Had a meeting today with my boss and co-workers. I get along well with my co-workers and think everyone's nice, but I don't consider them my friends. I believe in setting boundaries in terms of the information I share with the people I work with/for. I have a life outside of work. I spend most of my time with my family and friends that I've known for years. I don't consider my co-workers or clients friends. I think that's a super weird part of work culture that needs to stop.
The meeting we just had was about professionalism, but some of the stuff that was said seemed to be about anything but professionalism. Like my boss mentioned how you should have dinner or go drink with co-workers outside of work hours. That'd be one thing if we were actually close friends, but I genuinely do not care about my co-worker's personal lives. I say this because my boss ALSO said it's okay to inquire about our personal lives and share stuff that I find to be kind of invasive and TOO personal for healthy boundaries as co-workers. I save that stuff for family and friends that I've known for years, not people I work with in a professional environment. I'm just not comfortable with that. I'll talk about hobbies or TV shows or whatever all day long, but I'm not gonna spill the tea about myself or ask anyone else to do the same.
Then my boss went on to say that “work is life” and how we're going to spend more time with our co-workers than our actual family, which might be true in some cases but that's fucking sad and shouldn't be the standard or a goal that everyone wants to achieve.
Although I may spend several hours a week working, that doesn't mean I'm besties with my co-workers. I don't want to hear about anyone's issues or be vulnerable, which is what my boss explicitly stated to do! Like NO, just let me do my job and go talk to an actual therapist about that shit.
Is this odd to anyone else or am I crazy? Work is not my entire life. Like most people, I only work because I have bills to pay. I want to do things outside of work. I want a majority of my life to NOT be spent at work. I don't think it's insane to say I'd rather hang out with my actual family and friends than co-workers who I just get along with, which doesn't mean we have much in common to actually warrant a genuine friendship.