When looking at my own satisfaction with my current job and jobs in the past, workplace friends play a big role. I think most people can relate to the feeling of starting a new job and not knowing any of the other workers there. It’s isolating, awkward and slightly nerve wracking wondering whether or not you’ll like anyone or if it will remain that uncomfortable for as long as you work there. So, once you do start to find your place at a job and people become more friendly, you feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. As Vernon (2010) stated, friends at work provide a sense of belonging (p. 17). However, for the most part, it doesn’t go much deeper than that.
Personally, I have mostly only experienced work friends that stay work friends. There is usually no actual intimacy or deeper meaning behind the friendship. I am even guilty of the avoidance of coworkers in public areas that Vernon (2010) talks about (p. 20) and have made many excuses as to why I can’t hang out after work. However, I have made a few friends from the various jobs I have had. Usually, there’s something different right from the jump though. We have almost always had very similar interests or personalities before becoming friends that helped our friendship develop. For example, I am a big Alabama football fan. When I was working at my current job, a girl came in for her first day back after returning from college and I didn’t have the best feeling about her. But our first day working together I was trying to make small talk and asked her where she graduated from. She told me that she went to the University of Alabama and even had Roll Tide tattooed on her inner lip. At that moment, I knew we would be friends and still are to this day. I think the result from this event had something to do with her openness and willingness to share something so personal but humorous. This reminds me of Adam’s Smith idea that people who were courageous, open, comical and distinctive would have friendship come their way (Vernon, p. 34). So, although I think it is hard to extend friendships from the workplace out into the real world, I don’t believe it’s impossible-it just takes certain people to do it.
Reference:
Vernon, M. (2010). The meaning of friendship. Basingstoke (England): Palgrave Macmillan.
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