You are sitting at your desk pouring over numbers and reports and…your loquacious coworker walks up. You oblige the polite “how are you” and the “how’s project XXX going”. Apparently this person doesn’t get much attention at home because they are eating up your inquisitiveness like it is a famine and you are the only one offering bread.
You know these people, right?
It certainly is a nice feeling to truly connect with coworkers, not just on a work level but on a personal level as well. I am fully a proponent of not only making allies at work but for racking up at least one or two real friendships at work too. Let’s face it; some of the non-work conversations that happen at work make it bearable to be there (and sometimes to face those personal issues).
But then there are those “other” people. Those other people prey on the kind and good listeners of the workplace. Those other people that essentially use the good listeners as their personal garbage can when the spouse, family, roommates, fill in the blank, won’t pay them any mind.
It irks me that productivity suffers, that I have to stay an extra 30 minutes because I listened to their rambled and long-winded story, and most of all, that they felt compelled to share way too much information with me. And I hate to break it to you, if you have ever thought to yourself “did I just share too much information”, you did. You are one of “these” people.
Please tell me I am not alone. Does anyone else feel like telling these people to just shut up already?
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