If you believe your company or organization exhibits character, stop and think about this. Recent news accounts tell of four women who were fired for gossiping in a city government office. They lost their jobs because they chose to gossip about the boss and his decision to hire a new worker at greater pay than they received. This pay was despite her apparent lack of experience and obvious lack of seniority.
What amazes me is not the fact that the women got fired for gossip in New Hampshire. The applicable law clearly states that employees may be fired with or without cause. Their firing was completely legal.
The discussion of their firing is what amazes me. The media is not blaming the women for any wrong-doing, legally or morally. To the contrary. The consensus of opinion seems to be that workplace gossip is common, and therefore morally right. That is what people do – especially females – especially females in offices. They gossip. It is part of being a female employee, according to the media.
Several TV “newscasters” have stated that the New Hampshire employer is the one who is at fault, not the women. Not only did he hire someone he ought not to have hired, award position and compensation he ought not to have rewarded, but he also was clearly wrong in not keeping other female employees so busy they could not gossip.
One person covering the story even stated that the boss “lacked integrity and character” in failing to run the city’s government offices in such a way that gossip would never occur. Had he been a man of character, he would have kept his employees under control.
In other words, this person is telling us that it was the boss, not the employees, who lacked character. If they gossiped, it was his fault.
I am amazed. This is like saying that if a man commits murder, it is the fault of local police officers. Had the police been men and women of character, that man would never have committed murder.
Does this government office manifest character? Are we to believe, whether looking at the fired employees or at the employer, that character traits abound in that office?
Character repudiates workplace gossip. Gossip is not a character trait. Gossip is a manifestation of a lack of character. People who gossip lack self-control. They do not take time to think through the potential act of gossiping and purposefully, consciously control themselves.
There is a story for young children, Stinky Skunk’s Self-Control, that makes this character trait clear. You have already guessed what the skunk did not control. She knew how she should act, but when she felt an itch to do wrong, she gave in to the itch instead of making herself do right.
Gossip falls into the same category. Women (or men) all know that gossip is not right. It does not matter whether everyone is doing it or not. Gossip is wrong. We all know how to act, i.e., refuse to gossip. But oh, that itch! The itch to gossip! The itch to share some juicy bit of information or misinformation! The itch to make ourselves look good by making others look bad!
Character repudiates workplace gossip because when character acts it blocks that itch to do wrong. As surely as sunscreen blocks the sun’s rays from burning the skin, character blocks the tongue from gossiping about others.
Whatever else those four female employees learn from this, they should learn that gossip is wrong – always and everywhere. It is not the fault of their employer that they gossip. He can control some things, but he cannot control their tongues. Only they can do that.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?