Out with work colleagues - talk work or not

[User8907]

When going out with work colleagues (in a work setting like team dinner or similar), I hate it when there is always one person who starts saying oh we shouldn't talk about work anymore.

What do you talk then? I don't want to talk about my personal life, or most other topics can so easily go into areas that arguments start (political opinions etc).

Which one are you?

YANBU - talk work
YABU - talk non-work

well, if you say so, must be true 😂

Either really, just see where the conversation goes.

I don't want to talk about work on social occasions myself. I am selective about which social occasions with work colleagues I attend, partly for this reason.

It's not necessary or wise to discuss your private life too much in detail either, it always leads to resentment and gossips when some colleagues think you have a better lifestyle than they do

I've been working full-time for the past 25 years and I've honestly never known this to be a thing. I've never been among the more affluent people I've worked with, and I can't remember a time when any of my colleagues have gossiped or been resentful about the 'better lifestyle' of someone more well-off.

Appreciate that your mileage may vary, but I don't think it's enough of a risk to warrant avoiding personal chat!

Obviously nobody HAS to talk about their personal lives at work - and there are certainly things I wouldn't necessarily share with my colleagues - but I think a level of chat about families, holidays, house moves, hobbies, what's in the news, what you're watching/reading/cooking at the moment etc is pretty normal, no?

My boss sometimes adds things like 'Puppy news from X' or 'Debrief on Y's holiday' or even 'Views on the [current scandalous news story] situation' as actual agenda items to our team meetings! I also once had a regular meeting with one of my colleagues extended from 30 minutes to 45 minutes with the note 'Just extending this as once we've discussed [work thing] I desperately need to hear your thoughts on the current season of Succession'

I am 100% confident it doesn't hapen always.

You cannot be 100% confident it does happen always.

We always do, I think that's pretty normal!