How to Get Along With Nosy Co-Workers

Privacy can be difficult to maintain in the workplace. Nosy co-workers love to get in your business, and then spread their information through gossip and innuendos. Avoiding a nosy colleague may be difficult, if not impossible. Sometimes the more you avoid a gossiping employee, the more he believes you have something to hide. Try a few of the following tips to nip that big nose in the bud.

Instructions

1. Tell all. Get all your laundry out in the open and keep everyone updated. Secrets are what truly give a nosy co-worker reason to salivate. When you are an open book, little is left to gossip about and you can get on with your work.

2. Stand up to the curious colleague and tell her that your personal life is none of her business, if you prefer to keep it to yourself. Too often employees become intimidated by gossip and accept it in silence rather than stopping it. A nosy employee put in her place sometimes will back down.

3. ****y-trap your cubicle or computer so that when you leave, the nosy co-worker cannot invade your privacy or your workspace. Many devices are available for the technologically advanced, in addition to the old-fashioned bucket-over-the-door and exploding water guns.

4. Turn questions back on the person who is getting nosy about your personal affairs or your current work project. Offer a quick, glib response to inquiries, then say, "I'm not really that interesting; tell me about yourself." Follow up with constant questions asked directly to the busybody and to nearby colleagues.

5. Write down a list of witty answers to probing questions by nosy employees. Some examples: "Why? What have you heard?" or, "Wouldn't you just love to know." Or, try, "I never kiss and tell."

6. Laugh and walk away. Alternatively, you can sit and stare until the nosy one leaves your space.