Office happy hours, client dinners and other after-hours work gatherings lose their luster as more people feel the pull of home
Patience for after-hours work socializing is wearing thin.
After an initial burst of postpandemic happy hours, rubber chicken dinners and mandatory office merriment, many employees are adopting a stricter 5:01-and-I’m-done attitude to their work schedules. More U.S. workers say they’re trying to draw thicker lines between work and the rest of life, and that often means clocking out and eschewing invites to socialize with co-workers. Corporate event planners say they’re already facing pushback for fall activities and any work-related functions that take place on weekends.
I don’t really even want to talk to my co-workers during work hours. It’s not that I dislike them, it’s just that I don’t care. I’m not interested in making friends, I am there to get paid. Just let me get my shit over with and let me go home. Thankfully, my work allows me to wear noise-cancelling earbuds the entire time I’m in the office unless someone can’t contact me over Slack for some reason.
I’m glad other people feel the same way. Sometimes i like the people i work with. But then they ask me after work if i want to go for a drink or whatever. No… why?
I’m glad I have a hybrid schedule (although WFH is the dream) so I only have to deal with inane prattle half the time and the earbuds mostly solve that problem.
I got you beat! One of my coworkers made eye contact with me while I was at my desk. I slid my monitor to the left to cover my face
I like my coworkers, just don’t like being in the office, even if it’s just an occasional thing
Hear, hear.