Why are companies obsessed with this shit? I don't care about icebreakers or whatever I just want to clock in and do my job and then log off. I don't think I should be harangued just because I don't participate in every damn meeting.

  • Vladimir_Slipknotchenko [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think it doesn’t count as parasocial if you actually know each other irl, but I’m not a sociologist.

    The work friend thing can be emotionally draining af sometimes though.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      There's some blurry area there. There's people I've worked with that I otherwise wouldn't know except for their names and maybe their job title but the parasocial bonding bullshit pushed on me required more than that, often in patronizing and even infantilizing "activities."

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Worse than pizza parties, because at least that's food I didn't directly have to pay for.

          I'm talking patronistically organized "everyone sit down and show everyone else your name tag, put a cute/funny drawing on it and tell us one interesting thing about yourself" thing that was already seeming condescending and infantilizing in college orientation days.

          • Vladimir_Slipknotchenko [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            That’s hellish. I guess the one nice thing about my old job was they knew better than to try and increase morale any way other than food (that was on the table as an option at least).

            I bet everyone just says basic stuff like “this is a picture of a dog. I like dogs” and it moves on and nobody actually gets to know one another anyways.

            HR departments live in reverso-world if they think that helps.

            • UlyssesT [he/him]
              ·
              1 year ago

              I bet everyone just says basic stuff like “this is a picture of a dog. I like dogs” and it moves on and nobody actually gets to know one another anyways.

              It was worse. I'd prefer if it was about dogs rather than "I like to think of myself as a bit of a Ravenclaw" and "I live by the Lannister code and always pay my debts." so-true solidarity so-true

          • GaveUp [love/loves]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I mean if you get paid for that it sounds like a pretty good deal tbh

            • UlyssesT [he/him]
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              It isn't a good deal for a salaried job (where you're not actually paid for attending but need to attend if you want to keep your job) when one has lots of things to do to prepare for the next day, the next week for that matter, grading papers and all that. It's an actual waste of time but one that has passively-implied mandatory attendance whenever administration is in the mood for corpo shit again.