Timeline for How can I drop a polite hint to a coworker to stop pestering me with daily questions about my lunch?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 13, 2023 at 2:29 | comment | added | david | I've realized that I don't need to be relevant responding to phatic talk I just need to quack. Q: Where you goin A: It's a beautiful day. Q: Wadd'ya get? A: Yes, it was nice. | |
| May 15, 2017 at 17:01 | comment | added | SomeGuy | Very interesting. Sounds like my coworker. We are the youngest at the office. He is an extrovert and I am not. He chats me up, which I welcome for the most part. He talks about things we ought to do in our free time, however when I set something in stone, he always has a reason why he can't. Like you said, the small talk is cheap, especially on company time. Time outside of work is much more expensive for an extrovert, when he has dozens of friendships to maintain. | |
| Jul 13, 2016 at 14:16 | comment | added | user37746 | I had a medical test the other day and I was just lying there happily because I have had that test dozens of times. The medical person asked me how I was, mentioning that I seemed very subdued (I forget exactly the word she used). I said, no, I was happy and feeling well. I just happen to be comfortable lying very still and not talking with someone who is pushing an instrument against my body. Many, probably most, people are not. I made an effort to talk amiably at that point, but it didn't matter to me at all. | |
| May 25, 2016 at 21:15 | vote | accept | 8protons | ||
| May 6, 2016 at 23:45 | comment | added | MealyPotatoes | @EthanTheBrave: that actually meshes with a mental picture I've always used for this kind of throwaway small talk -- imagine a bunch of ducks softly quacking away in a group. Why do they quack like that? It's not like they have anything important to say to each other. And yet, it does provide an important function. For prey animals, it lets them keep a constant finger on the pulse, position and boundaries of the group. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 18:26 | comment | added | Ethan The Brave | After a security training one day I had the realization that the meaningless small-talk and exchanges also act as a "Are you ok?" ping. 300 days in a row Jim responds, "I'm fine, how are you?". Day 301-310 Jim doesn't even respond. Something is wrong with Jim! :( etc, etc... I understand it's a particularly grim view of the value of small talk but that doesn't make it any less true. | |
| May 4, 2016 at 16:17 | history | answered | MealyPotatoes | CC BY-SA 3.0 |