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Six things to keep to yourself in the office

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You spend most of your day and in fact most of your life at the office. Take a basic 40-hour work week for 40 odd years, quickly becomes almost 70% of your life spent at work. As humans are social creatures we naturally form relationships with those you spend most of your day with.

It doesn't matter how well you get on with your colleague's experts agree that maintaining a professional relationship trumps friendship.

Here are six things according to Glassdoor you should never utter to even your closest confidants in the office.

  • "That presentation totally sucked," or any other unconstructive criticism

Honesty isn't always the best policy, you might feel like you can tell your bestie at work anything but instead of being critical rather help them figure out solutions. Not only will the office benefit but your friend will be grateful for the help too.
  • "I hate our boss," or anything else derogatory about your employer.

It doesn't matter how much you dislike your boss and want to vent keep your emotions to yourself or share it with your partner at home. If your frustrations are accidentally repeated it could seem like you are badmouthing your employer.

  • "You’re the best salesperson in the office,"  or whatever they want to hear.

You might want to boost your co-worker's self-esteem with a compliment but just make sure its the truth. You are not helping them by giving undue praise or inflating their ego with lies. In the end, average work will continue and they will think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  • "You’ll never guess this about my client," or any sensitive client details.

It's obvious that you shouldn't say anything bad about your clients in the office and that extends to gossip or accidentally revealing private information across departments. If you are bound by confidentiality even within the company and you share it could get you fired.
  • "Did you hear about what Amy did last night?" or any other office gossip.

Avoid gossiping about your clients and avoid gossiping about your co-workers. Like all relationships trust is essential and it's not up to you to repeat anything about your work friends private lives.
  • "I totally screwed up," or any other admission of a big mistake.

Yes, mistakes happen but try and keep your mishaps to yourself no matter how big or small. At the end of the day you're still co-workers but also competitors and you never know when someone might use that information against you.

ALSO READ: Hongkongers reveal things they hate most about their colleagues

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