To think this is inappropriate in work?

[MoanyMoana]

Ok I'm a crank and maybe I am unreasonable ! I work and have worked with many people who seem to use work as some kind of counselling service. They give out too much information! For example one always moans about money and lists every bill she has to pay and the amount yawn. The other tells us all about her son and how she thinks he's gay. Another starts divulging abusive things that happened and it makes others uncomfortable. Is it just me who thinks ?

I know where you're coming from. I'm not a fan of being party to oversharers as I personally don't like to overshare myself. But then again it may be because I am quite content in life in general and quite blessed and they are not so maybe I don't understand what some hardships are like for them?
Sometimes it's just therapeutic for them to release steam at work for their own mental health.
I just listen, advise them if they ask for it but then I never dwell or think about it again. So it doesn't bother me so much, but I know it's helped them to get it off their chest.
Just don't see it as a big deal. All people are different.

I think it may depend where you work to an extent. I work in hospitality and find about 90% of people I've worked with overshare massively about every aspect of their life. But then it's the sort of industry where you have to be a massively outgoing people person generally I guess.

I think most of the conversations we have would probably be highly inappropriate in an office setting.

We used to talk about all sorts of things where I worked (I finished work last year). We were a pretty good bunch of people and quite friendly. Yes, you got on better with some rather than others, but I always thought that chit-chat about things other than work was part and parcel of working with a nice group of people.

Some people call it 'conversation'
Agreed. I like people that talk, makes up for my lack of talking.

I spend 40 hours a week with my officemates. Of course we are going to talk about our lives. I was in a lovely office and we had the best chats and now we've all been promoted and moved to different offices and I miss them so much. Our weekly catch up lunches just don't compensate for the daily chat.

It is unfortunate that many of us spend more time with colleagues than we do with loved ones. Maybe there is a reason your colleagues are sharing this information? Personally I am very private and do not share much with people I work with unless they become friends. However, many years ago I had a sewage flood in my basement flat and colleagues were incredibly supportive and kindly offered replacements for lost furniture. It made me realise that although some people in my office can at time piss me off to no end, actually colleagues are another source of support and friendship. It is easy to not know this until you need support yourself.

Maybe some of your colleagues consider each other friends. It certainly sounds pretty normal to me. My god if you cant moan to colleagues work would be even more tedious!