Greentext

Where tf is this rude? Someone like this would fly under the radar 9/10 times and be considered a great employee unless thy aren't doing their job.

>spend 8 hours a day, minimum, sitting next to some guy

>try to make small talk to break up the monotony of wage slavery

>guy doesn't even respond, or gives short answers at best

>damn, he must either not like me or isn't a very sociable person

I've found few people I'd call friends at jobs. Most people who tried to be "friendly" with me were social climbing shitheads working an angle or emotionally-stunted people trying to recruit me into their petty shop floor dramas.

So yeah this is me. I’m sure it’s a lot of us here. If you’re lucky you also have that flavor of neurospice that comes with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, so that not only is the social interaction itself taxing, but then the idea of sharing personal information is horrifying.

The results you get from it still depend on how you choose to react to your environment. Importantly, your brain and neurodivergence are part of that environment.

And it’s ok. Being friendly and participating in chats is not going to sign you up to go to anybody’s house. Sharing some details about your weekend plans won’t invite criticism or sign you up for other activities. (but if you work in a toxic environment, use your own judgment and act accordingly)

I think even with those of us who are very introverted, a lot of how “present” versus “withdrawn” you come across still comes down to things like depression, anxiety, and fatigue. I am fortunate right now to have a pretty good environment between a good job, the right medications, and mental/physical health. I’ll smile and wave at folks around the office, or BS about nerdy shit with whichever other engineers are in the office that day.

…but then I’ll still put in my earbuds and not talk to anybody for hours on end. If another person doesn’t strike up a conversation, maybe I don’t talk out loud all day. And at lunch I’ll not just sit in my car but drive home to eat!

There’s also something deeper and more fundamental at play here. Part of figuring out how to take care of myself and enjoy existence more has been to consciously nudge myself towards actions that I expect to benefit my well-being, rather than what works best for me in the moment. It can be little things, but they do add up.

For example, stopping to ask somebody who does customer demos what interesting stuff they’ve been working on. It seems like the typical in-office time waster. However, a short positive social interaction with a friendly face can boost both of your moods and make both of your days better. The work-related subject is the easy way into starting a conversation (me giving advice on starting conversations is some Twilight Zone feeling shit) and there might even be something interesting to learn.

This is the point where I’d make a joke about how wasting a bit of the company’s time to improve the mental health of two human beings is a win-win in my book. But we all know that happier employees will literally produce better results for the employer too!

Any company culture that expects you to be friends with your coworkers is a dumpster fire. Run quickly.

I've worked in my current office for two years and don't know the first thing about any of my coworkers beyond their name and specialization. No clue if they're married or have kids, or what they do on the weekend. We never chit-chat. I am infinitely happier here than anywhere I've worked in the past.

I feel like if you are friendly with your co-workers it makes the days go by faster.

If we try to talk to coworkers we are told to get back to work, but then I'm expected to show up to extra events and get drunk with people I usually am not even allowed to talk to? No thanks, why are they surprised by this?

Oh man, I feel this one. After a bad experience I stopped sharing ANYTHING about my private life and my coworkers would bust my balls about that, until I snapped and shouted "None of your fucking business". They leave me alone now, so mission accomplished, I guess.

I basically agree with all but the coworkers not friends thing. You spend a fuckton of basically everyday with these people - you need to make it not a living hell for everybody, and the only people who ever say this shit are the most hostile, passive aggressive, self centered, backstabbing, anti-competitive, two-faced people you'll ever meet.

Like sure you don't have to give each oral and have lunch together, but, christ, don't be such cutthroat selfish pricks to each other, that's what the billionaires want.

Anybody who thinks that behavior is rude is a busy body snake and is best avoided, regardless.

This is meme has a bad implied advise. You have to interact with your coworkers in so far as you build working relationship to trust each other, because teamwork and professionalism is required in most jobs. Also, building a work friendly relationship with coworkers will pay off when you want to get promotion or recognition, because you will get good word of mouth from colleagues and thus build a good reputation.

I understand where people are coming from with this, but one has to balance knowing when to recognise if your workmates can be trusted and become good friends, or knowing how to keep professional but friendly distance. Unless you work in an environment where teamwork has less importance, or you don't plan to move up the corporate ladder which requires good reputation, or really don't want to make friends with colleagues because they are toxic, then by all means be "rude".

Only those who have nothing else in their lives but work find this unfriendly. Work is not an event that I attend voluntarily, but to earn a living. I am polite, nice and helpful to my colleagues in everything that revolves around work. Anything beyond that is not a matter of course and should not be taken for granted.

Man... it's so weird.

They want to have Friday beers in the office. They want to go to the game together. They want to organize little events after work that I'm semi-obligated to go to. I went to one, reluctantly, and one of the executives more or less made it clear to me that he had been against hiring me in the first place (for understandable reasons).

No I don't like you people, you're pod people, why the fuck do you do this with your lives

Edit: It wasn't just me, either. They all would get excited for sandwiches from this one place, and I went with them one time and they all clearly thought it was a treat, and the sandwich was foul. Just a big stinky wad of toppings and condiments. I never went again, and every so often with some fanfare they would go there again. I literally don't know what's wrong with them.

None of those things are rude.

I'm super social at work and share a lot of intimate details about my life, but even I don't think this should get you hated on. There are a few people who don't share on my team, and I respect the shit out of that.

When you’re trying to be friendly with a coworker and they say “we’re coworkers not friends” that’s pretty fucking rude IMO. The other ones though never bothered me.

Someone on linkedin made that meme.

If you run into someone at work who uses this list as a way to judge other workers ... it's probably time to change jobs.

It me

Oh hey, it's me!

This is exactly how I had to get by when I worked with other electricians. Working for myself is the tits.

I never trust the 'spends lunch break in car' types. First one I ran into was listening to Rush Deadbaugh and the second was talking to god or something.