Be Careful What You Say

Be Careful What You Say, I Just May Be Listening

I work in an industry where team work, and employee relations are important. In my job, you have to be really good at being friendly with co-workers, as you have to work with them every day of your working week. But that doesn’t mean that you should have to put up with them trashing you behind your back.

Many times, I have entered the room after going out for a bathroom break only to find that when I come in, they are quietly talking between each other, and promptly stop once they see me. The looks on their faces are of pure guilt, and I just know that they have been talking about me. I think the worst thing is not knowing what they are saying about you. How can you defend yourself, or ward off attacks on you when you aren’t even sure what is being said? Worse still, you see them in the corridors snickering at you as you pass, and you don’t know what the big joke is all about.

This is a regular occurrence in my work place and, finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, despite trying to tell myself that they were being childish. And I wouldn’t want to hear what they were saying, it would only upset me, and destroy my confidence. None of my warnings were enough to stop me from wanting to know what they were all saying about me, so I decided to find out once and for all, so here is what I did.

In my travels, I come across a black MP3 recording pen. It was discreet enough not to be noticed when it was left on the table at our meetings when I went to the bathroom, and would record all of our meetings for future reference, as well as what they were saying behind my back. I would finally know what they were saying.

That afternoon as I returned to my cubicle to make some calls to clients, I plugged in my MP3 recording pen to the computer USB port, and listened to what was going on, the voices were crystal clear "Look at her hair', said one" It’s a wig I think," replied another They all giggled, then another voice broke in, "see that new girl they just hired? Word is she is having it off with the boss, that’s why she got hired" "I thought that wig girl was having it off with the boss", intoned another.

The talking went on for a while. They were all making fun of everyone, not just me. I decided that instead of getting mad, I would get even with them.

I continued to record their conversations for about a week, and then one day I emailed everyone in the office a copy of the weeks conversation from a disposable address so no one would know it had come from me. It was crazy at work for a few days, and for once the people in my focus group were actually focused on their work rather than those at work. They stopped talking to each other as they were still trying to find out who the traitor was.

I got my revenge, and stopped the nasty rumors that were going around, thanks to my MP3 recording pen. And work is a much pleasanter place to be theses days. Be careful what you say about others because you never know who is listening. It may just be me.