People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers and coworkers. In my case I’d quit some coworkers and sometimes my manager.
But others coworkers are good ones I like working with, and the workplace is not very far, meaning my commute is so small I can bike there. There’s lots of downtime as well and sometimes my biggest trouble is how not to die of boredom listening to my coworkers’ boring stories because they feel offended if I don’t sit with them. I’m unionized.
I like keeping to myself and deciding what kind of people I want in my private life. Most of my coworkers are not this kind of people. I’ve been called a loner, which is actually true and it’s not a problem unless people bully me for it (because they feel offended by my silence, apparently). My biggest problem is office drama. However, wherever I go, there’s always going to be drama, so wouldn’t it be wiser to stay with the bad I already know?
I don’t get drama. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.
One thing that sometimes works is when they start up the bullshit and drama, hit them with the old “you guys obviously don’t have enough work to do if you have time for this kind of nonsense” and variations of that. It won’t make you popular with those types of people, but they aren’t ever going to like you anyway. So you might as well get them to leave you alone. It also happens to be true. Like you said, they are wasting everyone’s time.
And always keep coworkers on a low information diet as far as your personal shit goes. It’s OK to have a friend at work, even a trusted friend. That’s a good thing. But 99% of coworkers are not your friend and never will be. And at least half of them want to make you look bad, because they think it makes them look better.
Fuck yes, and stay out of office politics and avoid taking sides with anyone.
What’re you talking about “people don’t quit their jobs”. The people are part of the job and people quit for all sorts of other reasons all the time, pretty often due to the job part of the job.
Be a professional and ONLY do your job within your official job scope. No more, no less. If you di this, then by default you won’t get involved in 90% of office bullshit. The remaining 10% of bullshit is unavoidable in carrying out your duties. Hence, DOCUMENT your work. Have everything in email or hardcopy. Your manager told you to do some stupid shit? Ask for it to be written in an email or memo. A co-worker refuses to cooperate? Email her and cc to your and her manager. Customer refuses your advice? Make him sign a disclaimer.
I met potential future bosses outside the formal process and had conversations. I didn’t make these an all-or-nothing deal. Just having conversations on what we could do together if I were to be hired. I made it also clear I was seriously considering to apply to their teams.
