Tealeaf said:
This is normally what I hear for the post-college crowd. What are your experiences?
I work for a company that resells hardware and I only regularly see a couple people every day. When I started I felt a lot of pressure to find personal friends here, and it hasn't really panned out.
It hasn't been a practice of mine to make friends at work. I keep work people in the work "box" - that tends to be a safe way, for me, to keep those relationships viable. Once you have a problem with one of your "friends" - you still have to work with them. I've seen where I work occasions where there was a conflict, then there's the "unfriending" of each other, telling other co workers and trying to get people on your side. It's weird watching it happen from the sidelines. I remember a few years back, one female coworker I used to talk to alot, ran into a conflict with another female coworker I also spoke to alot, and share a history with that is a story in itself (non romantic). I stopped by her office one day and she told me not to trust the other one (with the history), said she's a backstabber and insisted that I not trust her, or MY boss. This insistence was uncomfortable, and told her I'm sorry that happened between them because up until then, they were close friends. She pulled me aside a few more times trying to "warn" me, and the last time she followed me down to my office, I bluntly told her that her conflict was her own, and I again was sorry it happened, but it wasn't MY conflict.
I haven't spoken much to her in the last 3 years because of this.