Is office work bitchy ?

[Cinderellaspumpkin]

I have a friend who had worked in a residential home for adults with learning disabilities since leaving school, ( approx. 8 years).
Whilst at school/ college she worked weekends in a local shop.

She's now recently started an admin job in a local office. She's told me she cannot believe how bitchy the office is, and my partner, ( who works on the railways,) laughed and essentially said , "everyone knows office work is bitchy, they don't have real work to do so bitch about each other all day."

It got me thinking, I have worked in some pretty bitchy offices.

Is office work bitchier than other sectors ?

Examples of bitchniness in friends office;

,- laughing at overweight colleagues eating large lunches,

• laughing at new girl for wearing unflattering clothes/ having spots,
• Creating work office WhatsApp group chat with everyone but one member etc

Christ it’s awful! They sit there at their desks all day watching your every move. I’d never work in an office with all women again.

And for ‘office workers’ read ‘women’.

@Luredbyapomegranate yes that's exactly right!

Your partner sounds like a catch

Sales is the bitchiest.

in fact even in medical research it can be bitchy.

Not where I work (even when we were in the office five days a week).

Any workplace can be bitchy if there's bitchy people working there.

I've worked in a hospitality (hotel) e environment and it was the most horribly toxic place I've ever worked in. You couldn't say anything to anyone, due to the weird antisocial hours and I was often on late shifts so ended up working with one other person for several hours cleaning or preparing for a function the following day, often into the wee hours of the morning. It was always a bitch fest. Managers being super nice to your face and slagging you off to other colleagues. Your colleagues calling you a c*nt, gaslighting you and abusive, rude messages on WhatsApp groups. Etc.

I now work in a large office, mostly female, its the friendliest place I've ever worked. I feel included and safe. There's no pressure to stay past 5pm and no judgment about what I do or don't eat for lunch or what I wear. Its lovely.

Your partner is the judgy one here 😂

Is office work bitchier than other sectors

Office work is not a sector! You can work in an office in all sectors.

Your question really is too stupid to answer though. As if everybody that works in an office is the same. 🙄

I’m not sure they’re all bitchy and there’s no necessarily a lack of work, but gossipy and cliquey…definitely.

Sales are THE worst but everywhere is bitchy

It’s hit and miss, just like anything in life. I’ve worked in some fantastic offices and I’ve worked in a couple where there was a bit of bitchiness… I just chose who I wanted to spend my time chatting to more wisely there.
Your partner sounds like an absolute twat.

I've worked in my office for 5 years and loved it. Two new people have started who are senior to me and the whole dynamic has changed.

It's awful now, like being back at school with cliques.

I'm job hunting as we speak. It's so sad how one or two people can have such a negative influence.

You seriously took your partner's input seriously? He hasn't got a clue

I’ve always worked in an office and never had an issue with this.

Until recently, where I’ve started a new job and the bitchiness is horrendous. The atmosphere is actually making me very stressed!

The comments aren’t always directed at me but it’s a horrible place to be and I’m looking to leave ASAP.

I can’t understand why people have to be like this at work or even in general. They must be quite unhappy individuals!

Sounds very similar to my last job…bunch of middle aged, largely middle class women marking time until retirement and keeping themselves in pocket money for trips to the outlet mall with their hubbies and artisan gin.

Thankfully I’m now self employed and my my client is a steel fabricator so the majority of my colleagues are beardy, 30-something welders 😁

I’ve worked in a range of offices and haven’t encountered like that level. Of course you encounter some people who are nice and some people who are bitchier but I’d imagine that is the case in any workplace/industry.

I work in an IT office , 80% men, nothing bitchy ever happens.

and my partner, ( who works on the railways,) laughed and essentially said , "everyone knows office work is bitchy, they don't have real work to do so bitch about each other all day."

I've seen a few employment tribunal judgments relating to companies in the rail sector. Bitchiness is the least of their problems.

No I'm just sort of thinking out loud.
And I have noticed friends who have more "doing things," jobs , ( from dentist to nursery worker to hairdresser) seem to have less problems with colleagues than those stuck in an office all day .

Of course it may be that having annoying customers / clients / patients to bond over makes colleagues seem less irritating.

They've either all been bitching about me behind my back for over 20 years or it doesn't happen in our offices! That said, I work with predominantly men with professional careers.

You're not thinking out loud, you're posting on a public forum.

For all you know the dentist/nursery worker/hairdresser may also have (or had) bitchy colleagues, they just haven't discussed them with you.

I’ve always worked in offices and gave never come across this. We also work really hard, maximum concentration, because it’s a time-critical environment.

Some are and some are not. I tempted in one place and was left out because I had a child and nobody else did there. Apparently that meant I couldn't be a good employee or included. Ironically I ended up more senior somewhere else than most of those who I worked with there ever did. I also worked another place with a snotty teenage madam in the next desk to me. She only got the job because of who her dad was and was a brat. I think she got let go in cut backs.

I also have worked in lovely places too. My current and last organisation have great folk working for them and no bitching. We all just work well together and enjoy it.

I have worked in some terrible bitchy offices.....for 6 months until I left. Leave them to it, I absolutely will not stay in places like that (there are loads of them unfortunately)
The office I work in now is ace, I like my colleagues and we get on! We probably do say some things that could be construed as bitchy to 'outsiders' but it is all in good faith and good fun.
I find the biggest issue with office work is whether your face fits their particular dynamic, the problem is you won't know if it does until you start working there.

In most offices where I've worked I've been bullied about my weight, but it's not everyone who does it, there are ringleaders.