Courtesy might be one of the most important contributing factors to your day to day workplace happiness. While many people don't think about it in this respect, it really does play a huge role in how happy you are while you work, and consequently what your level of productivity is. There are many little things that you can do to make sure that you are being respectful of your co-workers, but I'm just going to list a few that I think are some of the more common points of contention at the office.

And the candidates are:

• Personal phone calls - This can potentially cause massive problems at your office. While making personal calls at work is often necessary, that doesn't mean that you should be on the phone constantly with your girlfriend/boyfriend, or the neighbor who lives across the street. This kind of behavior is distracting to your peers as well as frowned upon by your supervisor, who will no doubt catch you in the act. Also, make sure that when you're on the phone, you are cognizant of who is around you. Repeating a dirty joke loudly over the phone is inappropriate and might offend someone. This is especially true in today's workplace where we work in a very open environment (read: cubicles). If not managed, these kinds of incidents can even cost you your job. My office has separate booths where private phone calls can be made, I recommend that you take advantage of such amenities, or even go outside or an unpopulated area to make a longer or more private call.
• Office Roaming - We all need to take a five minute break every once and awhile to stretch our legs and clear our heads. However, you should be careful about where you take this break. If you go over to your buddies cube and start talking about the NCAA bracket, make sure you are aware of who is around you. Personal conversations can be very distracting to the person working next to you. This is related to the Personal Phone Calls topic above, as it can cause the same kinds of problems. If you need to roam, take a walk to the water cooler, or maybe grab a cup of coffee at the Starbucks across the street. The key things to remember are to always be cognizant of who is around you and how much time you are taking on these breaks. If you're never around, that can mean nothing but bad things for you.
• Clean Work Area - This is true not only for people who share a work area (such as a double cube), but also for people who have a single work area (such as a desk) and share some common areas with their co-workers. If you are putting together a bunch of binders, and have materials all over the place, make sure to clean up after you're done. In the case of a shared desk, try to keep your materials (such as papers, folders, etc) on your side and in an orderly fashion. This is good because it makes it easier for other people to work, more often than not converses and organizes group supplies (see missing pens), and also makes your office look better if your clients just happen to stop by.

The above are just some of the ways to show courtesy to your co-workers, and they really aren't that hard to implement as part of your regular work routine. In summary, some easy tips to remember are: always be cognizant of who is around you, try to contain your water cooler runs to a reasonable amount, and if you can possibly help it organize your desk into something resembling "clean". Additionally, try to look for other things at your workplace that you can do to make it that much better for everyone else, I promise they will all appreciate it.

Kevin Augustine is the administrator for Workplace Life - Where Every Cubicle Has a Window. Visit us for helpful articles on common Microsoft Office software such as Microsoft Word and Excel. We also have articles on career management, surviving in the office, professional email tips, and bits of humor to lighten up your day.