant of it because compared to betty--sally is awesome to work with.
|