AIBU?
to think that office wor is not natural, and working in an office always since leaving school does something weird to you socially?
Boomba · 31/05/2013 14:24
I had a 5 year spell where my job was office based. Once I got over the novelty of having a desk/phone/computer/stationary cupboard etc etc...i got to thinking its damn strange....
i struggled anyway to stay still all day and sit in a chair etc etc...but its more than that
the thread about work experience kids making the tea, has brought it all flooding back. Peoples weirdy expectations are all magnified. Its like a continuation of school...with people all forced to be together all day in the same room with the same people
People who thrived, seemed to revel in the gossip and 'drama' and bloody organised 'things'...like 'Movember' 
UniqueAndAmazing · 31/05/2013 14:49
I agree Boomba.
I've only ever done office jobs as stop-gaps, and yes, they are dull after a while.
I worked at powergen while i was doing an hnd- both pretty much full time, and my social life was them too. i had fun, but mainly i think because they were all doing it as a stopgap too.
FunnysInLaJardin · 31/05/2013 15:03
I agree that some offices can become very inward looking and self obsessed. Then the environment becomes unhealthy. I have a largely office based job but also go out and about a lot for meetings etc which means I try not to get drawn in to the nonsense which I see others getting embroiled in
but there you goBrianButterfield · 31/05/2013 15:10
I've never worked in an office. Schools can be very odd places but you get a lot of variety in your day as you're not with the same people all the time (in secondary). I was saying to DH yesterday though that I always wonder what it would be like to have a job where you sat at a desk with your cup of tea and said "here is my work today" and did your work and then went home and never thought of it until the next day. I don't even know if any jobs are like that!
NowThatsWhatICallANickname · 31/05/2013 15:18
I have never worked in an office so the whole thing seems strange to me. I do regular deliveries to offices though right from cival service, banks and regular jo average office so tend to go in and see it from the otherside. From my experience some have a very strange sense of importance and heavily look down upon workers outside the office. It will usually always be a workman somewhere in the building who will help you with heavy stuff when there is a lot to carry in. Not all are like it but i have come across more than my fair share of it. It makes me think i would hate to work in an office.
arabesque · 31/05/2013 15:19
A lot of stereoptypical impressions of office jobs on here. Not everyone who works in an office spends their days filing and typing and making tea and gossiping about Coronation Street at the water cooler. In fact, I would say very few do. A whole myriad of people work in offices.
Also, and this isn't directed at anyone on here, I get really irritated when people say 'oooh, I couldn't work in a normal 9-5 job' as if that somehow makes them more 'special' and 'creative' than those who do. Loads and loads of people don't have much choice in the matter.
titchy · 31/05/2013 15:26
If office work is not 'natural' then by extension any sort of work other than tending your small-holding, hunting wild animals and cooking on a camp-fire whilst wearing your baby isn't natural either.....
Office work however has obviously done something weird to YOU socially....
Most of us who work in office however are actually quite normal believe it or not.
Boomba · 31/05/2013 15:30
i dont think i am 'special' or 'creative'...or maybe i do 
...does that mean having a screaming aversion to sitting in the same chair at the same desk with the same people for 8 hours a day, day after day after day....?
yes titchy i recognise that it was affecting my mental health. I think it affects alot of peoples menatl health. I think some people dont recognise thta
Trills · 31/05/2013 15:33
arabesque I agree that saying "I couldn't do xxx" is often used to try to make the sayer sound special. If you really couldn't, then that's a lack in your ability. If you mean that you don't want to then just say that.
I might say that "I couldn't work in a school/with the general public/in a job with no autonomy/any other from a long list of jobs I would hate" but that's not true at all. I could, I just wouldn't like it.
Oh and yes, the majority of offices actually contain people who are doing stuff. Not generic "office work" like filing or answering telephones or franking letters but actually performing actions in order to run a business. Some of those activities are actually pretty interesting.
arabesque · 31/05/2013 15:34
But Boomba, all you're describing is a particularly monotonous type of work. But generalising it as 'office work' is ridiculous. I work in what would be called an office, but the job I do is interesting and creative and so are a lot of the people I work with.
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