Institutional Interaction

Funnily enough I touched on this in last week's comment on profanity!

There's a significance difference when it comes to interacting with your friends, your family, and your boss. Work colleagues and superiors require a certain level of tact when you're interacting with them because of the environment the interaction is taking place within. It's not the time or place for swearing, sarcasm, or playful (or not so playful) insults. Each workplace is different but one thing they all have in common is the need for at least a bit of extra care when it comes to what you say and how you say it.

The point I was making last week was basically about the difference between who you're swearing to. It's fine in context with your friends, when you're in a relaxed environment and that sort of social behaviour is acceptable but its vastly different when you're in a job interview, and subsequently when you're at work. When you're in the workplace its often not just your own image you're upholding. Many jobs (particularly the type uni students have) involve a great deal of interactions with customers or clients, and if our interactions aren't at a certain level of politeness in such a frame- we're not damaging our own image so much as we are the company's.

I don't think any further explanation is required for why that might be bad. But it's not just about swearing, obviously. Showing up dressed appropriately (or dressed at all) and following the rules of the workplace apply just the same. Smoking inside the store you work at, leaving for hours at a time, there's obviously many rules, sometimes spoken, and often-times considered so obvious there's no need to speak them, which we must follow as a part of the institution of the workplace.

If not, its probably safe to assume you're not going to be a part of that institution for much longer.