apparently there are a number of people at work who already know me. or know someone who knows me. besides the ai-yi who helped me get the job there is a cousin of a friend, a mother of a friend (i'm not sure about this one) and the head boss guy of my department used to play golf with my dad. could there be more? who knows.



the thing with socializing at work is that i'm against it. my work personality is plain, staid and boring. don't confuse this with my regular personality please. i try to say hi and bye and how are you but oftentimes i work actively to avoid social situations. walk with my head down, talk on the cell phone, use the coffee maker with nobody else in the room. i feel coolest with the warehouse guys, with whom i exchange friendly head nods and "what's up man." nothing further is exchanged but somehow i feel much more comfortable with them.



veteran worker friends tell me that having friends at work is a good thing because it makes the day go by but most of the time, quite frankly, i'm not particularly interested in other people at work. i ask them questions, they give me answers, that's the extent of our relationship. all this makes me wonder what it would be like to have "friends" at work. would the internet cease to be my sanctuary? would my lunches be filled with conversations about work? what would it be like? would my walks to the copier be filled with smiles and hi's as opposed to occupied silences? i dunno. but i'm not entirely eager to find out. i like just going in, doing my eight hours and walking out.



i felt the same way about class too. something about the work/class environment makes me just want to shut down and not say anything. and can we talk about avoiding company gatherings and parties? i have no inclination to ever to go to any of those. not just because of the not knowing anybody or the inevitable small talk but i feel like there should be a barrier between real life and work life. work life is filled with "how was the traffic this morning? how was your weekend?" no details or explanations needed.



i might be taking the "don't mix business with pleasure" statement the wrong way.