Co-worker Loyalty

Despite the fact that I think that at a moment's notice any co-worker would rat you out, there does seem to be some degree of "co-worker loyalty." I learned this first hand today as I tried to gain information about a missing staffer. While we all know that office gossip rules, I was shocked to see one co-worker so loyally keep the secrets of another. HOW DARE HE?

Here's how it went down. I walked into the restroom behind Brenda from the Member Relations department this morning. So many things happen down in Member Relations that they should start their own soap opera or sitcom down there. As I relieved myself in one stall and she does her business in the other, she begins to strike up a conversation with me about her department member, Diane. Normally I don't entertain bathroom stall conversations as I think there is something really creepy about it, but today, I gladly partook in this one because I am super nosey. Here's a little background on Diane.

Diane didn't have the best office etiquette but she was a really nice person. She was what some people like to call "ghetto" but I like to stay she just kept it real. And because of this lots of people in her department gave her a hard time. But who cares? As long as you do your job it shouldn't matter, right? Wrong. The problem worsened when she begin to consistently come into the office late, call out with lame excuses and act inappropriately at company functions. Her days were well numbered and she was basically living on borrowed time after being reprimanded several times. In my last conversation with Diane she was telling me how she was interviewing for other positions, which was probably the smart thing for her to do. Then, Diane just vanished. It was like she was on an extended vacation and no one knew where she was. Several times people would ask me if I had seen her. Through the course of your own activities in a day you sometime fail to notice when things are a little off, and believe me, I hadn't even noticed that she was missing. So I sent her an email on the ever so infamous Facebook, where she is one of my friends. No answer and I hardly noticed that until Brenda reminded me today.

So as I exchange discreet conversation with Brenda through the stall wall I was anxious to continue this forum face to face with Brenda at the sink. As we emerged, Brenda looked around for dangling feet under the stall doors and proceeded to tell me the rest of the story with confidence that no other ears were listening. She proceeded to tell me that Diane had gotten terminated and everyone was carrying on like they just haven't seen her. HOW SHADY! They were really trying to make Diane look bad (although she contributed to that a great deal herself.) She continued on by saying that she was having a lot of personal issues and just couldn't seem to focus on her work, and it was showing. Then she slipped and let the ball drop that she had to go to the hospital for psych evaluation. WHAT? This dose of info only wet my taste for me and I proceeded to go get more information from a more reliable source, Todd. Todd and Diane were really close and he had to know more information on the subject. So after lunch I casually went to his office to seem more info. Surprisingly, he was not giving up the goods. He very respectfully told me that he had to keep the information private for the sake of his friend. WOW! I'm shocked, no really! In an environment where office gossip helps you get through the day a little quicker it floored me to see that co-workers can retain loyalty to those that they call friends. So although Todd got an A+ in my book for his extended comradery to his friend, I am dying to know what when down in greater detail. Oh well, looks like I'm going to have to send Ms. Diane a sincere yet prying email.