Scuttlebutt

                                                 In late March, I was listening to the local news on the radio. The episode was dealing with people being asked to return to working physically in the office. A survey had been completed and it revealed that a large percentage had liked so much working from home that they wanted to continue doing so. I have to admit that I was surprised because I believed that there would be an overwhelming majority of people who could not wait to return to their place of work. To me, getting out of the house has always seemed an attractive way to spend the day.

If my teenage years at boarding school taught me nothing else, it was evident, from the beginning , that living in close proximity to 79 other boys, necessitated the need to get along with people. Sometimes one would have liked to have escaped to be on one’s own but , most of the time, being with one’s peers was how it had to be. I have always worked in social jobs, being a barman, a porter in an hotel, a van boy for a laundry, on a building site, all involved a good bit of human give and take; even though concrete is not the most social of substances, barrowing it to make a house base was a bantering bustle. These were places of very human interaction, indeed none of those jobs was possible zooming from a lap top at home. Teaching took that to another level still. I am very thankful that I retired before Covid struck and that our house did not become my place of work. So I have mulled over the interesting fact that so many people want to continue working from home. Why?

Why do people not want to see other people? Well perhaps they do but they only want to see friends and relatives and not their colleagues. Still why? Spending a third of one’s day with people one may not like must be an unfortunate way to live but surely human contact even, or particularly, with strangers is part of living in a civilised society. Getting along with others is always a challenge but, except in extreme instances, it is one which as human beings it is, maybe, our duty to fulfil. Maybe I am wrong and the world is full of wannabe hermits. Och well, friends, such a life style harms nobody.

As I was preparing this piece, it was a beautiful Spring day so I popped out for a walk. I grabbed my sweater and umbrella and set off. I came upon the spot where the walking trail met the road just opposite the Pemberton Pub. There was a road gang working on some tarmacking  so the noise of heavy machinery was dominant. Nevertheless one of the high visibility vests called across to me in a friendly manner. Shouting to make himself heard, he expressed pleasure at the sweater I was wearing which had an image of a grey wolf on its front. He was not the first to compliment me on this piece of apparel. There passed a brief 30 second friendly chat .  About 20 minutes later I had crossed the railway line and was about to cross a road junction where a truck signalled me to walk in front of him. By this time I had discarded the sweater and put it into my day pack. After I had crossed, the driver pulled down his window and shouted across that he liked the British rugby jersey which I was wearing. Friends, these two friendly vignettes, these two brief encounters are hardly world shattering memorable moments. But, they were enough to cap my happy mood, and produce an added millimetre to the smile I already had. It occurs to me that that could happen in any place of work at any time; but that it is less likely to happen during a Zoom meeting. So I returned to this script and thought there and then that this is another reason why people  should physically return to their places of work.

There are those who would argue that working from home means that they are more productive, more of a boon to the company. They may state that they don’t waste time gossiping around the water cooler.  I decided to check on the word ‘gossip’ which has so many negative connotations. I found research to suggest that it is not all bad and that, discussion and debate amongst colleagues, seemingly casual and informal, can often lead to some very positive outcomes.

I regard the water cooler at places of work as a sort of substitute wife, a place where good advice is given and foolish decisions are prevented.

“I’ve had it up to here with the Boss/co-worker/child if he/she asks me to take the tiddlywinks team to Richmond on Sunday/ spend my evening creating an idea for a mission statement/painting hopscotch squares on the playground, then I’m not doing it and that’s that”.

Take a large swig of water wishing it was whisky.

Ima Wiserhead happens to be also pouring a drink at the time and looks aghast. She hesitates.

“That would be silly, Pete. You need to calm down.”

“Calm down, calm down, I’ll give you calm down.”

Pouring another cup of water but forgetting to put the cup under the spout, thus a pool on the floor.

“Promise me you won’t do anything for 24 hours and that you’’ll speak to me again before you act.”

Grabbing paper towels, kneeling on the floor, wiping up the mess.

“OK, OK, Ima, but it won’t make any difference.”

So Dear Friends, did the wise words at work around the water cooler prevent a professional or personal catastrophe. Water is an essential of life, water coolers are an integral part of the workplace.

In the Royal Navy, the scuttlebutt was the barrel on board ship which held the fresh water. So presumably the Jack Tars would leap down from their various yard arms, roll out of their low slung hammocks and pause over the barrel where a conversation would begin. It would only be brief because officers of the watch would want them back on the job. But, Dear Friends, how many mutinies on the Bounty, how many cat o’nine tails lashings were prevented because of bits of ‘gossip’ around the scuttlebutt.

Hmmm, on the other hand, Dear Friends, how many mutinies and revolutions were hatched around the scuttlebutt; how many industrial actions were begun because one was unfortunate enough to run into Karl Marx at the scuttlebutt, snatching a short break from writing ‘Das Kapital’.  On second thoughts maybe we should all work from home and never go to the office or school ever again! Difficult to construct a building from home or deliver a pizza but for the rest of us the zoom world is our oyster.

“Positive gossip includes prosocial behaviours that increase group cooperation and decrease selfishness. Gossip strengthens social bonds and helps to resolve conflicts. It informs us about social norms. Not all gossip causes harm and, most of the time, it is neutral. People on average are involved in gossip for 52 minutes per day.”    Karl D. Miller

That’s the latest scuttlebutt from Davidson.