You know what grinds my gears? People prying. You know when it's the worst? At work.
At my last job we had this gaggle of women who were the “Party Planning Committee” . What this meant is taking a couple hours off of work every day to plan birthdays, potlucks, parties, etc. We had an event at least once a week, and during the events they have to take hours to talk and chat and joke and decorate.
Whatever, I do my work, my position is singular and doesn't rely on anyone else doing their jobs. I would have been find to mind my business and do my work…but noooooooo.
They would constantly try to pry personal info out of me. If I had kids, if I was married, who I was seeing, what I was doing during my scheduled vacation time.
I'm not like that. I am very private at work, my desk is empty of everything not work related specifically so people have nothing to prompt them socializing with me. Don't get me wrong, if it's work related I'll spend all day helping and talking, but I'm there to do my job, mind my business, and stay out of drama. I say good morning to everyone, I say “Have a good one!” when I leave for the day, and I'll chat in passing or on break or lunch, but when I'm working I really want to just focus on work.
For the many social events I just wouldn't participate. I wouldn't bring anything for the potluck, nor eat. I wouldn't sign birthday cards. I specifically asked to not be bothered about decorating my desk or anything else. They harassed me over my birthday date because I didn't want them to know. They ended up getting it somehow and then were mad that I didn't want my desk decorated.
They were mad that I wouldn't tell them about my personal life at all. I was (and am) happily married. I disappeared for 3 months and they had no idea my baby had just been born and were frantically trying to get some news from the one person who I was friendly with.
It got to the point that they started spreading rumors about me being an asshole. I wasn't and I'm not, I'm just private. These assholes decided to go to our supervisor about a hostile working environment I was creating. This was the reason I was so private, I loved my position but that was the most dramatic group of adults I've ever met. They were constantly being besties and then turning around and hating on eachother.
Anyway, I'm looking to return to the work force in the next year and I am NOT looking forward to the dumb ass drama and social circles of work.