Started a new job a few months ago and on my first day the owner of the establishment started to mock and speak poorly abt a former employee who left to obtain a higher position in the same industry. My coworkers also do the same and join in to ridicule the former employee. They also talk poorly about the owner and other managers who don’t appear to be part of the “in group”. After being there about two months, and being virtually ignored by the people that I don’t work directly with, only now are people seemingly putting in effort to talk with me. Granted they don’t seem to want to get to know me as much as they want someone to listen to them.
I have a very hard time trusting my gut when I meet new people and can’t really tell the difference between authenticity and genuine kindness vs fake niceness.
I don’t feel welcome there. Could this be a sign of a bad work environment or am I misreading normal behavior? Could the former employee just have been an asshole and it’s cathartic for them to badmouth him?
I’m genuinely confused and am unsure about what to do. Thank you if you took the time to read this.