26 Nov 07 Respect in a workplace….
The workplace is a very stressful area that we spend a lot of our time in. A lot of the time more than a third of our waking hours are spent working under stressful conditions. Being in the IT department is more stressful than most as it is our job to solve problems and that is what we hear all day and every day. Being constantly bombarded with negative impacts will wear out anyone. No matter how strong they are. That is why there is such a high burnout rate amongst the IT crowd.
This can be alleviated somewhat by the way that people treat each other. The workplace is a place of business and not a family living room. In a family home, ie. your own home, emotions are not hidden. Both good and bad are displayed for all to see. Occasionally, no matter how much we love our closest and dearest to our hearts, we treat them with disrespect, scorn and anger tantrums. These outbursts (usually as a result of work stress) are quickly forgotten, ruffled feathers are smoothed over and bridges rebuilt.
This method of close interaction doesn’t fit well in the workplace. The workplace has a much larger mix of emotional types and a snide comment by one person can and usually is taken as a full blown insult resulting in a state of war that is very hard to resolve peacefully, if at all. It is very important that everyone treat everyone else with respect no matter who is talking to who. In a workplace everyone has a specific job to do and they are all equally as important. From the CEO to the Janitor everyone needs to maintain a certain standard of interpersonal interaction. If this is not maintained then workplace stress rises, moral drops and the fabric of the workplace starts to unravel like Auntie Mays home knitted woolen jumper.
So if you are reading this (and I am a hundred percent sure you are 
be very aware of how you interact with the people around you. It can make all the difference between a meal ticket and the handout line.
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