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by watwut 4 days ago
The usual expectation is that you wont discuss politics or personal topics. You are expected to not ask about other peoples health either.

The other completely normal expectation is that you will limit general chit chat, unless you are at unusually slacky workplace.

2 comments

To be honest, this kinda just sounds like normal social etiquette. Not discussing politics or personal topics is more like a "don't do this with anyone unless they're your close friends or family", right? And I've talked about my coworkers' health with them plenty over the years, but you don't generally dig into it with your coworkers or with non-coworkers unless they volunteer it, because there's a decent chance their health issue is some kind of weird goop on their balls or post-butthole drip that they're embarrassed about. It's not really particular to the office work environment.
That’s really cultural, though. In a lot of places those topics are generally more than acceptable and maybe even expected (in moderation at least)