Impromptu medical procedure at the office was ill-advised
Q. A co-worker came to work with a tick buried under the skin of his hand, for which he had not sought medical assistance. Instead, he came to work and asked another co-worker to use a pocket knife and help him cut it out. This took place in front of two other co-workers who appeared amused and offered advice in this surgical procedure.
Collectively, these individuals finally decided that they were in over their heads and advised the infected co-worker to seek a doctor.
Tell me, am I delusional in thinking these people were out of line?
R. O., Methuen
A. Yes, they were out of line. First and foremost, they risked causing serious harm to the bitten co-worker. The risk of infection from the tick itself as well as from the knife is both real and dangerous. In addition, if the tick carried Lyme or other tick-born diseases, the long-term health consequences could be very serious. Obviously, your co-worker used poor judgment when he failed to seek medical assistance in the first place.
From the etiquette point of view, performing the "operation" in public showed a complete lack of awareness of the sensibilities of others. Any potentially "gross" activity should be taken care of in private. From the business point of view, the disruption it caused distracted other workers from their primary task - getting their work done - not to mention putting the business itself at risk as the "operation" was carried out while on the job.
Q. When writing an e-mail to a group of people, should names always be listed alphabetically or by hierarchy. Often after the first couple of "ranked" people, the remainder of the addressees are peers. In that case should I first list the president, then vice president, and then all the subordinates in alphabetical order?
C.W., Needham
A. It's a good idea to take care both with the "rank" and the spelling of people's names. The hybrid of listing "ranked people" first, followed by peers in alphabetical order makes the most sense.
E-mail questions about business etiquette to etiquetteatwork@emilypost.com. If your letter appears in this column, you will receive a copy of Peter Post's "The Etiquette Advantage in Business." 
