I love my new job but the environment is taking some getting used to. My old office was really social and friendly and very, “Feel free to ask me anything!”, and this one, well, not so much. It’s not that it’s not friendly, it’s just that the job itself is very independent - everyone’s job here is very independent, so everyone is, well, independent.
But I still find it strange that I’ve worked here for 2.5 weeks and though there are only about 15-20 people in the office (one big room) I haven’t spoken to half of them. I’m not sure there was even an announcement that I was starting. I just came in, sat down, and began.
It’s hard because I can’t really tell when I’ve actually messed up, and I feel like I’m constantly bothering people when I ask them questions, and the fact that it’s all over IM versus actual conversations makes the impersonal-ness of it all stand out even more.
I think I just have to get past it and not take it personally, and realize that it’s just how people here work. Just because I would take the new person aside and invite them in on lunch plans and ask them how they were doing or ask them if they had any questions, doesn’t mean that everyone else would do that. And that just because they aren’t doing it doesn’t mean that it’s because of me.
So, I guess this is one long and confusing way of telling myself: It’s not me. It’s them.
And, to be clear, there is nothing wrong with them, it’s just how it is.
