My coworker and myself were asked to come upstairs today by our department manager. She sat us down and said we are talking to each other too much and that other people are blaming us for their work not getting done. I asked her if either of us weren’t completing our tasks and she said no, that the issue with us talking during work was causing others to be off task. I literally laughed out loud and I said okay, so if A and I don’t talk to each other at all or anyone else and their work still isn’t getting finished who or what will they blame next, or will they blame us for not talking and that’s a distraction too- because in their eyes we got dressed down and that’s going to cause them to gossip and not work. She admitted that she had pulled us up to ask us to socialize less with each other, but still with them and that we weren’t really at fault but we were, and she didn’t have a good solution. So I’ve taken a vow of silence for anything non work related. Not trying to drop a company name, but… We are an acronym laden company and my favorite by far is RAVE, Respect, Appreciate and Value Everyone. Lol.
Editing to add I work in a bakery in a grocery store, in a more skilled position than just front of house customer service. The shift is 2am-1030am. We talk to get ourselves through the day, and keep us awake.