I miss my college days where I had friends. I'm not sure if it's the environment of my company, or maybe everywhere else is like that, but I have no friends at work. Now, I have coworkers and colleagues, but not at the level where I would trust them in simple stuff like 'I really hate this aspect of the company'. Too much politics and bullshit, never know who to trust and I constantly have to screen what I say out loud. I really really hate to have to watch my back 24/7. Is it just this shitty company and their culture? Do you have friends at work? Or do you keep everyone at a distance?
Do you realize that your coworkers are your competitors?
No. I’m the only white person on the team, everyone else breaks up into their own ethnic groups (Chinese/Indian). The people are decently nice, but they’re also old enough to be my parents (I’m in my 20’s) and we have nothing in common. I’ve tried to befriend them but our small talk never translated into anything substantial. There are days when I show up to my desk, do my work, and go home without saying a single word to anyone. I spend most days on Blind or chatting with friends on Facebook and taking walks alone during the day to clear my mind. It’s really lonely and I feel pretty sad. Don’t worry you’re not the only one who feels that way.
Get another job and check the team members during onsite...
I'm the only Indian in my team and I'm surrounded by whites and Asians. Apart from small lunch talks, I don't have much to do with them. Neither I invite them to hangout outside work nor they do. But I'm doing fine.
Very few not working directly with me
Become a manager and "encourage" your team to hang out.
Newsflash! If you are looking for any kind of promotion or to position yourself for recognition and/or a raise, your coworkers are your competitors.That’s not to say that you should be working against them but you should definitely be trying to establish yourself as an individual that stands out above others. And that does not mean that you work against other people or do not work well in teams, it’s simply a statement to say that you need to look out for yourself regarding your career development.
Trust me I’ve been in management for 30 years, I know that managers are watching what everyone’s doing their making note of who is excelling and who is just stagnating. So if you think that your coworkers are not your competitors, I think that’s the immature comment. Why do you think when there is an internal opening that there are interviews. That’s because you’re competing against other people in your company.
Start asking people that you think you might be able to trust to lunch or to get a beer after work. Screen what you say for a while at first and then drop something fairly innocuous and see if they pursue it and echo it. Build that up over time over several interactions with that person. If you’re super concerned and don’t want to have it damage you professionally if it backfires, start out by confiding some low level personal issue that has nothing to do with work and wait a while to see if that information was spread around the team or kept in confidence. Some companies are just full of bullshit and politics but there are always people who hate it as much as you do. I think longer term, the fact that nobody talks about it openly either in a joking way or as a problem with possible solutions at your company is a bad sign and maybe it’s time to seek greener pastures.
Best to have work friends. Doesn’t mean we hang out all the time after work but we can definitely bitch about things or grab a drink every now and then. If you don’t have work friends I think you’re fine so long as you have actual friends outside of work.