OFFICE SMALL TALK? WE’D RATHER HIDE IN THE LOO

TRAPPED at your desk in the office, it can sometimes feel like there’s no escape from your colleagues’ “fascinating” chatter. But in a bid to spare ourselves from yet another reminiscence about their latest holiday or an update on that long-running drama with the plumber, there’s very little we aren’t prepared to try.

And that includes hiding in the toilets, going to an imaginary meeting or even sticking our head in the fridge, according to the findings of a survey in Britain.

Nearly six out of 10 respondents admitted to dodging conversations with their coworkers, and more than a third said they did so on a daily basis.

One in eight said they would go to the trouble of hiding to avoid having to enter into the banter, with some saying they duck down so their computer screen keeps them out of eyeshot. Others said they would lurk behind a wall rather than join in, or open the fridge door and peer inside until the chat stopped.

Two-thirds said they had gone a whole day without speaking to anyone in the workplace, apart from about work-related matters.

Other tactics employed to avoid a chat with their colleagues included pretending to be on the phone, pretending not to have heard a colleague, faking needing to go to the loo, and making up an urgent deadline that means they can’t stop and talk.

The major reason given for avoiding the office chit-chat was a “lack of time”. Others included “I had nothing to talk about” and “I don’t like awkward conversations”.

Nearly one in five of the 2 000 men and women surveyed said they didn’t chat because they didn’t know their colleagues well enough.

Almost a quarter confessed they did not even know the names of all the people in their team or department.

Despite the extraordinary lengths some of us are apparently prepared to go to avoid unnecessary chat with colleagues, four out of 10 said they would feel isolated and more than a third lonely if they had no one to talk to in the office, the researchers also found. Sixtyone percent said they felt positive after a quick chat with colleagues. – Daily Mail