You're a click away from a great deal on new earbuds for your son when you feel a presence over your shoulder. Yep, it's the boss. Now what?
Awkward.
While you might think it's just women that have found themselves in this predicament, you're wrong. Men shop online at work, too. It's kind of the way we balance work and our personal lives. Most of us think we're great a being discreet with our online shopping habits -- until we get caught. If it happens to you, there are few ways you can recover gracefully.
An article in Self Magazine offers these suggestions:
Accept that you're busted. You're first instinct will be to minimize your screen or toss your smartphone off to the side. (Right?) Career expert Lindsey Pollak says don't do this because you will look more suspicious. She says your boss might even think you're doing something worse, like job hunting.
Confess. Pollak suggests saying something like, "Oops, I had a few minutes of downtime and was just taking a little mental breather." Odds are the boss has shopped online during the workday, too, and admitting it could make you look honest and be better in the long run.
Drop it. Once you admit it, don't mention it again. The boss probably has more important thing to worry about (like finishing her work so she can take time off). After any mistake in the workplace, the best thing to do is pretend your boss is watching you 24/7 for the next week, so don't repeat the mistake again and do something to earn extra credit, Pollak says.
Have you ever been caught shopping online at work? If so, how did you handle it? If your the boss, how did you handle it when you caught an employee doing it?
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