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Do you socialize with your coworkers?

Ionian

Member
I've worked for a few (I'm English) and the American companies are the worst for it.

I've lost tens of thousands in pay rises and promotions due to cunts stealing my ideas. But I can only blame myself for being naive in the past. 🤷‍♂️

What type of job?
 
it is good to make

connections

so to

you can work better

in the workplace

You alright bro?

tenor.gif
 

paparazzo

Member
Did it a couple times when I worked fast food, but really just to hang out with a girl I liked. These days as a gig worker I have no boss or co-workers. Once I get a big boy job though, I’d probably only socialize with a girl I was really into.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
All the time. Among my best friends are coworkers. Current and old. Hit a pub, hit a Jays game, do a quick road trip to Buffalo to watch Sabres or Tigers games. Hell, hit a strip club. One of my good buddies is from the crappy office jobs we had in the same department back in 1999 I think.

I'd suggest people try to make good friends with coworkers. Not just for the hell of it. Not just fun, but good for job contacts too. One of my jobs I got it since my old colleague went to another company and got me easy interviews when a job popped up there.

And I helped many people myself with jobs, where someone calls me and I know someone at that place so I connect them. Sometimes it's worked. I've also got people I know from past jobs a job at my company. We are good friends enough to connect on this. So for sure, I'll help you out and put in a good word. Even got the referral $$$ from HR.
 
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INC

Member
No at work I'm a completely different person. I consider it acting to a degree

I dont have anyone from my work on my social media, I dont want anyone I work with looking at my private life etc etc

I have a job where Im on my own 95% of the time, and for good reason lol
 

V1LÆM

Gold Member
my work is great. we all get on. well most of us. our department is small with only 10 people at the moment. there are 2 people who keep to themselves a bit but the rest of us all get on great. while i wouldn't say they are friends it kinda feels like that. we all help each other out and we can talk to each other about anything. sometimes we'll meet up outside work. it's such a great place to work and everything is cool. even the bosses are good! if they turn up you don't run scared or anything. you can just sit with them and talk about stupid shit. i stood and spoke with one of them for about half an hour this morning about random crap lol.

outside our department there are some people you can stop and talk to. most people just say hi to each other in passing. and there are some who just pretend you don't exist but whatever i don't care about them. my own little department is brilliant and it really doesn't feel like you're going into work in the morning. it's always good to see them and even times i miss them if they are off on holiday lol. i actually enjoy going to work. other places i've worked are awful so i feel lucky to have this job.
 
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quickwhips

Member
So I have a team of 40. Before covid we would go out and have a good time one a month. We are doing some virtual but it's not the same. Most are hoping we can start doing monthly events at restaurants again but we all want to be safe also.
 

StormCell

Member
Americans come across as dog eat dog sorta cunts tbf, it's all about getting one up on their fellow employees, that's what you get when you work/live in a capitalistic hellhole.. I'll stick to the socialism backwater commie hellhole that is the EU where we kinda look out for one another

Well, tbf, it only gets like that because of the people at the top. If you own a pack of dogs but only put out enough food for a few, there will be snarling and fighting until the dominant dogs have eaten what food is there. And when not even that is enough, they will eventually eat the weakest in the pack.

In that situation, who do you consider the cunts? A lot of American businesses are loathe to hand out raises and will pretend like they don't have a clue about whether someone should get a promotion (unless you are in sales). It will happen occasionally but only when someone has truly gone above (40 hours) and beyond (five days a week) and done something worth recognizing. So, of course the dogs will eat one of their own. The stupid company cunts expect much but only put out enough food to keep the pack from straying...
 

StormCell

Member
Nah, I don't socialize a lot with coworkers. I have made friends along the way though. Mostly, I find people who seem decent, get to know them some, and then at some point there may be an invitation one way or the other for us to hang out outside of work. Could be our families get together over a meal and some games, or the other seemingly more likely event is I invited someone to go fishing with me -- lots of people are very interested in seeing why I like to bass fish in a fancy boat.

But all the other stuff like bar hopping and kicking about town late... that stuff is for the 20-somethings. I'm at a point in my career where all that stuff, while it may occasionally pay off via promotions and whatnot, is more likely to lead to your dismissal if it's at all getting in the way of you doing tangible work for the company.
 
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Well, tbf, it only gets like that because of the people at the top. If you own a pack of dogs but only put out enough food for a few, there will be snarling and fighting until the dominant dogs have eaten what food is there. And when not even that is enough, they will eventually eat the weakest in the pack.

In that situation, who do you consider the cunts? A lot of American businesses are loathe to hand out raises and will pretend like they don't have a clue about whether someone should get a promotion (unless you are in sales). It will happen occasionally but only when someone has truly gone above (40 hours) and beyond (five days a week) and done something worth recognizing. So, of course the dogs will eat one of their own. The stupid company cunts expect much but only put out enough food to keep the pack from straying...

without bringing politics into it, from my reading the news, blogs etc the Republican party seem to do a great fucking job of shooting down any and all attempts to change America for the good, it really does appear to me to be a "im fucking sorted, fuck the rest of em" type mentality, especially when it comes to things like healthcare, workers rights, maternity, holiday pay etc etc all things that the Republican party shit on and i just cant fathom why seeing as the majority of people that vote for them seem to come from states that would benefit the most from a bit of European style socialism
 

StormCell

Member
without bringing politics into it, from my reading the news, blogs etc the Republican party seem to do a great fucking job of shooting down any and all attempts to change America for the good, it really does appear to me to be a "im fucking sorted, fuck the rest of em" type mentality, especially when it comes to things like healthcare, workers rights, maternity, holiday pay etc etc all things that the Republican party shit on and i just cant fathom why seeing as the majority of people that vote for them seem to come from states that would benefit the most from a bit of European style socialism

Merely scraping the tip of the political ice berg. There were democrats in office for 8 years before Trump, and they're back in office right now. When is the last time the democrats actually delivered on anything that they promised? The Affordable Care Act made healthcare coverage more complicated and actually increased costs to the point that employers either dropped their benefits altogether or they simply passed along the cost increases directly to their employees. See, I do understand both sides of the fence (I'm a left-leaning libertarian with some conservative views), and I know that these matters are never cut and dry like making late term abortions illegal and such. It's hard to deliver on any promises in America because there's tremendous pork barreling and compromising that takes place to get even a watered down version of a promise through both House and Senate.

I'll give some examples of why Republican shoot down stuff that sounds promising. The Democrats bring a plan to the table that sounds like a Utopian version of Obamacare (or Romney care if you prefer), but tucked into the pages of this healthcare plan are butt loads of proposed regulaltions and laws like parents having zero say into children over the age of 4 deciding to undergo a sex change, prison sentences for parents who fail to use correct preferred gender pronouns, mandatory vaccines for all the things, and let's also make it illegal to drag children to church if they don't want to go. You maybe laughing and sneering, but European socialism is chalk full of overbearing federal government BS, such as the movement in Germany to make home schooling illegal because it bypasses the national political/anti-religious indoctrination that they deem so very important and mandatory.

The reason the vast majority of the people who vote for Republicans vote for them is because most of us have seen how "blue states" operate and don't like it. I lived for more than 12 years on the west coast, and when I moved to the southeast it was like I stepped off a boat onto a new continent. The freedom. In the blue state, it was unlawful to remove anything from public land. They would place signs letting you know it was prohibited to pick the flowers, pick up any fruit, or remove any native american artifacts -- all artifacts were to be turned over to the state. Want to go fishing? You can do it from a fish and wildlife dock if you have a fishing license, or you can pay to fish from a fishing resort dock. All that land you see along the lake by the road? Absolutely no fishing allowed. In the red state, feel free to pick any flowers, pick up sticks, or do whatever you like. It's public land. Want to camp? Cool. Oh, you found an arrowhead? That's awesome. Native american artifacts are really cool to collect. Want to go fishing? Man, anywhere you can reach the water, provided your car is fully out of the road when parked, is fair game. Oh, there is also tons of public land.

Nah, the left looks at state financial numbers and sneers at the low revenue red states, but they obviously fail to realize that the cost of living is much lower in those states. People are generally very happy in those red states. Everyone I knew in the blue state hated the state government because it can't see past its biggest cities. Anything you want to do, there's a tax for that! There's a tax per tire on the road. There's a tax for trailers. There's a tax on gas. Taxes all around. Tax on sugar. Tax on spending time outdoors (they call it a Discovery pass). Taxes on wild game. Taxes on fish. Taxes because your home is in the city limits. Taxes because your home isn't in the city limits. Taxes because you have a home. Taxes in case you managed to avoid all the other taxes!

When the pandemic hit, I hit the water and went fishing. Back in the ol' blue state, fish and wildlife put a ban on all recreational fishing on the grounds that they couldn't monitor their access points to ensure social distancing was being followed on the docks. Oh, people could still get out in their boats, but absolutely no fishing was allowed....

Who looks dumb in all this?
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
without bringing politics into it, from my reading the news, blogs etc the Republican party seem to do a great fucking job of shooting down any and all attempts to change America for the good, it really does appear to me to be a "im fucking sorted, fuck the rest of em" type mentality, especially when it comes to things like healthcare, workers rights, maternity, holiday pay etc etc all things that the Republican party shit on and i just cant fathom why seeing as the majority of people that vote for them seem to come from states that would benefit the most from a bit of European style socialism
That is what the news wants you to believe, Republicans are bad, and hate progress, Democrats and liberals are altruistic and good. Way to fall for the propaganda. In reality everything Democrats do is to make sure they maintain their power. Republicans are power hungry too, they just never do as much with it as the dems. Right now the US House is trying to overturn an election in IL that was won by a republican because they think they can ignore the constituents and install a democrat in the seat. No party is perfect both seize power, the idea of limited government in America died when the Supreme Court bowed to Roosevelt and the new deal. I would much rather have more self determination and freedom of movement than to be "cared" for and "protected" by the state. The worst thing the dumb Trumpers did was riot to the capital because it gave those in power an excuse to limit peoples movements more.

Also mask mandates are dumb too. An individual or a business should decide to wear a mask or a seatbelt or anything like that. The government can advise, but it shouldn't pass a law that will fine a citizen for not complying to their arbitrary whims or general threats, based upon their public safety.
 

A.Romero

Member
Yes but because I feel like I have to. I try to keep my personal life as separate as possible from my work life but I still have to socialize in events and with potential or current customers.

I'm stuck in the middle. Most of the people I work with are younger than me and people above me are considerably older so it's kind of difficult to form meaningful friendships. In any case, I think getting too close to the people you manage ends up being detrimental. Close enough to help them with their issues but never really rely on them for my own stuff.
 

Arkam

Member
Yes/No. I do socialize in office when in social setting (milling around coffee, lunch, etc) but always keep it lite.

I use to have my coworkers in my circle of friends... but the last 4-5years I have seen this as a near fatal mistake. Giving access to your personal life and beliefs to your industry peers is a quick way to be “blacklisted” if they find something they don’t like (which changes with the wind).

This forced me to leave social media. ~80% of my FB friends were people I worked with in the games industry. How quickly everyone started trying to cancel each other to win SJW points was disgusting. And how they dog pile is even more gross.
 
Never, most of them are only your "Friend" when it's convenient for them as you sit next to them 5 days a week. As soon as you change jobs they forget about you, stop replying to emails and stuff. You've left the team!

For the most part this is true.

I've had friends carry on for life after a job, and people stop talking to me instantly.

If you can read people decently and make friends it's not hard.

Now do I *want* to be friends with my co-workers? Not really. I actively avoid work lunches and such.
 
Merely scraping the tip of the political ice berg. There were democrats in office for 8 years before Trump, and they're back in office right now. When is the last time the democrats actually delivered on anything that they promised? The Affordable Care Act made healthcare coverage more complicated and actually increased costs to the point that employers either dropped their benefits altogether or they simply passed along the cost increases directly to their employees. See, I do understand both sides of the fence (I'm a left-leaning libertarian with some conservative views), and I know that these matters are never cut and dry like making late term abortions illegal and such. It's hard to deliver on any promises in America because there's tremendous pork barreling and compromising that takes place to get even a watered down version of a promise through both House and Senate.

I'll give some examples of why Republican shoot down stuff that sounds promising. The Democrats bring a plan to the table that sounds like a Utopian version of Obamacare (or Romney care if you prefer), but tucked into the pages of this healthcare plan are butt loads of proposed regulaltions and laws like parents having zero say into children over the age of 4 deciding to undergo a sex change, prison sentences for parents who fail to use correct preferred gender pronouns, mandatory vaccines for all the things, and let's also make it illegal to drag children to church if they don't want to go. You maybe laughing and sneering, but European socialism is chalk full of overbearing federal government BS, such as the movement in Germany to make home schooling illegal because it bypasses the national political/anti-religious indoctrination that they deem so very important and mandatory.

The reason the vast majority of the people who vote for Republicans vote for them is because most of us have seen how "blue states" operate and don't like it. I lived for more than 12 years on the west coast, and when I moved to the southeast it was like I stepped off a boat onto a new continent. The freedom. In the blue state, it was unlawful to remove anything from public land. They would place signs letting you know it was prohibited to pick the flowers, pick up any fruit, or remove any native american artifacts -- all artifacts were to be turned over to the state. Want to go fishing? You can do it from a fish and wildlife dock if you have a fishing license, or you can pay to fish from a fishing resort dock. All that land you see along the lake by the road? Absolutely no fishing allowed. In the red state, feel free to pick any flowers, pick up sticks, or do whatever you like. It's public land. Want to camp? Cool. Oh, you found an arrowhead? That's awesome. Native american artifacts are really cool to collect. Want to go fishing? Man, anywhere you can reach the water, provided your car is fully out of the road when parked, is fair game. Oh, there is also tons of public land.

Nah, the left looks at state financial numbers and sneers at the low revenue red states, but they obviously fail to realize that the cost of living is much lower in those states. People are generally very happy in those red states. Everyone I knew in the blue state hated the state government because it can't see past its biggest cities. Anything you want to do, there's a tax for that! There's a tax per tire on the road. There's a tax for trailers. There's a tax on gas. Taxes all around. Tax on sugar. Tax on spending time outdoors (they call it a Discovery pass). Taxes on wild game. Taxes on fish. Taxes because your home is in the city limits. Taxes because your home isn't in the city limits. Taxes because you have a home. Taxes in case you managed to avoid all the other taxes!

When the pandemic hit, I hit the water and went fishing. Back in the ol' blue state, fish and wildlife put a ban on all recreational fishing on the grounds that they couldn't monitor their access points to ensure social distancing was being followed on the docks. Oh, people could still get out in their boats, but absolutely no fishing was allowed....

Who looks dumb in all this?

That's a helluva post... but I agree.

There's a certain specialness to leaving people alone and letting them work things out themselves.
 

StormCell

Member
That's a helluva post... but I agree.

There's a certain specialness to leaving people alone and letting them work things out themselves.
My apologies for a post made before the ban on the topic.

There is a specialness, for sure, about letting people figure things out with a minimal amount of governance. Without slipping off the slope, I would like to add that a lot of legislation begins with nothing but good intentions. From the moment that it was agreed upon that railways could cross roadways, it was understood that there was a risk to automobile traffic should they fail to yield to trains. We placed signs, and for a while that was good enough until someone spoiled that and got killed crossing the tracks in front of a train. Next came the bells and lights, and that, too, was sufficient for a time. Fast forward to the present and now every bus and school bus must stop for several seconds and check for trains while impeding everyone stuck behind them! Because bells, lights, physical cross guards, and friggin' train horns that must sound for something like 5 seconds at a time 3 times in the hundreds of yards leading up to the crossing just isn't sufficient!

I lived in a train town with half a dozen crossings within ear shot. I may have a chip on my shoulder for blue state representatives and a desire to run to help unseat the buffoons.
 

CloudNull

Banned
I only socialize outside of normal business hours with coworkers if my boss or director comes into town. It's one of those not mandatory but it is mandatory situations, were we all go out and have some drinks. Its actually a great way to build team morale.

Sometimes I am put in shitty situations were I end up going out when I really don't want to. It is super rare though and I wouldn't be as far in my career if I passed up on these moments. The corpo life is hard......

basically

implication GIF
 
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StormCell

Member
I only socialize outside of normal business hours with coworkers if my boss or director comes into town. It's one of those not mandatory but it is mandatory situations, were we all go out and have some drinks. Its actually a great way to build team morale.

Sometimes I am put is shitty situations were I end up going out when I really don't want to. It is super rare though and I wouldn't be as far in my career if I passed up on these moments. The corpo life is hard......

basically

implication GIF
Yeah, gotta be grateful for those social opportunities where it can help spring board you towards frivolous promotions. Companies that can operate like that are advantagous to good employees. Once a company gets big enough that HR has oversight and push back power on promotions, you can just about cross those social requirements off your schedule since it won't matter as much anymore.
 

MachRc

Member
Ive been here at this firm since 2004. I hear its unheard of to stay at one job for so long.

So I have grown up with my co-workers who are at best, almost like my family.
And like some family members, over the years I have learned, that we can help each other grow and be there for them when they need us.

I have also learned to weed out the people that will just use you or talk shit about you behind your back, they are easy to spot because they will talk shit about other people to you.
These weeds just come in, and talk all their issues about their kids, wife, and repeat it at each room of the office and talk shit all day(this fucker, that fucker blah blah blah) because
they have nothing to do or are miserable. I avoid this, you should too. Dont be an ear to people who need to tell you crap about other people or talk crap about other co-workers.
Ive learned to keep most of my private stuff to myself because of this.

Socializing is good, but don't lean on co-workers regarding martial issues, home problems, etc.
 

The Skull

Member
I work on a small team that does a 4 week rotating shift pattern so we've become very close knit and they've become some of my best friends. We spent all of Sunday just drinking on the sand dunes near where I live and it was one of the best days I've had in a long time.

Having said that, it took a while of working in close proximity so I can understand why a lot of people don't do this.
 

Mobilemofo

Member
No. The fellas i work with, like most men, are pub guys or pissheads. I don't drink. Everything they do revolves around drink. I also hate the smell of beer and being around pissed up people..

I just sniff pritstick on my own nowadays. All of the abuse..none of the consequences lol.
 

nush

Gold Member
Ive been here at this firm since 2004. I hear its unheard of to stay at one job for so long.

This isn't a dig at you but this reminded me of something.

I've worked with at least two people that left university and stayed at one job, the only job they ever had for 10+ years. I just find myself thinking this one office is your complete world work experience. They don't know how other companies operate or what differing work cultures are like, how to go through the job interview process (Other that the one time entry level position they got over a decade ago). Probably not aware there's better working conditions and salary within their reach.

They just camp out in that one job. If they ever got made redundant they would be fucked with just one job on the CV and no experience finding other jobs.
 
Not outside of work. In fact I usually don't want to socialize with my co-workers too much inside of work either. Sure it's cool to have a conversation to break up your workday, but some people will drag it out to a ridiculous extent.


I doubt I will ever consider a co-worker a friend. We are all pretty replaceable these days. You start caring about your co-workers, and when they get fired or move on? You are in a place doing a thing, these office jobs are the modern day trenches. If you get taken out I don't want to have any particular feelings about it.


One of the new hires is an old guy. I think he had the same job for too long and is struggling to adapt to learn our system. Pretty sure he is going to get fired. I'd like to know him as little as possible. I think he might have some kind of medical/mental problem that makes it hard for him to perform, but I don't want to pry. If I start thinking about how this guy has been working decades longer in the same field, and can't afford to retire, but is gonna be booted cause he can't hack it I might start feeling bad for him, and what is that going to get me? He has to pay rent, he has a family to support, but he planned out his life poorly and I think he is about to suffer for it.


We are all essentially mercenaries on a battlefield, I don't want to care or know about your life. It'll just make me sad if something bad happens to you.


Another way to put it is in the context of an office I am a human computer. If I become outdated or there are better models available, they'll put me in the trash just like a regular computer. Any socialization in that context is fake.
 

MachRc

Member
This isn't a dig at you but this reminded me of something.

I've worked with at least two people that left university and stayed at one job, the only job they ever had for 10+ years. I just find myself thinking this one office is your complete world work experience. They don't know how other companies operate or what differing work cultures are like, how to go through the job interview process (Other that the one time entry level position they got over a decade ago). Probably not aware there's better working conditions and salary within their reach.

They just camp out in that one job. If they ever got made redundant they would be fucked with just one job on the CV and no experience finding other jobs.
Its not like I don't have a degree or experience to get another job at another law firm.

It's a very high paying job. I've gotten enough raises to the point I am very comfortable here.

I'm not like stuck at an entry level position lol

But it's true most of all you said. Almost 18 years is unheard of.

Our receptionist passed away after 35 years at our office.
My first boss passed away after like 49 years.

Last year, our clerk turned 89 before being forced to retire due to covid. Lol it took him almost 30 minutes to go down and grab the mail from the mail room 😅
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Lol no.

I started a new job in January. I like the job, but the co workers in my team are fucking nutters. I'll keep it brief because I don't want to get banned, but they're all hard left loons and three of them are members of The Communist Party of Britain.

I'd rather have a rabid dog chew on my balls than spend my free time with those loons.
 

hollams

Gold Member
It's all the time for me since some of my co-workers have become my closest friends. For the past 25 years I've worked for a large Retail shop in the IT department and I have a ton of interests so there have always been rotating co-worker/friend relationships. Most of my co-worker/friends have been with the company over 10-15 years. I've been on vacations with them, once to Aruba where we almost got killed by some crazy waves.

I write a game blog that I send out to 30 people in the office. I have a core group of 3 that go out to lunch about 4 times a week and we even had a weekly board game night were we played Gloomhaven for over a year and a half. We started to play other games until the pandemic hit then we stopped and we haven't gotten back together yet but I expect to shortly. I've had other co-workers come over and watch movies in my mancave or play Rockband or real instruments. I really enjoy my work and like they say I like the people more than the actual work.
 

stn

Member
Definitely. I've kept in constant touch with lawyers from every firm I've worked at. In fact, a lot of them give me referrals for work.
 

StormCell

Member
Its not like I don't have a degree or experience to get another job at another law firm.

It's a very high paying job. I've gotten enough raises to the point I am very comfortable here.

I'm not like stuck at an entry level position lol

But it's true most of all you said. Almost 18 years is unheard of.

Our receptionist passed away after 35 years at our office.
My first boss passed away after like 49 years.

Last year, our clerk turned 89 before being forced to retire due to covid. Lol it took him almost 30 minutes to go down and grab the mail from the mail room 😅
Damn. I'm feeling a little aged and stale having been in my current position for nearly 8 years now. I sometimes wonder if that's going to look negative on my resume, but it's not as though I have been in the same role the whole time. In fact, I can't string together more than a couple of years of having done the same type of work even. It's always changing, always reaching for the bleeding edge, and the reason I've chosen to stay is because I've been here long enough to go from mentored to mentor.

In my mind, to change jobs is to start over. I'm not looking to waste my precious time on intro material and getting up to snuff with a new company. The whole first month of onboarding at my current company may as well be written off because you won't be touching your job. Not to mention I have zero interest in driving into anywhere, no desire to pass programming challenges through a crappy makeshift test IDE, or have to let anyone know two weeks in advance that I'll take a day off to do whatever I want. I'm pretty lucky where I'm at for now.
 
I manage a small group of guys and the job requires that we talk and all get along for the most part so I've curated a good group of fellas that I dont mind hanging out with. We do occasionally go out and grab beers or they've been to my house for the superbowl and shit. I try not to be the one to come up with the ideas though since there is always that weird lingering cloud that they might think I would hold it against them if they said no and I have no interest in being "that guy".

Outside of my team, I'm much more selective. Some are good guys but others I would only hang if I had to.
 
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down 2 orth

Member
People saying yes here are clearly in the minority, but those that can pull it off have it really good. Some of my best memories are from having a really tight social group at work. For me it's worked out kind of like in 40 Year Old Virgin, where everyone works together for a while, nothing special, and then almost overnight everyone is suddenly super close and partying together.
 

MachRc

Member
Ive been here at this firm since 2004. I hear its unheard of to stay at one job for so long.

So I have grown up with my co-workers who are at best, almost like my family.
And like some family members, over the years I have learned, that we can help each other grow and be there for them when they need us.

I have also learned to weed out the people that will just use you or talk shit about you behind your back, they are easy to spot because they will talk shit about other people to you.
These weeds just come in, and talk all their issues about their kids, wife, and repeat it at each room of the office and talk shit all day(this fucker, that fucker blah blah blah) because
they have nothing to do or are miserable. I avoid this, you should too. Dont be an ear to people who need to tell you crap about other people or talk crap about other co-workers.
Ive learned to keep most of my private stuff to myself because of this.

Socializing is good, but don't lean on co-workers regarding martial issues, home problems, etc.
quick question guys, Im suppose to get 4 weeks of vacation day after 10 years.
For the last 6 years Ive gotten on 2.
Payroll guy just sent me email that he would change it
2bOpRkS.jpg





what else can I do, as I sort of feel cheated. I didnt want to start a new thread :p
 
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Had an office job 20 years ago where we had a tight crew and still good friends with most of them. Pretty impossible in Open Plan world. Too many gossips and grasses.
 

tsumake

Member
Merely scraping the tip of the political ice berg. There were democrats in office for 8 years before Trump, and they're back in office right now. When is the last time the democrats actually delivered on anything that they promised? The Affordable Care Act made healthcare coverage more complicated and actually increased costs to the point that employers either dropped their benefits altogether or they simply passed along the cost increases directly to their employees. See, I do understand both sides of the fence (I'm a left-leaning libertarian with some conservative views), and I know that these matters are never cut and dry like making late term abortions illegal and such. It's hard to deliver on any promises in America because there's tremendous pork barreling and compromising that takes place to get even a watered down version of a promise through both House and Senate.

I'll give some examples of why Republican shoot down stuff that sounds promising. The Democrats bring a plan to the table that sounds like a Utopian version of Obamacare (or Romney care if you prefer), but tucked into the pages of this healthcare plan are butt loads of proposed regulaltions and laws like parents having zero say into children over the age of 4 deciding to undergo a sex change, prison sentences for parents who fail to use correct preferred gender pronouns, mandatory vaccines for all the things, and let's also make it illegal to drag children to church if they don't want to go. You maybe laughing and sneering, but European socialism is chalk full of overbearing federal government BS, such as the movement in Germany to make home schooling illegal because it bypasses the national political/anti-religious indoctrination that they deem so very important and mandatory.

The reason the vast majority of the people who vote for Republicans vote for them is because most of us have seen how "blue states" operate and don't like it. I lived for more than 12 years on the west coast, and when I moved to the southeast it was like I stepped off a boat onto a new continent. The freedom. In the blue state, it was unlawful to remove anything from public land. They would place signs letting you know it was prohibited to pick the flowers, pick up any fruit, or remove any native american artifacts -- all artifacts were to be turned over to the state. Want to go fishing? You can do it from a fish and wildlife dock if you have a fishing license, or you can pay to fish from a fishing resort dock. All that land you see along the lake by the road? Absolutely no fishing allowed. In the red state, feel free to pick any flowers, pick up sticks, or do whatever you like. It's public land. Want to camp? Cool. Oh, you found an arrowhead? That's awesome. Native american artifacts are really cool to collect. Want to go fishing? Man, anywhere you can reach the water, provided your car is fully out of the road when parked, is fair game. Oh, there is also tons of public land.

Nah, the left looks at state financial numbers and sneers at the low revenue red states, but they obviously fail to realize that the cost of living is much lower in those states. People are generally very happy in those red states. Everyone I knew in the blue state hated the state government because it can't see past its biggest cities. Anything you want to do, there's a tax for that! There's a tax per tire on the road. There's a tax for trailers. There's a tax on gas. Taxes all around. Tax on sugar. Tax on spending time outdoors (they call it a Discovery pass). Taxes on wild game. Taxes on fish. Taxes because your home is in the city limits. Taxes because your home isn't in the city limits. Taxes because you have a home. Taxes in case you managed to avoid all the other taxes!

When the pandemic hit, I hit the water and went fishing. Back in the ol' blue state, fish and wildlife put a ban on all recreational fishing on the grounds that they couldn't monitor their access points to ensure social distancing was being followed on the docks. Oh, people could still get out in their boats, but absolutely no fishing was allowed....

Who looks dumb in all this?

Well, Americans are competitive. It’s in the culture. We also have the saying “don’t mix business and pleasure.” In NYC, it’s truly dog eat dog, to the point other Americans find it appalling (myself included).

As mentioned before, it truly depends on the company in the US.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
During work hours, yes. We're all supervisors under two managers and we need humor in the day so the stress doesn't sink in too much. Outside work, not really. I have a wife and I'm not too big on friends or guests.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Wow.., reading some of the comments here I feel somewhat bad for SOME of you Americans (?) not being able to be yourself.. Just glad I'm not in that kind of climate here in my country, and that I feel at home with my colleagues (some of us are even at different places of the political spectrum and yet we're fine).

Let me know if I'm wrong about my perception of what I've seen in this thread though, I'm kinda curious.
 
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tsumake

Member
Wow.., reading some of the comments here I feel somewhat bad for SOME of you Americans (?) not being able to be yourself.. Just glad I'm not in that kind of climate here in my country, and that I feel at home with my colleagues (some of us are even at different places of the political spectrum and yet we're fine).

Let me know if I'm wrong about my perception of what I've seen in this thread though, I'm kinda curious.

What do you mean by “be yourself?” Are you saying you can speak without any filter at your workplace?
 
Suppose it depends on the job. People in higher paying occupations are too worried about losing everything whereas those on minimum wage seem more chill.
 
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