To ask am I the weirdo here?

[matisses6fingers]

Started a new job about 8 months ago. Large well known company.

im a hard worker and a bit nervous generally.

anyway, the people I work with are so serious and they act like the company might collapse if something isn’t done. I know that sounds perhaps like what they should be like but it feels so extreme.

im very much of the opinion that I work hard and put the effort in but I know that if I was hit by a bus tomorrow then my work would replace me in a heartbeat.

maybe it’s me and IABU but the seriousness and acting like everything is soooooo very urgent and important makes me so nervous.

i also made the mistake of saying a while back “if everything is urgent then nothing is urgent..” and I was looked at like I had two heads.

I feel like the odd one out that I really care about my kids and family and not really about work other than doing a a good job. I don’t care a jot about the company.

am I the weirdo?

I tell this true story to colleagues and friends who act like their work will collapse without them.

Many years ago a manager in another department went home sick complaining of a headache. It progressed and very sadly he died in hospital the following day after an emergency op. Mid forties and totally unexpected. We all received a missive on that Friday to tell us the sad news with usual sentiments you would express in a situation like that.

Monday morning his job was being advertised across the organisation. You really are just a number and no one will remember you when you're gone.

I can quite believe it.

i actually think I was wrong when I said faux passion. I apologise for that. What I mean is this sense that everything is going to collapse and everything is so important.

like if someone fucks up and a meeting doesn’t go well or if a metric is wrong and it’s human error. I find myself being more concerned that the pressure on people is immense.

i feel like I retreat into myself because in my mind it’s not important at all, rightly or wrongly

I worked with a girl like this. Omg she was so serious to the point where she never had a conversation unless it was work related as she thought it unprofessional

I have a client who puts ASAP and scores through with highlighter pen. On every single job.
It's become meaningless and a waste of highlighter ink I just work through them in the order that suits me best.
Occasionally they even forget about one of their "urgent" jobs anyway!

YANBU but every thread about work stuff on here has a contingent of 1930s Ms Gradgrinds who think the world revolves around their Excel pivot tables.

In a previous role one of my colleagues used to say no one will die if it doesn’t get done. He was right and he wasn’t lazy. His work was to an excellent standard and was efficient. Which was in contrast to some other colleagues I had over years. Some of the ones who took it most seriously were the weakest performers.

@CleaningOutMyCloset that wasn't Howdens by any chance was it? I had the misfortune of working for that dreadful company for 7 years really stressed me out hated every minute of it awful company.

I'm wondering OP if your company has incredible bureaucracy and accountability and that is stressing people out.

IME though big corporates are usually where people get away with performing the worst - I've always avoided them as I couldn't bear the boredom.

a lot more context is needed here otherwise you could just be a selfish arsehole and this is not relevant to the OP.

I was being selfish I guess because by me not agreeing to do something l knew someone else would end up doing it. It wasn't something I wanted to do, nor was l contracted to do so, I said no. Apparently I should have taken a turn. I didn't. I was being selfish by putting my needs/wants above the job.
I guess what I was trying to say was that I really wasn't that bothered or invested, a bit like OP. Colleagues seemed to find that incredulous. Their job seemed so much more to them.

OP I'd start looking for another job. Life's too short to be somewhere making you feel like this.

Absolutely of everything is urgent then nothing is. If you get 100 emails all marked urgent then you can't tell which are genuinely urgent and chances are 98 of them are mundane every day stuff (obviously the exception being things like emergency services!).

I was offered a job at a company like this, in the interview they said hours were 8-5 but it's expected you do 7-7 as a minimum. One of the interviewers laughed that they hardly saw their dc and work was the most important thing... turned that down in a heartbeat.

Similar to a previous poster, I remember an old workplace where the cfo, who lived and breathed the company, was suddenly taken ill and it turned out be a very rapid terminal illness and he died within a week or so. Job advertised the week after.

Now I'll do a decent job, that I'm paid to do, but I'm not afraid to be vocal when I disagree or can't do something. Luckily my current workplace has values more aligned to mine, they genuinely follow through on work/life balance commitments and looking after our wellbeing as well as the companies interests.

I definitely muck in as part of the team but I do think sometimes you need to say no to protect yourself a bit - not all the time though

I’m the same. I always wonder in meetings if everyone is just putting on an act to look good to the company or whether they really are just incredibly serious and invested in the job. I still don’t know the answer.