Dr. Tim Hallett, a sociologist at Indiana University, published the study in the latest issue of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography along with Dr. Eder and Brent Harger of Albright College. The researchers spent two years studying the group dynamics at a Midwestern elementary school, where they found that not only were the students say cruel things about each other — the teachers, when in a group, were nasty as well.

Kids being mean is one thing — the study transcribes a cafeteria conversation in which a group of eighth-grade girls talk about an overweight classmate, calling her a cow. But what happened when the teachers gossiped, and mocked the principal?

The principal felt that her authority was being undermined by gossip and retaliated against teachers she suspected (correctly) of criticizing her. Teachers and administrators fled the school, and the students' test scores declined.

While I don't condone mean-spirited gossip, I do think that gossip in the workplace can be a good thing. Because gossiping is communicating. Bonding with coworkers over the crap in the vending machine, the new lady in accounting or the new guy in the mailroom can bring you closer together. Dr. Hallett makes this point, saying, according to Science Daily, "Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics and it's a form of politics that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren't present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone's reputation."

Can You Believe How Mean Office Gossip Can Be? [NY Times]
Gossip In The Workplace: A Weapon Or Gift? [Science Daily]

Reuters says the survey, conducted by at Zürich-based human resources company, found that 53% of Americans think their bosses are dishonest. Specifically, 28% think their superiors are lying about their job security. A majority also think their bosses are unfair and disloyal. Oddly, two thirds of Americans would not change anything about their relationship with their boss, implying that we're all just used to a Kafkaesque work environment of backstabbing and deceit.

Possibly lending credence to the idea that bosses suck is another survey, showing that 22% of female executives have withheld a promotion or raise because of the way an employee dressed. In the same survey, 98% of women said their appearance affects their career, and 55% said they frequently felt like they had nothing to wear.

My current work uniform includes: sweatpants, a Snuggie (oh yeah), socks (it's cold in here), and a t-shirt with a picture of a dirt bike and the phrase "Personal Watercraft: Spend money in a royal style" (it was a gift). So I guess I'm in the lucky 2% of women for whom appearance doesn't matter. Then again, Anna H. probably just made these surveys up. What is "Reuters" anyway?

Workers Think Bosses Are Dishonest, Survey Says [Reuters]
U.S. Working Women See Appearance As Key: Survey [Reuters]

…Called VACATION! Guardian staffers get seven weeks of it a year, plus some sort of month-long sabbatical every few years so they can write books without risking unemployment. That's like a George W. Bush vacation schedule! And they ALL FUCKING TAKE IT. What about you guys?

Front Lines: Could That Paycheck Be Bigger [WSJ]

Smile and close your eyes and think of England or the color you’re going to paint your ceiling when you get home.”

Anyway, all this — combined with the story of the massive shit that Merrill Lynch guy took in response to his "shitty" bonus and this one time my old boss hired a male stripper for one of our editors' birthdays, combined with another story on how more people than ever are sleeping at work ot me thinking…Damn. Working on my couch is like…pretty boring, you know? (And: hot.) I need to live vicariously through someone at an office. But who? Maybe you guys know someone…

Survival Tips From The Top [WSJ]
With Karaoke, A Deal In China For A Song
Turd War: Can Thain Contain Civil War At Merrill? [Dealbreaker]
Sleeping At Work — More Of Us Are Doing It [CNN]
Uh-Oh, Here Come The Tears [WSJ]

Also, it really isn't that emotional in light of the fact that a male employee of the firm killed himself and his ex-girlfriend, a Paul Hastings secretary, at the firm's Atlanta office.

Still, a lot of people would be way too wimpy to do this, and then we would never get a peg to discuss something I am always hearing so many fascinating stories about: the myriad ways they have of monitoring your reproductive endeavors and dicking you out of your maternity leave and/or your job altogether when you start to procreate. I've seen this happen pretty much everywhere I ever worked that didn't have a union, but usually by that time the targeted women have been so beaten-down and exhausted by trying to do everything at once that they're like, "Meh, fuck this" and they go freelance. Sigh. One more reason to content oneself with the spinster lifestyle I guess.

Breaking: A Dramatic Farewell (And Proof Of Paul Hastings Layoffs) [ATL]

She recently asked both a male and a female colleague for help on a project. The female colleague said that to do a good job, she would need to do three days of research first. The male colleague said he could finish the work in an afternoon.

Maybe I just answered my own question. Anyhow, here is where I could go the extra mile and dig up all those other studies about how women think they are better at multitasking than men but are actually not, or how women work only slightly longer hours than men, or how men are more playful and women who play videogames have higher IQs, but in the spirit of gender equality I am going to exhibit some of that fundamental male arrogance and decree this post to be "good enough."

(And to that end, people, I illustrated this post with Tina Fey before I wrote the snarky headline or indeed, much of the post. It is not meant as a knock on Tina or the character she plays on 30 Rock, as her work is obviously very, very important to the future of humankind, so don't give me a hard time about that OR the fact that she doesn't get to play as "funny" a character on the TV show because she is trying to depict this harried, frazzled caricature of a female; haven't we been through that enough already?)

Do Women Work Harder? [US News]
Women Must Work Harder [UVA Today]

...a stripper was hired to come to the hotel where a company meeting was being held to celebrate the promotion of two managers. Ms. Nelson left the room and waited in the hallway, her lawsuit said. While waiting there, she heard male salesmen who left the room saying that her "boss licked whipped-cream off the strippers' breasts," her complaint said.

I once had a boss who'd chew out his (silent) wife in front of me; another liked to walk around shirtless, "tackle" female employees in the hallways and give his female assistants pet names synonymous with "Retard." Naturally, the environment came straight from the top; I just ran into a girl who told me that old boss's boss had recently instructed her to take off her coat so he could inspect her outfit, only to instruct her to wear something tighter, with higher heels. This girl was an editor, for fuck's sake. But none of this shit is even so bad; it's the notion that women can't be smart - or that women who are smart are thereby "crazy" "divas" - that usually accompanies it that is the worst. A policy wonk friend of ours had a graduate school internship wherein she was required to trim the edges off newspaper clippings for one of the policy analysts; her current job isn't much better. A certain Jezebel intern used to work for a publisher who asked her to "remove splinters from his hand and share his distaste for the plain looking fat-ish girls at the magazine." He also made her fetch him cappuccino every hour and "slapped his secretary's ass once in awhile," while he kept all real business from the female editors and assigned "the random man who was like the office manager" to do all the editorial work. Another (Jewish) friend had a boss who told the charming joke "How do you get a Jewish girl to stop fucking?" (Answer: Marry her. Ha!) And a friend of ours who was lucky enough to get her own ass slapped waiting tables at the poker room at the Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, Florida actually complained about it — after which only male servers were allowed to work the poker room. Anyway, in case you didn't get it — don't feel bad, the thickest girls have the nicest racks! wink — this is your repository for sexist boss stories. As long as you're still at work, you might as well give them up.

A Data Storage Titan Confronts Bias Claims [WSJ]