A little bit of sympathy goes a long way. Creating a culture of care can be so easy when you realize how much power it creates for you and your fellow workers in the workplace. Care radically, Fellow Workers!
“Look, you’re a nice guy, but your political views that you express without solicitation are incredibly problematic and frankly I’d rather not be within the same society as you”
I have a dozen friends or so that I keep in regular contact with (to varying degrees). That’s plenty for me. I’m open to new friends but I am not an active “friend collector” like some people seem to be. Some super extroverted people I know seem to use it to keep score or something. I tend to drift away from that type of person, and then hope they take the hint. My least favorite are the ones you haven’t heard from in years and then they text you out of the blue wanting to reconnect. I don’t ghost them, but I do duck out of it. They’re just bored and being a pest.
Sounds about right. that doesn’t mean we can’t banter at work and be friendly with each other - it just doesn’t necessarily transfer into the rest of our lives, right?
Yup. I have friends at work. We don’t really hang out after work or anything. Some of us do regularly text each other outside of work. Mostly jokes and memes, though sometimes other topics.
While I don’t look at my job as a social outlet or meet up place, I do think it’s good to be sociable and friendly at work. Of course there are a few snake-in-the-grass types at work that I maintain distance from. Professional detachment type of thing.
I mean, I’m sure we can come up with a lot of reasons why not to do it.
My point was just that you don’t need to choose between hanging out with your friends and making a new friend. You never know, that person could become a friend for life. I think it’s worth making the effort but I understand it’s not for everyone.
I’m selective about who I keep as friends but I try not to close myself off initially, as I’ve been on the other end of it as well; being in a new city and trying to make friends. With some people it just doesn’t click, while others I still have as some of my best friends.
Anyways, I wasn’t trying to upset anyone, just giving my 2 cents
It’s a lot to ask someone to drop into a group of 4+ friends of 10+ years and just hit the ground running. It takes a lot of effort from everyone involved. I’m for it but it’s not as simple as one might assume.
This is kind of sad, it’s hard for people to make friends in the workplace, but for some of them that’s the only place they can even try to do it. So be friendly with others…
the whole idea of the meme and the initial joke in the series is exactly that there’s no nice way of setting this boundary, so Jerry just becomes blunt about it and accepting that it makes him look like an ass. that is the joke
I wonder if there’s an overlap between those that relate to this meme and all those complaining how hard it is to make friends as an adult.
I usually make friends at work or am friendly with my coworkers. I understand not wanting to be friendly with annoying or bossy people. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a beer every now and again. I keep HR at arm’s length though …
I am friendly but there’s no spots open in my spare time, so I end up coming off like a hypocrite. work - super friendly, off work - sorry, but nope.
and it’s jarring but 3 main friends is already hard to do especially since my family is super super fragmented, I’m an introvert and like slow living too. Just 2 visits a week spread equally to mom, dad (separated), 3 friends, granny, aunt. maths says we’ll only meet once a month already. no mate, I think you’re great but diluting my visits any further will make me super absent, and visiting more often makes me tired and absent in an even worse way.
It’s not your fault, I’ve had the good fortune of meeting good friends in life and made the effort to keep them around and the friendships have aged well. that and I was cursed with a dramatic family where nobody gets along. so yea, I know it sounds terribly douchy but it’s neither of us, there’s just no more vacancies.
I’m not gonna tell you all this when we get along at work, because it comes off as aggressive or belittling but what am I supposed to do/say?
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