Susan and Carla have been working together for a couple of years. Since the ladies confide in each other all the time about job related matters, Susan felt she could open up a bit more and let her hair down with Carla.  They started sharing not only personal opinions with each other, but also professional goals, future career plans, interest, etc.

One day while shooting the breeze at their desks, Susan mentions she’s getting several calls from headhunters everyday, so it won’t be long before she leaves this dead-end job.

Though she likes working there, she explained, “It’s a constant struggle being underemployed… I only took the job to help make ends meet until I can land something in my field.” 

Over the course of the next few weeks, to her, it seems as if there’s only a matter of time before she get axed. From the look on the boss’ face,  she began to wonder if he knows her truth. She doesn’t know what to think, what to do or where she went wrong. “Am I about to loose my job? I need this job until I find a new one,” she thought.

Unfortunately, Susan soon learns the hard way that it doesn’t matter whether your in a good or bad work environment, running your mouth too much to coworkers on the job is a BIG No, No!

This happens far to often at on the job. Coworkers believe they can trust each other. After all, they should. They’re work bestie. Right? Wrong.

The last thing you need to worry about is putting your foot in your mouth. A private conversation could be overheard by the wrong person or a frenemy could let the boss in on your plans. It really doesn’t matter how well you think you know your colleagues or wether you can trust them at all. You must know when it’s best to zip your lips at work. You can’t share your dreams, goals or career plans with everyone.

After all, you must be careful about letting their hair down with some folk. You never truly know if a coworker is rooting for you or actually a backstabber trying to help you out the door. Seriously, they may want your job. And they could actually be plotting your early exit simply because they don’t like working with you, for example.

Concurring with Forbes Contributor Liz Ryan, people should be able to talk about more than the weather on the job, but there are definitely things that you should not tell your colleagues. Here are ten things Liz suggests you shouldn’t ever tell your coworkers.

Ten Things Never, Ever to Tell Your Coworkers

1. If you hate your job, keep it to yourself. Look for a new job on the side, but don’t tell your coworkers how unhappy you are. It can’t help them to know.
2. If you are not a fan of your manager or any other manager in your company, don’t talk about it with your teammates. If you do, it will be very easy for someone to spill the beans to your manager and put you in an awkward situation.
3. If you’re job-hunting after hours, keep it to yourself! You can tell your coworkers when you accept a new position. Until then, say nothing.
4. Don’t tell your coworkers your personal financial situation, even if they talk about their own budgets and expenses. If you are doing well, people can get jealous. If you are struggling, they will talk about that. When people are bored and unhappy, they gossip. Don’t give them anything to talk about!
5. If you feel your job is beneath you, don’t say a word. How would it make your coworkers feel if you told them that you and they are stuck in jobs that don’t require much intelligence or knowledge? It wouldn’t make them feel good!
6. Keep mum about your long-term career plans if they involve stepping up and away from your current job. All you can do by sharing your glorious plans is make your coworkers feel bad about their own limited horizons.
7. If you have a crush on a coworker or if you and they are dating, keep it quiet with your other coworkers until the relationship is solid enough to tell your manager about. If you and your coworker become a couple, tell your manager before they hear about it through the grapevine! The speech is simple. Just walk into your manager’s office and say “Sarah, I wanted to mention something. You know Arnie, in National Accounts? He and I are dating. I wanted to tell you before you heard about it some other way.” That’s all you need to say.
8. Don’t tell your coworkers that headhunters call you all the time if they do. It’s no one’s business but yours, and if your teammates aren’t getting calls from recruiters they might get jealous. That would not be good for your team’s mojo!
9. Say nothing to your coworkers when you break the rules at work — for instance, taking a sick day when you are not actually sick — or it will inevitably come back to bite you.
10. Keep quiet about your plans to transfer to another department. Somebody in your work group will have a bad day before long and that’s when they will tell your manager “Guess who wants to leave your department and hasn’t told you?”

Source: Forbes

Have you ever shared opinions, ideas, or professional goals with a coworker and it circled back to bite you in the tail? Hit me up in the comments below.