Office Behavior: How Not to Act, What Not to Do

I work in a small office with maybe 20 people. A new individual was recently hired. I'll call him Chuck. Now, Chuck managed to alienate about 17 of those 20 people within two days of being at work. That's pretty impressive. Office behavior is something that can help you rise the ladder or it can kick you to the curb.

For all you Chucks out there, here's some office behavior you should NOT do during that first week of work (or ever).

1. Every office has one quiet person. They aren't anti-social. They just aren't overly extroverted. I fit into this category. DO NOT tell them to "Smile!" every time you walk by them. In fact, that makes me want to do the exact opposite. It is annoying and serves no useful purpose. STOP DOING IT!

2. Don't volunteer for more work to make yourself look good and then whine when the boss isn't listening about being overworked.

3. Don't walk around the office with pictures of your kids and show them to everyone that will look. Display it at your desk and people will comment if they want.

4. When sitting in the break room on your first day, this is not the time to tell everyone about how your husband cheated on you with your sister so you are getting divorced or that your boyfriend got arrested last Friday for disorderly conduct after one kick-ass party, etc. Don't get too personal too fast.

5. If you took an entry level position with the promise that you would be receiving a promotion in the future, don't assume you don't need to learn the job you were hired for. No one wants to train someone who thinks they are too good for the job. Yes, you might get a promotion eventually, but you were hired for that specific job. DO IT.

6. Watch your language. You might not find it offensive to curse every other word. Your coworkers do.

7. Keep your voice at an appropriate decibel level. Every office has that one person in the office who talks loudly either on the phone or in person. Moderate yourself.

8. Take notes. It speeds up the training process when you don't keep having to go over the same stuff.

9. Limit personal phone calls and text messaging. Don't surf the internet on company time.

10. Always be professional in all electronic communications to your co-workers. A sloppy email can be seen as a sign of laziness or disinterest. Use spell check.

Office behavior is really quite simple. Remember what your mom used to tell you, "Do unto others"? Try to find a nice balance between being professional and being personable. You spend quite a bit of time at work. How you act those first few days can dictate how the whole work experience will be.