Be careful what you say in the elevator…
Comments (14) …well, be careful what you say ANYWHERE, really, but I’ll get back to that.
This morning, I was riding the elevator with a man and a woman that I don’t know, when one started talking to the other about a building project that my team worked on. The woman asked the man, “Did your team work on that project?”
“Oh, no, no, no,” he defended himself. “I wasn’t involved, but it is my understanding that A LOT of effort went into the decision making.”
“Well, it sure doesn’t look like it!” she responded. The she went on a bit about her ideas for the design.
I had one of those internal dialogues like “should I say something?” The thing is, the project had SO MANY people involved that my team really struggled with it. We were trying to please many different people (all with different opinions!) at once. BUT, all of that doesn’t matter; I still think we did a good job.
So when the guy got off the elevator (after she ranted a bit more), I said, “MY team worked on that project…” kind of inviting her feedback, not that it mattered. The decision was made.
“Oh! Sorry! I just think…” blah blah blah. She went on again about how she liked things the way they were. I just kind of laughed to myself.
You have to be careful what you’re saying. You never know who you’re around!
Earlier this week, I was walking back from a job-site meeting with two coworkers, and I asked who would be managing the project after us. When one of them responded with the person’s name, I said, “Oh, great! It seems like he has a really good understanding of the project.”
Well, after I said that, they went on a bit about one of his coworkers they don’t like as much. And… guess who walked up behind us right after that? The guy who would be managing the project after us. Nice.
I think these conversations are best behind closed doors, and even then, I wonder…
Themocracy