Reply To: Office Life and Social Life

There’s a weird balance to be struck in office behavior. People do make friends at work but it’s not like TV.

First – are you oversharing? Are you telling people stuff like you got wasted or your buddy shat in your car? That’s not going to fly in a lot of offices outside of the bro-culture of finance.

Second – are you trying to get to know them? Have you stopped by their desk, looked at their photos of family and said “You’re married, that’s great! How long?” or “is that your wife? How did you meet?” it sounds stupid but it gets people talking about themselves and when they think you want to know them, they will likely want to know you.

Third – as someone older who works with Millennials and Gen Zers , I am hesitant to ask anything for fear of “triggering”. I’m not being facetious, I let people tell me about their lives and then I ask questions. I’ve worked with a man for a year and I only got his wife’s name this week because she just had a kid and I told him I didn’t want to send a gift to “Mike and his wife”.