Grapevine The process through which information gets spread unofficially throughout the company. Can be word of mouth, email, or even a hand-written piece of paper. In most companies, news, rumors,gossip and information can spread to hundreds or thousands of employees in a very short time. Brown-nosing / kissing up / sucking up Being overly friendly with the boss, or upper management, or anybody with some power or control, with the intent of getting favors from them, such as promotions, raises, bonuses, etc. In many cases, it is possible that there are other employees who merit these advantages more than the brown-noser.