Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a friend who is driving me INSANE because every single conversation we have is about her job. It doesn't matter what we're talking about, she always finds a way to slip in some tidbit about work into it. She lives in a socialized country so jobs are difficult to come by - plus you get put into whatever job they have available, even if you're not the most qualified.
Anyway, her job isn't something exciting, like a hostage negotiator or alligator wrangler. It's support for the IT person at a high school. She was hired knowing nothing more about computers other than how to turn them on and use Facebook.
I'm fine with listening to people share tidbits of their jobs with me every now and then. But I don't want or need to know every single technical detail of boring computer stuff that I don't have any interest in.
She also complains constantly about how much work she has, that she has to be their 60 hours a week and if she takes a day off, she'll have 300 voicemails and a 1000 emails to handle.
What am I missing here? How can I re-direct her into talking about things we are both interested in? She is a temp employee, only until June. She did the same thing with her previous job, which was completely different (secretarial work).
Seriously, I could say something like "I had a frontal lobotomy today, then when I walked into traffic, I was almost hit by a bus. Thankfully the bus was driven by a robot named Ed and he was able to have ninja-fast reaction" and she'd start right up with how she had to reset all of the passwords individually on 200 computers.
I don't want to be mean, but enough is enough!! It's getting so I avoid talking to her, either via email, chat, FB, phone, whatever because it's ALWAYS about work and her complaining about it. Well, except for the times that she complains about her hips and bones hurting and having to go to work with strep throat, diarrhea and a fever (she doesn't, this country gives 6 weeks paid vacation every summer and you can call in "sad" to work without getting fired)
She sounds like a clueless person. There is nothing you can do to help these kind of people. It is obvious you have tried to interject other discussion topics into your conversations, but it has failed. Either put up with it or slowly refrain from communicating with her until there is no communication. I would choose the latter.
I know many people whose only conversation is about their job. It seems that if you don't have much of a life to begin with the only thing you focus on is your job.
When you start getting hobbies and passions and start to realize that a job is nothing more than a place you show up at to make a paycheck life is so much simpler.
Americans in general are nothing but their job. In other cultures people refrain from talking about work--it's considered rude to ask what you do and be work obsessed.
Americans in general are nothing but their job. In other cultures people refrain from talking about work--it's considered rude to ask what you do and be work obsessed.
Hehe- not in any of the European countries I've lived in. Your identity is your job. That is the first thing someone asks is what do you do for a living. Then they put you in the correct box.
I have a friend who is driving me INSANE because every single conversation we have is about her job. It doesn't matter what we're talking about, she always finds a way to slip in some tidbit about work into it. She lives in a socialized country so jobs are difficult to come by - plus you get put into whatever job they have available, even if you're not the most qualified.
Anyway, her job isn't something exciting, like a hostage negotiator or alligator wrangler. It's support for the IT person at a high school. She was hired knowing nothing more about computers other than how to turn them on and use Facebook.
I'm fine with listening to people share tidbits of their jobs with me every now and then. But I don't want or need to know every single technical detail of boring computer stuff that I don't have any interest in.
She also complains constantly about how much work she has, that she has to be their 60 hours a week and if she takes a day off, she'll have 300 voicemails and a 1000 emails to handle.
What am I missing here? How can I re-direct her into talking about things we are both interested in? She is a temp employee, only until June. She did the same thing with her previous job, which was completely different (secretarial work).
Seriously, I could say something like "I had a frontal lobotomy today, then when I walked into traffic, I was almost hit by a bus. Thankfully the bus was driven by a robot named Ed and he was able to have ninja-fast reaction" and she'd start right up with how she had to reset all of the passwords individually on 200 computers.
I don't want to be mean, but enough is enough!! It's getting so I avoid talking to her, either via email, chat, FB, phone, whatever because it's ALWAYS about work and her complaining about it. Well, except for the times that she complains about her hips and bones hurting and having to go to work with strep throat, diarrhea and a fever (she doesn't, this country gives 6 weeks paid vacation every summer and you can call in "sad" to work without getting fired)
Your friend has all the qualifications to be put on call block. That's my recommendation if you have the feature.
When you start getting hobbies and passions and start to realize that a job is nothing more than a place you show up at to make a paycheck life is so much simpler.
My job funds my hobbies, specifically traveling. I don't love the job itself, I love the freedom it gives me.
I LOVE to travel and have a dream of one day retiring, selling my house, and driving around the country in an RV until I die.
"Wow...you talk about your job ALOT! Anything else going on in your life?"
"I know all about your job by now....I'd like to know what's new with you..."
"I hate talking about work after hours...there are SO many other things going on in this world"
"Shut yer trap about your job. I'm just sick to death of hearing about it!!! Argggh!!"
See, what I did there? If you don't confront her about it now, you'll eventually go bat sh*t on her. Confront her on it- the sooner the better.
I have a friend who is driving me INSANE because every single conversation we have is about her job. It doesn't matter what we're talking about, she always finds a way to slip in some tidbit about work into it. She lives in a socialized country so jobs are difficult to come by - plus you get put into whatever job they have available, even if you're not the most qualified.
Anyway, her job isn't something exciting, like a hostage negotiator or alligator wrangler. It's support for the IT person at a high school. She was hired knowing nothing more about computers other than how to turn them on and use Facebook.
I'm fine with listening to people share tidbits of their jobs with me every now and then. But I don't want or need to know every single technical detail of boring computer stuff that I don't have any interest in.
She also complains constantly about how much work she has, that she has to be their 60 hours a week and if she takes a day off, she'll have 300 voicemails and a 1000 emails to handle.
What am I missing here? How can I re-direct her into talking about things we are both interested in? She is a temp employee, only until June. She did the same thing with her previous job, which was completely different (secretarial work).
Seriously, I could say something like "I had a frontal lobotomy today, then when I walked into traffic, I was almost hit by a bus. Thankfully the bus was driven by a robot named Ed and he was able to have ninja-fast reaction" and she'd start right up with how she had to reset all of the passwords individually on 200 computers.
I don't want to be mean, but enough is enough!! It's getting so I avoid talking to her, either via email, chat, FB, phone, whatever because it's ALWAYS about work and her complaining about it. Well, except for the times that she complains about her hips and bones hurting and having to go to work with strep throat, diarrhea and a fever (she doesn't, this country gives 6 weeks paid vacation every summer and you can call in "sad" to work without getting fired)
She's self absorbed and likes talking about herself. In this case it happens to be about work, but there are people who just want to talk about themselves.
You could tell them your house just burned down, your dog died, etc, and they would say "oh" and then keep talking about themselves.
I would either tell her how you feel and see if she "gets it", to give her a chance to improve herself.
If she can't, then the only control you have over the situation is to limit or end contact with her.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
