#43 Coworker Gossip
Jul 16th, 2009 by pfi
You might not expect it, but accountants are nonstop gossipers. This could be because it happens behind your back.
Not just yourself, but everyone they work with and run into. The Starbucks barista? Check. The receptionist in the lobby? Check. The accountant’s manager? Check.
When accountants get together and spread gossip, it’s usually not never about nice things.
When you work with an accountant over an extended period of time, you will know everything there is to know about everyone else they work with. More accurately, you will know all the stupid things an accountant’s coworkers have done. You may not even want to know what food allergies or racist remarks were made the other day by people you don’t even know, but you get the pleasure of finding out.
All this gossip becomes downright annoying. It’s perfectly natural to want an accountant to stop talking (or shut up) about other people during every conversation.
Because of the office gossip and privileged information accountants are entitled to, accountants are powerful social networkers. They are usually the one to break the news that so and so is going out with that person. Or they pass along the latest inappropriate comment made by their boss.
If you are working with an accountant, you have a number of paths. You can participate in the gossip train-wreck or you can try having a real conversation about something outside of work. Good luck about #2 though. Just remember that anything you tell an accountant is basically told to the entire office.
PwC tried a sneeky bate-and-switch approach to firing peeps in which they told employees they werent gonna let anybody go and then guess what? They did it anyway! Surprise Surprise.
What is so ironic about this is that when PwC fires someone they try to shuffle them out the door and pretend like nothing happened – especially to the interns. So when the firm fires peeps the employees are typically quiet saavy about it and sametime eachother throughout the office within a matter of seconds.
Hey STAMM did you really think you were gonna get away with this?
STAMM LIED!
well put.
we had a new staff start and a diff staff got fired the same day. EVERYONE had somethin to say about it, even if they were at the client that day. can’t stand workin with a bunch of nosy-ass people.
thanks for posting.
I was pwc’d recently and it went down and I am sure there was gossip but they sent me out the door 6 weeks early so that I couldn’t add to the gossip. Of course I did, but seriously, when you say you aren’t going to cut staff and you do? wtf? just have some balls and say what you really mean not this gossip ridden bs about no layoffs when we are laying people off…pwc’d good thing I landed a better paying job before actual pink slip day…