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Study: American workers too sensitive to rude behavior
January 26th, 2009 @ 7:43am
By Paul Nelson
Are Americans too sensitive to rude behavior at work? A recent survey says we may complain about things that people in other countries let slide.
Even if you're happy with your job, you might not be happy with everyone you work with. If you were to take a quick poll of the people around you, I'm sure they could point out how their co-workers can be downright rude.
One man told me, "There's only one, but he cheats on time a little bit, then he wants to tattle on everybody else."
Another called his rude co-workers, "Finger-pointing people; the ones that point out your stuff when they're the ones doing it."
A survey by the Australian company Servcorp ranked the five most offensive behaviors at the workplace. They listed them as not saying hello, not offering office guests a drink, speaking loudly across the room, cursing and talking on the cell phone. Reuters says the poll also ranked the United States and Britain as the most sensitive to these behaviors, which surprises Executrain of Utah General Manager Dale Byrd.
"It surprises me because we deal so much with people who feel like we need to improve in etiquette," he said.
Byrd teaches seminars on workplace etiquette, frequently helping people deal with the egos of co-workers and when others invade their personal space. Many times a boss within a company will set up an etiquette seminar not knowing that his employees think he's the problem.
"A lot of times it's boss-subordinate issues. They feel like their boss is rude. They feel like they don't have input," Byrd said.
But what do people in Utah consider rude workplace behavior? Byrd says people here are most sensitive to three specific things.
"[Talking about] religion and politics can come into it. I also believe sexual harassment. We're very mindful of that," he said.
He says people on the east coast are more open about politics and religion at work. Byrd says Americans have been so fiercely trained to be careful with what we say at work, we tend to get offended over things very quickly.
"I think we're very, very careful. I think your job is at risk if you say the wrong thing. Twenty years ago, there are thing you could have said that you just cannot say today," he explained.
He says people in the south are more sensitive about their history. If you say anything bad about the Confederacy, your co-workers might think you're the rude one.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
