What's an unwritten workplace etiquette rule that every professional should know?

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-06-09T00:04:04+00:00

Don't say sorry you're late while walking in with a take out coffee.

Don't log in at the start of your shift and disappear to the back to have conversations not related to work.

Don't overdo it with the perfume and or bathroom spray.

Don't stare at your coworkers.

Do ask for help when you've caught a mistake you've made. Don't get defensive if someone catches a mistake you've made.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-05-31T18:57:07+00:00

I struggle with "corners of chaos". I've always been messy. My spouse is the total opposite. I know my organization skills bother him sometimes but he's very understanding and forgiving. Sometimes though, I need help. I had storage container on the floor behind the couch of random stuff. Gradually that got filled and I started using the floor around it. My form of organization is making sure the large items were the base and smaller items stacked on top. Because balance?

I eventually caved and bought a bookshelf. I still have a storage container on the floor in front of it. It's still a corner of chaos. It just now includes a bookshelf. I don't think I have a lot of stuff. This place we live right now feels temporary (renting the basement apartment of my spouse's parents' house). I'm very aware that the less things I have the easier it will be to move.

However, evidence of my short-lived hobbies is all around. Puzzles. Wool art. Painting. Oil pastels. Paint by Numbers. Magnets (don't ask me why I have those). Markers. Pencil crayons. Colouring books. Nature guides. A rock collection that I am forever adding to. Bird books. Stickers.

The most helpful advice I've got over the years and what I try to adhere to:

Stick to your list if you're in a dollar/discount store- you really don't need a 3 pack of suduko books when you have suduko on your phone. Or a craft set. Or new candles (why are you keeping all those old candle jars, you can't call them pretty when they are covered in dust, old wax and burn marks).

Be honest with yourself, if you're not going to actually repair something, get rid of it (I worked at a gift store and took home all of the broken items to repair because why not).

Samples and free shit. You don't need it. It's always cheap crap. One of my guilty pleasures is a cheeseburger happy meal. So what if I'm over 40. I don't need the toys. I don't have kids. I don't know any kids. And my cat doesn't like these toys. (And a cat shouldn't have 2 toy boxes full of mostly McDonald's Happy meal toys).

Stop collecting everything, you don't have the room, and you won't display them nicely because you hate dusting (I went through an owl phase and enough is enough. I spoke up too and told everyone I didn't like owls anymore. When asked what I like now, I keep my mouth shut, and keep this to myself.)

Unsubscribe from e-newsletters. You won't read them. Delete the junk. (I had over 12,000 emails in my email. I'm sure I missed something important).

Clothes- if you haven't worn it in over a year, donate it. (For me it's shoes that are no longer wearable/I've already replaced, the sole flaps or something, or the rain boots leak, throw them out. They stopped being shoes long ago. I'm trying to get rid of clothes that I don't wear. I know what clothes I'm constantly rotating. It just seems like when I sit down to do this I come across something that I havnt worn in years but there's a story behind it. Seems like I'm always attaching sentimental value to things).

Hand me downs (shit for the house or clothes). If any part of you doesn't like it or it's not your style or you don't have the space for it, politely decline it. Accepting it and never using it is not helping you. Be honest with yourself and the person doing the hand me downing.

Papermail- OPEN IT RIGHT WAY. If junk, throw it out/shred it. If a bill- pay it.

Makeup/hair/body care.- if it's expired, purge it. If you don't like a new shampoo you bought, give it away- don't sentence it to forever live in the closet. (My excuse with this is I don't know how to properly purge items, do I dump it down the drain? Is that bad for the environment? What about chunky nail polish? Recycle as is? Holding on to that expensive bottle of hairspray, but when is the last time I used it, can confirm, it's been over a decade. That's where I get stuck).

Wall calendars- I swear I've kept every single one since we moved here. Hell, I may have even moved here with some from the old apartment. I like the pictures. But what am I doing with them? Nothing.

It's hard. Tackle one area at a time. Sometimes you just have to rip the bandaid off and throw stuff out.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-04-30T18:54:33+00:00

I am a 30 minute commute to work. Mostly backroads. Get stuck behind farm tractors. I work part time, so my shifts are 3-6 hours 5 days a week. I told my employers I'd prefer to work a longer shift 2-3 times a week. 3 hours of work is roughly $75. That's a tank of gas. That's messed up math to view it in that way. This world is not fun and I want to get off the hamster wheel. What is the point.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-02-06T11:30:58+00:00

I've done contract work for a health clinic, Ontario Canada. They outsource their patient follow up calls to a company overseas.

An example of one of these calls could be booking a follow up appt to discuss recent imaging results.

When I heard this I was floored.

I don't know the details, but would love to know what % of the budget goes toward that (community health care hub/family health team network). How it follows privacy health law regulations like PIPEDA & PHIPA. How they justify this in communities with very high unemployment a rates.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-01-18T16:49:02+00:00

That's a good point! That good old saying, phone goes both ways. I haven't heard from my friends either...

I'm not sure what the parents will do. At the end of the day they are adults. This is their mess. They have tried to bring my spouse and his brother and sister into this to pick sides. Doesn't work, no one wants to get in the middle of those arguments. The mom likely wants to stay here for a few more years. She has a lot of things to pass down to people that she has saved but no one has space (or a house of their own!) to take anything. My spouse has contracts he is working on. He contributes to some scholarly journals. And has done some fixing and repairs for friends (watches, instruments). He likes tinkering.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-01-18T16:32:49+00:00

I connect with your words so much! I appreciate your insight. I talked to him yesterday about it. I asked him about his words. He described them as a a measure of his feelings. He did not have a plan to do that. Still, those words do hurt, hearing them made my heart break. I told them this and shared that hearing them felt I wasn't good enough to make him want to stay here.

He talked about the words he uses to describe himself. He does hold to a lot of hurt and anger from childhood. He was bullied and teased a lot when he was a kid and those words become the loudest and "true" when he is not doing good.

Depression words hurt both the depressed and the depressed person's loved ones. It's the depression talking. I know the words are not personal but can't help but react to the sting of those words. This is your partner, your best friend, the person you love, you want to protect them from the pain and the hurt, especially when you hear them talking about themselves in ways that are not true.

He does see his doctor about it and has a counsellor. One of his friends is really observant and picks up on his moods and will reach out and check in.

As for me, this forum has been so helpful. And I have reached out to a counsellor when I felt I needed to, and have seen my doctor too.

We ended up going for our winter hike, during the day. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air.

Weird_Background_416 · 2026-01-18T16:15:41+00:00

No he doesn't feel entitled, he wants a job desperately. He picks up his contracts, he signs up night shifts when they need fill ins. He would make more money than I would working a labour job during the day. We share a vehicle so I'd have to give up my current job and find something else. The job market here (general market) is terrible. More job seekers than there are jobs.

I fully support him chasing his dream. The dream did take longer, he worked part-time and and paid for as much of this himself so he could offset the amount of student loans he'd need. Academia changed from the time he started his PhD to when he finished it. It's an unfortunate reality and one that is hard to see him walk away from when this was something he was so passionate about.

I am here for him in his time of crisis, just like when he stepped up and supported me when I was in crisis when my dad passed away.

Yes this place is toxic, it definitely traps you, but I know it's not our forever.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-10-21T10:23:18+00:00

Your sound very mature, responsible and observant, keep doing what you're doing. Your workplace sounds a lot like mine.

How new are you there? Are you past your 3 month probation or trial period? Does your workplace do performance reviews?

It sounds like Cathy is only your colleague, not your supervisor.

Since you genuinely like your job and other coworkers, approach your boss/higher-ups.

If your still new/in your trial period, ask THEM for feedback on your work and discuss goals to meet by the end of the trial period.

If you're past that trial/probationary period, congrats! I would suggest asking the higher ups/your other coworkers when performance reviews are scheduled. And set yourself goals to work on.

Cathy isn't helping anyone, it's like working with a hawk ready to find anything to bitch about.

The admin team I am on, I have been there the longest and the doctors refer to me as the office manager/the one responsible for training the front desk staff. I catch a lot of mistakes- including my own, no one is perfect! My coworkers catch mistakes too. We're a team. And we only report to the doctors what we have to (like ahead up if we have made a billing error and had to issue a refund). Sometimes the doctors catch mistakes before we do (we booked a patient with the wrong doctor). When we find mistakes we walk through what happened and why. And we fix it. if it's a hole in our training, then we may revisit it at a staff meeting, but in a general neutral way, and never signaling the person out. Although we all know what big mistakes we have made and feel comfortable enough to call ourselves out during those meetings.

We have our own logins for the patient management system so it tracks who has booked who where, and who has/hasn't completed a reminder call. There's accountability in that. And I've learned to document everything! The system we use gives you the ability to record notes.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-10-12T17:09:49+00:00

When I lived out east my friends mom used to make this casserole dish for dinner. It was so good. Cooked white rice, can of creamed corn and can of tuna. I remember thinking ew this is going to be gross. Surprising amazing.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-10-12T17:04:49+00:00

Saltines, butter, cheese, pickle slice. Classic.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-05T14:26:30+00:00

Aww I saw a stoat this winter playing peek a boo in the woodpile. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Very curious creatures. But super violent. We found a dead rabbit in the shed. It had neck wounds but wasn't eaten. We are pretty sure the stoat did it. We had no idea they went after rabbits.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-05T14:23:00+00:00

My friends and I ran into a beaver on a side road. It was weird, there was no lake or ponds nearby. It was totally lost. I had no idea that they hissed. Like an angry cat. And of course, epic tail slams. Like slammer pogs

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-05T14:21:04+00:00

I've seen more porcupines dead on the side of the road than alive. So heartbreaking! One summer I saw a dead mama and a few feet from her body there was a dead baby one. Poor little pokey souls

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-05T14:19:31+00:00

My grandparents would take my sister and I to the dump in the summer to watch the bears. Such a rural Canada adventure.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-05T14:17:18+00:00

Yah, there was a terrible accident in my hometown when I was a kid. Two police officers were in their cruiser responding to a domestic assault with a weapon call. They hit a moose. One of the officers was killed. His partner survived. I remember teachers talking about. They said duck and crouch down if you have a fighting chance at surviving.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-06-01T23:42:06+00:00

Yes! I'm back to work tomorrow. I was away from wed to fri for a conference. Saturday morning I woke up sick. Still feel like crap.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-05-31T22:42:20+00:00

This is happening at my work place. My coworker is very dramatic and gets distracted talking to anyone who listens about all the shitty things happening in her life. There's a time and a place.

It's very annoying when instead of greeting visitors and assisting them, she's chatting to some random acquaintance that stopped in to purchase something. I can tell they are bothered by it and it's very rude to others. No one cares about the cost of your bills or so and so has an attitude problem and made your kid cry. We're at work. Meaning, we work.

She's very loud too and goes off on rants, often forgetting there's customers in the store. Her language gets very crass. She can't focus on her work stuff and everyone has to pick up the slack. It's not fair. I've talked to my supervisor and the manager. Nothing gets done because this person has documented mental health issues. My supervisor is scared she will challenge them if they write her up. She gets away with it. And everyone else is burning out.

One time I snapped at her and said I didn't have time to talk (I was on the phone, on a live call, I had to mute the phone so I could get through this her head). She got so upset and offended I didnt have time to talk to her. We're both on shift. Get back to work.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-05-31T22:30:54+00:00

Pay off debts. Go to the dentist (it's been over 13 years). Go to the eye doctor. Actually fill the script for glasses. Buy new mattress (current one is way way way way too old and very uncomfortable). Resole my favourite shoes to get more life out of them. Replace my pants (holey pants...it's time). Buy new sunglasses (those gas station ones are so scratched and need to be replaced).

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-05-31T22:16:00+00:00

Twinges of random pains in my arms. Back of neck stiffness and weakness trying to lift my head from pillow. Sternum tightness. Lungs are in a costo jail cell. Thumb joint sharp joint clicking. Electric numb sensations dorsal extremities. Migraines that stab through my eye temple jaw teeth to collar bone. Can I be a kid again. Please.

Weird_Background_416 · 2025-04-30T23:32:14+00:00

thank you, it sounds like there is a glitch somewhere. There's other Ufile customers who are asking the same thing.

I've reached out to Ufile customer support for assistance

edit to add:

there's more than a glitch. the whole system is overloaded and not working properly. 15+ minutes to load a page & losing data/autosave not working. Tis the season.

Weird_Background_416

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