Meryl Streep (left) played an offensive boss in The Devil Wears Prada

All of us love a frank person. One who is candid. But is there a point when frankness can spill over into rudeness? When being direct, and coming clean with another person can be misread as offensive and impolite behaviour?

I find, at the expense of being self-critical, that there are strong cultural differences between the degrees of frankness expressed by Indians and their European counterparts. I was reading a recent issue of the Financial Times where its management columnist wrote about a delicate poseur by a reader. The question: “Just how do I tell my P.A. he smells?”

The solutions came from the columnist and her readers. Everyone was uncomfortable about telling the person of his bad body odour to his face.

How would we have tackled it in our country? I asked one HR expert and she came up with a quick way out. In India there are hundreds of employees who commute by train, bus and bike and who could end up sweaty and smelly as they enter office. She said a memo could be issued about the need for personal hygiene in the interests of customer and employee interface. All employees would spend a couple of minutes freshening up as they enter office, and all toilets would be provided with personal deo sprays. And mouth fresheners.

Practical? Smells good to me!

That’s all very well for the subordinate. But what about the strutting bosses who spew gutka remnants into spittoons concealed under mahogany desks? And who might occasionally emit a post-meal satisfaction burp, for all to hear? Who, in this case would bell the big cat?

But most of us should worry about another aspect of ourselves as a nation. We are often outspoken with people on personal issues. Like telling someone to his or her face that they are looking sick. And old. Just when I think I am looking trim, I am asked: “Have you been ill?”

Yet, in other matters, we tend to be less candid. For instance, we are never open about an inferior job position that we might hold or the salaries that we command. We tend to inflate our job descriptions and exaggerate earnings. A lady I knew, who was a telephone operator, always said she was in telecommunications and lowly managers hike up their positions to “in-charge” and “head of...”

There is much more transparency in the West about these matters. You are what you are. If you lose your job, you tell people you’ve been fired. Over here, the sacked employee calmly states that he is in the process of looking for a change.

By the way, if you smell a rat, figuratively, when you find books are being cooked in office, then you ought to be outspoken and squeal.

But on the whole, Blunt is out. Candid, sometimes. Courteous, always. Rude? Not if you can help it.

Can you be blunt at work? Tell t2@abpmail.com