Becoming friends with your colleagues can be beneficial to your work environment for various reasons such as great office morale, positive communication, and friendly vibes. After all, many of us spend 40 hours a week or more around our colleagues, that's almost more time spent with them than time spent with our loved ones. Once in a while you'll find that one person or that group of people you call your work family. This group celebrates birthdays, hosts potlucks and you even do things with these people outside of work. I'm not just talking the after work group cocktail outings where everyone is invited, BUT the personal invites to hang out on the weekend and the after business hours phone calls to talk about what REALLY happened in the meeting. Friendships are born and lifelong bonds are made. That's when work friendships are like finding the golden ticket! Wonderful idea right?
But what happens when a colleague is rubbed the wrong way by something you said or did? For example, if a colleague is a little more sensitive than the average person or not as mentally mature, a joke about cashews could land you an email requesting you limit your conversation with them to business purposes only. It is important to be mindful of who your audience is, past interactions with certain colleagues, the role you play in the office, and who's watching because all of these things can determine how others view you. Some colleagues may not want to see you succeed so they are waiting for the moment you slip. Another colleague may be jealous because the person they used to go to lunch with is all of a sudden going with you. Sounds petty right?
Sometimes people tend to take work friendships overboard. Again, a lot of time is spent in the office so to someone, the office IS their life- the only source of fun and interaction they have is with you in that cubical. In my experience, I've learned to be nice to people until they are no longer nice to me. It is important to go into situations understanding that not every one person is the same and sometimes personalities clash. This oftentimes occurs in the workplace due to egos and power trips. I've also learned that sometimes it's best to keep it to a minimum with colleagues and do the friendship thing with your real friends outside of the office. It just works better that way.
According to an article I read titled 20 Things You Should Never Say to Your Coworkers, there are a few things you should NEVER say to a colleague if you want to maintain a positive work atmosphere. I will list the few I feel are imperative.
20 Things You Should Never Say to Your Coworkers
Cashews!
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