So I finally got an office job, what is up with catty office women?

I used to be a mobile technician but the department manager left and I was promoted to his job. I love it! There is one problem! The office women! I am the only management guy in my department but there is 5 women throughout the rest of the office. The gossip, back stabbing and drama with these women is ridiculous! My assistant is gorgeous and the rest are average; I am not interested in any of them and I am certain none of them are interested in me. I suspect the rest are catty because my assistant is a good 7.5 on a 1-10 scale. I am not sure this is the problem though as others have said the same thing but without a 7.5 in the picture.

Any comments? And can you help me put the claws back in the paw?

 

LOL! Yep. How old are they?

Are they all your subordinates?

 

Why can't a woman be more like a man? That's the title of a song from My Fair Lady, but I can't believe how different they are to us.

 

Fire them.

If they are like that then it won't be hard to find reasons.

 

....but does it affect their productivity and the outward perception of your department to other employees/clients?

or....can this be channeled into motivation.

 

Stay completely out of the drama. Don't offer any opinions on their "issues". Be nice, be cordial. If you have to lunch together, don't engage in the personal angst that is so common. No gossip, etc..

Just do your job, offer to help if there is something you have time to assist with. Your operating mission should always be, what can you do to help the company. And that doesn't mean getting someone fired.

 

If all women were like men where would the women be? lol

 

Good question . . . I'll get back to you!

 

I think your first step should be to track down the forum or social media post where a someone complains about their new department manager who looks down on all the women in the office, has no sense of humour about their office banter and spends all his time ogling his assistant thinking nobody notices.

 

Those are the exact reasons that I liked serving in all male units better than mixed sex units.

 

Women are notorious backstabbers and will trashtalk any woman they don't like or are jelly of and this even goes for their best friends - If you've ever been in a majority female setting, you will know that as soon as one them leaves to visit the restroom, they all start talking crap about her.

When I was in high school, some girls started a "gossip blog" to which people could send "stories" about people which would then be published with names and Facebook-links to the person being attacked. Obviously, most of the "gossip" published was about girls (which indicates other girls sent it in) and posts being published were everything but nice.

A few years ago, my grandmother's friend said she always prefered male collegues over female ones because the latter never got things done and only bullied and trashtalked one and other behind their backs.

 

I'm going to give you the best advice you've ever gotten for dealing with women in the office.

Pretend each one of them has a **** and you'll never have any problems.

 

So much said in so few words.

 

Having owned a business for 30 years with an office full of women, my advice is to forget about it, especially if you have a 7.5
working there. Men are different on the job in my experience. They may not like the other people, but they usually don't gossip and
are willing to work together. And they don't give a damn if one of them is good looking and they don't feel threatened by looks or ability.
A 7.5 aye? Lucky you have eye candy around.

 

This thread is either very sexist or a demonstration of why most CEOs are men.

 

Ha! Love this post!

Sorry I haven't posted, one of my techs is on vacation this week so I became a working manager, crazy as hell!
Honest Joe, this is a mom and pop shop where mom wears the pants. I am the leader of 1 department so I don't have any sway over the catfighting. Hell, even the mom is part of the problem. I can't fire anyone except my tech's and my gorgeous assistant (she is eye candy only, I have no interest in anything else). To make matters worse mom's daughter is in sales in the other department and she is the chief instigator. I have found that my department is MY DEPARTMENT and they respect all my decisions that I make (we do make most of the money so that helps).

Thanks for the all the replies, no help but I appreciate it all the same. Women please! We all have a job to do, why do you want to bring your soap opera to work? UGH!

 

Mom and pop shops are the worst for this sort of thing, esp if mom wears the pants. There is no hope.

 

I get paid very well, I will deal with it but damn!

 

However, there is always someone who will do whatever it takes to get ahead. I could name a couple of dozen examples of men who got ahead by screwing everyone else - lying, cheating, stealing. I've been screwed by customers more times than I can count. When the chips are down, lie and blame the contractor. Men don't get catty. They just go for the throat.

There was one high-level manager at a major company, who had I think five patents on the wall. I was impressed until he tried to take credit for my work. Luckily I caught him and went right to their corporate lawyers and proved it was my work, not his. And they changed the name of the inventor on the patent application. They had the rights to ownership because they paid for the development. It was the nature of the deal we had. But it was all my work and I was 100% entitled to the credit on the patent as the inventor.

 

The fish rots from the head.

 

I work in a management position surrounding by women and have done so for over a decade. Some women act like this and some do not, and I have known more than a few male managers who do their share of gossiping and sniping. as for your advice, I completely concur. You don't have to come across as judgmental or sanctimonious to accomplish this either. Your job is simply to listen if necessary for a moment or two, until you can move the conversation towards something more consistent with your goals or simply be in a hurry. Never take sides in those kinds of conversations no matter how hard others try to get you to, it will bite you in the ass more often than not.

 

Tread carefully sir. It sounds like you have walked into a possible danger zone. You seem like a pretty level headed guy, so just use your best judgement and try not to play favorites. I have been in your position several times in businesses I have owned. These broads can drive you nuts if you let them. Good Luck!!

 

I am not being defensive, just FYI I didn't BS my way into this job. There was a guy who was next in line but he declined. For the very reason of the topic of my post.

 

Your advice is appreciated, I am in a good position though, I will be debt free by the end of this week .

 

That is a very nice place to be. Sounds like you are on the right track. I tried to be like a baseball coach and make everyone feel important in their jobs. It seemed to work out pretty well most of the time but a few times there were people who were like a cancer who could infect the whole operation if they weren't curbed or canned.