How to Manage Political Conversations in the Office.

It is that time of the year again…Autumn is upon us, the leaves are turning, the nights are growing longer, the frost is on the pumpkin - and leaders from both of the major political parties are battling it out to see how the next two years will unfold on all levels of government. And, if you have a political affiliation that is the polar opposite of one or more of your co-workers, the frost may also be creeping up on the cubicle walls.

A few years ago on Election Day, one of my politically rabid co-workers stopped by my office to badger me, gloating really, about the election and how his candidate was going to win, according to the latest exit polls being reported on television. He knew how I voted because the topic had come up once or twice before but I always avoided the conversation with him just to stay neutral. Well lo and behold, his candidate lost the election and mine won. For weeks after the election he avoided eye-contact with me, and all but quit talking to me even if business related. Break room encounters were awkward, and the couple of meetings we were in together produced nothing of value because he would not talk to me. Finally, weeks later at the company Christmas Party I offered him and his date cuts in the buffet line to call a truce because I was growing weary of his juvenile behavior, and I was ready to get back to being just office friends and colleagues.

So here we are in another election season and you know that inevitably, the topic of the November 7th election will come up around the water cooler, usually by some pompous bonehead who never learned that there are two things you never converse about in polite conversation, to include the workplace: religion and politics.