May 8, 2002

7:41 PM

Backstabbing your coworkers via email -- In a British survey almost 40% said they used email to further their own careers at the expense of colleagues.
posted by palegirl (9 comments total)

one advice columnist weighs in on how to stab back at a backstabbing coworker.
posted by palegirl at 7:52 PM on May 8, 2002

1, 2, 3, and four.... backs.
posted by hobbes at 8:11 PM on May 8, 2002

There's something about the impulse-control lowering of email (you're distanced from your action in the way that writing always provides, but the "immateriality" and immediacy of the medium allow for easy committal to actions which you probably wouldn't use a material document to do, like slagging someone behind their back). Plus, it's the CC and FWD options that really provide the emotional weapons of mass destruction.

That, or the Evil Quotient is simply rising universally.
posted by BT at 8:59 PM on May 8, 2002

what's the corporate culture in london like besides this? (palegirl's link in here may or may not give some evidences.) yikes. though i barely use email myself.
posted by moz at 9:10 PM on May 8, 2002

evidence, i should say.
posted by moz at 9:10 PM on May 8, 2002

Moz: I've only ever worked in London, so I can't compare it to anywhere else from my own experiences. However, from people I've talked to, business visitors from overseas, and so on, it seems that British workers get less respect from their bosses and that few people would think twice about doing something nasty to them.

Britain is very big on 'open plan' workplaces, or cramming six people into a tiny office. Cubicles are a rarity (in my experience) so no-one gets to really develop their own little space to work in, you're constantly in each others' face. Office crowding is a big problem. The media seems to think workplace bullying has become very popular over the past few years, and it's not surprising.

So, yeah, it's a Klingon style world out there. You just have to kill the boss and get a promotion. ;-)
posted by wackybrit at 10:44 PM on May 8, 2002

Salon.com also has an article on "The art of office e-mail war" today (May 9).
posted by mattpfeff at 11:35 PM on May 8, 2002

i wanted to say that hobbes
posted by monkeyJuice at 1:16 AM on May 9, 2002

I'd kill the boss to avoid the cubicle. Take my open plan office away from me (there are six of us in a tiny office) and I'll go mad.
posted by vbfg at 2:31 AM on May 9, 2002