You go to work to get the job done. That’s the purpose of you being there in the first place.
At my former work, where I was for my learning period, we had about two extra breaks from work, 15 minutes to 30 minutes. They weren’t really necesary. They take away the time from work. Out of politeness I always joined my colleages. You sit and chat and either have tea, coffee, soda or juice, whatever.
Anyway, the last couple of weeks I stopped sacrificing my time for my work to have those extra breaks. Besides, everybody has their drink next to the computer or the counter anyway, even during work when there wasn’t a small break we all drank. I was told when I stopped doing that my colleagues didn’t like taht. I’ve always smiled at them and always stayed polite, even though often they didn’t greet me back (while they did greet everybody else back who was standing next to me or came in later) and often ridiculed me and did other silly childish stuff. But I did decide to stop socialising with such people who even after several weeks still acted nasty towards me. Their nastiness only increased and I kept our topics more work related.
But according to my boss it is important. (wish they would have told me that right away then when I first skipped an extra break and remained working)
How important is that really? How far should you go socialising? Doesn’t your work count more than chit-chatting? And if your colleague(s) keep acting nasty, why on earth should you socialise?
Anyone shed any light? Should I be a hypocrite then? Where exactly would you draw the line between being polite and being a hypocrite?
