"Did you have a good Bank Holiday?"

[ArtyFish]

I've been in work for about 45 mins and already I've had 6 people asking me if I had a nice bank holiday.

It's bad enough when you've had a holiday and you have to replay those stories over and over. Having said that I also accept that I'm one of those people who feel socially bound to ask if people had a good time to. Personally I think any human interaction before 7am should be banned in the office :)

Lol its called normal, social interaction- god forbid people acrually are polite and friendly Go get some coffee and stop being so miserably.

@EleanorReally. I did... It was lovely.... Face twitches....

Miserable that should say

@GreytExpectations. Coffee stops the miserablys

Jesus they're just trying to give a shit about your life and be polite.

@ArtyFish chill out, i only made a typo which i corrected but you obviously couldnt be bothered to read it. Just because you are miserable doesnt mean you need to bring others down with you nor be goady by taking the piss out of my typo which i corrected in my follow up post

I like to ask open-ended questions such as "what did you do this weekend/Christmas?"; it gives someone a chance to give a more interesting reply than yes or no.

I remember an exercise in junior school, on the first day back after the summer holidays, where we had to write questions we might ask somebody about their holiday (I remember thinking what a pointless exercise that was). One of my questions was "was it nice?". My teacher wrote beside it "What does 'nice' mean?"

I'm sure ArtyFish was only making a bit of fun, judging by her emoticons @GreyExpectations. Your attack is uncalled for.

It’s Monday, I have lots to do, can we not start every single conversation with chit chat.

ooh I am SO BUSY AND FAR TOO IMPORTANT FOR THIS and you clearly are not if you have time to talk to another human you know in a pleasant way.

Your attack is uncalled for

Hardly an attack and she still took the piss regardless of sarcastic emoticons.

Only on MN can people moan about colleagues being friendly and making an effort to get to know one another and then attack someone for calling them miserable. I actually wish i was part of an older generation because i think back then, people were more friendly.

Gives GreyExpectations a coffee and a biscuit
( cos i'm of the older generation and friendly )

I've been in work for about 45 mins and already I've had 6 people asking me if I had a nice bank holiday.

But not working? So they assume that you are available as you are online and like to be polite?

It's small talk not everybody likes it but if nobody made friendly enquiries the workplace would be miserable - I work with a grumpy bastard who won't even answer to 'morning'

Waits for the thread "AIBU about hostile replies to 'how was your bank holiday'?"

Oh do bore off WhoWasIt nothing is wrong with feeling that a workplace would be better if people were just friendlier.

Which i was being @GreyExpectations!
But er, ok.

Another reason I’m glad to work from home. No small talk here.

Same here. I abhor small talk, and although I always 'played nice' and joined in when I was office-based, but it's very liberating to be self-employed and not have to go through the motions any more.

Actually I worked and had a great Bank Holiday weekend, I love my job (most of the time when I am not being asked irritating questions).

Me too - bank holidays are great for uninterrupted work. And they're generally shit for going out anywhere - especially if you live near the M6. Fortunately my boss is perfectly happy for me to take a different day instead.

Office chat can be so boring and predictable.

Fortunately I have some interesting and varied conversations with my colleagues - but we still have to do the polite 'what did you do this weekend' stuff too - feels a bit boring and empty.

The one that annoys me is " Are you going anywhere nice for your holidays?"
No. I'm going to spend a week in the worst place I can think of.
Yes RiftGibbon that's an odd one.

@GreytExpectations I certainly wasn't being cruel or nasty and this was simply a whimsical comment as opposed to an attack. My original post was very much tongue in cheek as was my response to you. If I've offended then I'm sorry you're upset because that absolutely wasn't my intention.

The one that annoys me is " Are you going anywhere nice for your holidays?"
No. I'm going to spend a week in the worst place I can think of.

ha ha Me too, I so want to say this

I love my silent/turkish hairdressers because of the lack of small talk.

I'm a freelancer and work from home, but still if I say to a client by email/phone that I won't be there next week I get lots of "Oh, have a lovely time" and then "Did you have a lovely holiday?". Unless I know them well, I say thanks and yes, even if actually the week off was spent in hospital or going to a funeral.