She had just finished reading an awesome article and thought: My co-workers are going to love this! Boy…was she wrong…

To:          Team
From:     Your coworker
Subject: Awesome article!

Happy Monday team! Please see the attachment below.   I came across a really great article on investing in employees and hope you enjoy reading it.

Sincerely,
Your coworker

Only a few minutes had passed when she received a response from one of her coworkers, which read: “It is NOT a happy Monday.” Confused and concerned, she quickly wrote back apologizing as it was not her intent to offend anyone. She continued her day under the impression this had been resolved.

On Tuesday she had her weekly one-on-one with her boss. As their meeting time was coming to an end, her boss said: “One more thing, I received an email from one of your teammates that you were insensitive yesterday. Can you explain what happened?” The blood rushed to her head, she had never imagined that a simple “Happy Monday” would lead to this. She felt like she was back in grade school and getting in trouble for running in the playground or something equally ridiculous.

You may be wondering if we made this up. We didn’t. This really happened. That being said, there are some lessons we learned.

People are strange (including us). What’s small to you may not be to someone else- be aware of your surroundings and the people around you. You just never really know how someone will react. Happy Monday could be the last thing someone wants to hear. And there are plenty of reasons why they don’t want to hear that. For all you know, their cat died and they got a flat on their way to work. Or like what actually happened this last Monday, the coffee machine was broken (#firstworldproblems). Or more work-related, they could also have a fast approaching and high priority deadline that is stressing them out. There are a gazillion reasons why someone may respond strangely, so just assume no ill intent.

Roll with it. Remember that just because someone responds that way, it doesn’t mean that they’re mad at you. Saying “Happy Monday” isn’t going to get you fired (well we can’t imagine it would). So, roll with it if someone responds strangely. This isn’t always going to be easy to do and will require a glass of wine and a quick venting session with your friends but don’t let it out at work and never let it gnaw at you. Responding poorly to a bad interaction could lead to a vicious cycle. And that won’t make anything better for you.

It’s not third grade anymore, but sometimes it might feel like you are on the playground. Your manager is a lot like playground yard duty. Just like they did in 3^rd grade, sometimes people will tattle. People will run up to the “yard duty” to let them know what you did that upset them. And you may have done this unknowingly (we know we have) by venting to your manager about something that happened to you. But just like in the 3^rd grade, if you let it go, it will soon be forgotten.

Try not to be that person. Don’t be the person that snaps when someone says happy Monday. And don’t be the person that tattles. We spend a lot of time at work. Make work a fun place to be – after all, it’s the people who make the place.

From our experience, people are strange, just roll with it.

You’ve heard ours, now let’s hear yours…