If you work in an office setting...
 

Do people at work say "good morning" or "goodbye" to each other? Is conversation allowed at all?

I have a friend who has a relatively new job (been there since last summer), and where she works apparently people just don't talk to one another. She mentioned that while grocery shopping she was watching the cashiers, and thinking that though they probably only make $9 / hour at least they are laughing and talking to one another.

If you work in an office, what is it like where you work?

(I feel bad for her... she's there for the money, but obviously not enjoying it.)

There are a couple of gems who don't have any interest in being friendly at all - I feel bad for them. The rest of us talk off and on all day. Busy working but always ready with a smile and an ear for a friend. We spend more than half our lives with these people, I think we should try to enjoy every minute we can.

Where I work we try and have a good time while we work. We had one employee that LOVED to make everyone miserable but thank goodness she left over a year ago. Conversation and laughter can make your work day seem shorter. I work in the hospital kitchen as the supervisor.
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I used to work at the telephone co. and we weren't allowed to talk one word while at work. The supervisor could see and hear all of us so no talk. It was pretty bad, but it put my husband thru college.

Maybe she could be the new trend setter by starting the day off with good morning everyone and everyone have a good evening as they all leave. Hopefully this would lead to more conversation amongst them. Just a suggestion coz personally I would go crazy working in that kind of environment.

I used to work at a place like that. I remember the first day I walked in I began to say Hey to everyone and they just kept looking a whatever they were doing. NO good morning, no hello, no nothing! Blew me away! I continued each and everyday to greet everyone and make sure to tell them goodbye as we all left. After a month or two, they finally caught on. It was amazing how they didn't realize how stuck up they seemed by not acknowledging each other. Before I left 5yrs later, Several told me how much I improved the atmosphere with my bright attitude each day. SO tell your freind to be her happy self and continue to greet each one each day. She can change the entire office to a better place with just a hello each morning.

Every where I've worked it's been nice. Nice enough anyway. Many years ago when working in Banking, one lady whom I'd worked with for years would come in bright and cheery. I wasn't awake yet!! I had to get up early and open the office and just am not a morning person. Still, I love getting along with everyone if possible. Even early in the morning!

Our office has a lot of talking and interaction. Sometimes too much so - there are a few people who talk more and work less than they should. But most are good about balancing the two.

I want the people in my office to want to come to work and to feel like it's a good atmosphere. I can't imagine how we would retain them otherwise.

We work with our two oldest kids, (46 and 50). We say hello and goodbye every work day. We talk off and on all day.

I've worked in an area where one woman dictated the mood of the office - if she was in a good mood we could talk, if she wasn't then no one was allowed to say a word. I left that department. Before I retired the department I was in had such good rapport - we spent most of our day working but would have wonderful interaction though out the day. It isn't fun to work in a place where no one talks.

I too work at a hospital and we have one person who absolutely no one likes, she goes out of her way to try and stir up trouble. Then she lies on others saying they did what it was she actually did. Management lets her get away with it. Thank goodness all of the rest of us talk enough so we all know when she says something that its not the truth and we all try to avoid her as best as we can. I told my boss the only way for me to not lose it with her is to get up and walk alot to get away. Thank goodness I only have to work with her one day a week but that one day feels like a whole bad week rolled up in one very long day. We'd all have a party if we found out she was leaving, she wouldn't be invited but we'd sure have a great time.

The worst job I ever had was in an office. The only time people opened their mouths was to snipe at each other. Thank Goc I work with men now. In spite of their masculine reputation, they tend to talk too much, but always cheerful.

How depressing - I could not stand all that solemnness. I'd start looking for a new job and quit this one as soon as I landed another position.

I've worked in quite a few offices, both in long term jobs and in temporary jobs. In all but one the people in the office would at least greet each other, and usually they would chat off and on throughout the day. Fortunately the one office where no one spoke was a temp job and I was only there a week.

I worked in a place where there was so much animosity that it was almost impossible to go to the office. As a home health nurse I didn't spend much time there except to write my reports and receive my assignments. I found lots of time I would have my report nearly written in the car before I went in to the office. The sadness is that it was a wonderful job with wonderful patients and the only terrible thing was going to the office. I am a cheery person and they just sucked the joy out of me. When I left they asked me why I was leaving and I did mention the office atmosphere but it didn't do any good as I spoke to another nurse who worked there subsequent to my departure and she said it was still like that.

I always worked in offices that we talked to each other. I have always said Good Morning and Good Night to each employee. Sure, you always have someone who is a 'pain' but just go on and have a good attitude, it's catchy.

I have worked in places both good and bad. It is amazing how much a good rapport amongst the people in an office can go miles toward making even a boring job enjoyable. I always thought the people were 90% of what made a job bearable or unbearable.
it seems foolish that a company would have a no talking policy...but there are many that do.

I don't know if it is the field that I am in or what, but everyone greets each other and it is not uncommon for someone to give you a hug or joke with you.

Back when I "went to the office" it was considered arrogant if you did not say hello or good morning if you passed by or walked by another employee, and if someone was on the phone a nod was considered the "correct" greeting. That being said , I have a friend that at their office its considered "unproductive" if you take the time to say hello or good morning.

I can't sit and not talk to somebody. I would introduce myself and ask why nobody talks? I would just need an answer or they would catch me sleeping on the job. People need stimulation and not just from caffeine. Need to be able to look out for each other.

There are three old broads in our front office. :-) We are always joking around with each other. I arrive to work last so I always say Good Morning and we always say see you tomorrow or something when they leave. I'm last to go home. We work really hard and feel if we don't laugh......we could cry. I share funnies from this board with them and interesting things I learn on here. I couldn't stand not being able to talk or laugh.

I was a school teacher and whenever we had a break we chatted like crazy. it was so good to speak to an adult.

I loved my school library job more and more each year. The students were a joy, even the rascals (my favorites)! I served at a high school first and it was all great except for a limited budget. After 17 years, I requested a transfer to my own boys' middle school to provide transport for their after school sports activities. My last principal had only one real requirement. "Do what's right." We loved the kids and each other in that middle school. Nicest people ever, preteens AND grownups! I never "worked" a day in my librarian life! I worked 4 extra years after I could have retired so my aide could go to college, be in line to take my place, and "take care" of my teachers and kids. Jane's since earned a Master's and is nationally certified. So proud of her!

I greet anyone I see on my way to my desk, but I do not seek people out unless I need to ask them something. The people I work most closely with, I will say good morning to before I ask anything about work, even if we have been in the office for a while before we speak. I don't say goodbye generally, as people are on flexitime and its not really the thing to be drawing attention to who stays later and who leaves earlier- the clock works that our and people leave quietly as a rule.

I worked in an elementary school and all the adults spoke to each other whenever we passed in the halls, etc. Of course that could be because we just wanted to hear another adult voice! But it really made things pleasant!

I speak to everyone...after a while if they don't speak back I just keep on going. 90% come around and speak

I speak with everyone I pass in the hallways of the hospital and all that work on my floor. There are 2 people that if I can avoid them I will due to the fact that they are miserable and try to make everyone around the miserable. Other than that we have a great team.

I just finished a temporary position and it was a very small clinic. Most of the staff said Good Morning to each other BUT the 2 people who I worked closest with never said good morning, never asked about your weekend, or even made small talk. In fact, they didn't even walk out of the clinic together or in together from the parking lot in the morning. It was really hard for me as I am a people person. I was really glad when my assignment was finished. This clinic has several issues that are accepted practice. Unfortunately, this was my own Vet clinic of 10 years and just knowing what goes on behind the scenes made me uncomfortable enough to switch vets!!!

Reminds me of a rental car company I worked for years back (about 10 years ago). Supposed to always be quiet and professional, so I sat at the front desk and would tell everyone Good morning or whatever time of day .. most would just look at me, but I would smile (thinking: geesh must be having a bad day all around). I left there and no one would treat the desk as the greeter like I did and still to this day they are talking about how I used to always say hello no matter what .. LOL Well just tell her the monies are good, so take it and run with it. Some offices just aren't meant to have the banter of others (there might of been gossip problems in the past that caused problems).

My coworkers are great. We only have 6 who work year round and another 4 or 5 during spring and fall. We are at a University Research station and have fun while we are getting our work completed. Music is a must and we joke and laugh! We are encouraged to share lunch and it is mandatory that we all share morning break together. Even the Superintendent joins us. Great place to work and only 2 miles from home! :) .

There are very few of us that work in our office (6 people). We all get along like family. We greet each other every morning and stop and chat a few minutes throughout the day. One of my co-workers left a few years ago and took another job. She was miserable, the pay was good, but the job wasn't because no one was allowed to talk. She said if the boss caught you talking, he said you didn't have enough work to do.

In my office we're like family (without the fighting). Love it - I'm only female & old enough to be everyone's mother except our manager & i'm still 10 years older than him.

In my department, we are a chatty bunch. But my company is very large (over 900 in this building alone) and all departments are very different. There are times in my area when everyone is working on a project or whatever, that it's really quiet and everybody just keeps their head down and working. But generally we all say Good Morning and Good Night to each other. On some occasions we'll hang out at each other's cubicles discussing TV shows! Actually, in a cubicle environment, you usually know everybody's business whether they like it or not...LOL. I've retreated to the parking garage to make personal phone calls on more than one occasion, that's for sure.

If you work in a busy call center...like the phone company...it is more difficult to chat be cause everyone is on the pphone with customers...we sill did get a manage little chatter.

It depended on the day. I worked in an accounting office and due to the deadlines sometimes it was wheel to the grindstone. End of the month, we were pushing to get everything in. First of the month, we were reporting the previous month activity and balancing. Not a friendly time, business required full attention. Not rude, just busy.

The size of the different departments also had an effect. Twenty good mornings over 30 minutes makes the 30 minutes shot. 2 or 3 not so much of issue.

I worked in offices for 11 years, rules were liberal, we always said, "Good morning" and a lot of chit chat before we said, "see ya tomorrow". It can be very annoying when someone wants to chit chat when I had a lot of work to complete before going home, and there was a very sneaky girl who pretended to be visiting my desk, but was snooping, she would run and start rumors or tell the boss something to upset her. After a while we knew she was trouble, most people ignored her. There's always one in every office!

One of my high school students had to live with us for a while. Second semester, she was a coop student who worked half days in a local plant office. When she first took the job, she was over the moon because everyone was so friendly except for this one girl in the office, a real sourpuss. This drove our girl crazy as she was a real breath of sunshine all the time. She (like most high schoolers) wanted to "fix" this situation and pressed me for ideas. All I could think to tell her was to treat her the same as all the others and to pray for her a lot. A few days later she came bouncing in the house after work yelling "It's working!" I loved it!