Social skills, yeah right
reading and responding to some stuff in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
griffen's LJ reminded me of one of the things I *loathed* at my various jobs over the years.
People expecting "social" interactions with coworkers. People expecting you to discuss whatever they wanted to discuss, often about stuff you'd done away from work, and pressing for details when you try to brush them off.
And, you know damn well that "It's none of your damn business" as a response will put *you* in the wrong.
And if you are "different" even the "standard" social chit-chat openings will lead to trouble.
"What church do you go to?"
"I don't".
"I'm pagan"
"I'm a witch"
"What'd you do over the weekend?"
"I went to a dungeon party and got a wonderful beating."
"My boyfriend flew up and we went to a convention." (male person saying this)
Care to guess what sort of reactions your typical cow-orker would have to those?
Heck, answering the second one with "I went to a science fiction convention" is apt to lead to a discussion that anyone who attends cons is heartily sick of.
What the hell is it with the "coworkers are friends" idea anyway?
We aren't. We shouldn't be *expected* to interact other than on job-related stuff except on the same level as random strangers meeting on the street.
Yes, I know a lot of people *do* make friends with co-workers. That's nice. I've even done it. But it ought to be acceptable for me to *not* want folks trying to "make friends" with me.
griffen's LJ reminded me of one of the things I *loathed* at my various jobs over the years.People expecting "social" interactions with coworkers. People expecting you to discuss whatever they wanted to discuss, often about stuff you'd done away from work, and pressing for details when you try to brush them off.
And, you know damn well that "It's none of your damn business" as a response will put *you* in the wrong.
And if you are "different" even the "standard" social chit-chat openings will lead to trouble.
"What church do you go to?"
"I don't".
"I'm pagan"
"I'm a witch"
"What'd you do over the weekend?"
"I went to a dungeon party and got a wonderful beating."
"My boyfriend flew up and we went to a convention." (male person saying this)
Care to guess what sort of reactions your typical cow-orker would have to those?
Heck, answering the second one with "I went to a science fiction convention" is apt to lead to a discussion that anyone who attends cons is heartily sick of.
What the hell is it with the "coworkers are friends" idea anyway?
We aren't. We shouldn't be *expected* to interact other than on job-related stuff except on the same level as random strangers meeting on the street.
Yes, I know a lot of people *do* make friends with co-workers. That's nice. I've even done it. But it ought to be acceptable for me to *not* want folks trying to "make friends" with me.