Don’t let them scare you
It’s not always handshakes and disapproving looks.
Sometimes it’s getting drinks and going shopping with your manager during your lunch break. Sometimes its watching vines on the TV in a conference room or yelling inside jokes to your team across the hall for everyone to hear. And sometimes, its a wing eating competition when no one has work and is sick of pretending like they do.
I used to think that offices are a head down, get your work done, no funny business environment. And I guess that’s true if you’re surrounded by people who enjoy that type of lifestyle, but I have yet to meet anyone of the sort. It’s hard to imagine, but the people you work with are real people. Real people who get exhausted, bored, annoyed, just like you. Which also means they like to joke around and have a good time when they can, just like real people do! Meaning, that the facade of a gray-scale, super-serious, only using big words, and no casual conversation environment is exactly that, a facade. It’s a facade to scare you into working harder that seldom works when you realize you can get your work done and still have a good time.
Lesson Learned: You don’t have to sell your soul and personality to work in an office.