How much of your private life do you reveal to your coworkers and what do you keep secret?

I only tell my co-workers what they need to know as concerns me professionally. Work is a funny place, as you will end up becoming closer to some people rather than others. The best rule of thumb is: If I tell person A about this, and they let it slip to my supervisor, or to anyone else I have to work with daily, how is that going to affect me at work?

Trust issues at work should always be foremost in your mind, simply because they are people who would love to see you fall or fail, and for every person you can trust at work, there are probably three you cannot. Work isn’t a place for casual conversation, and if you let your guard down to the wrong person, it can come back to bite you in the ass. Keep your guard up, always. Better to be too closed mouthed than open minded.

The number one product produced by any job in America is gossip.

I don’t tell too much, for the most part I keep my life to myself. What I find interesting though, is the number of co-workers who tell me intimate details of their lives. I have had people confess molestations, beatings, and all kinds if dysfunctional tales of their lives. I’m not sure why, but it never ceases to amaze my what people share.

Not much.

Not much. My co workers tell me all kinds of stuff but the real meat of me remains pretty elusive. For example, they have no idea about any online activities, my relationship status or what I do in my off-work hours. The few that do know some things keep it quiet.

I’ve learned the hard way to choose very carefully what details of my personal life to share with coworkers. At work, especially in smaller places, people talk and word travels fast. I don’t share my personal life to anyone other than my very close friends.

I don’t generally share my bipolar disorder with people at work. Certainly not my boss. I suppose if I ever got in trouble at work, I might have to reveal it. So far, I haven’t had to.

I did tell a couple of people, but they were my assistants, and I kind of had to tell them in order to explain my behavior. Fortunately, they both were experienced with mental illness, so they kept my secret.

I have never felt comfortable sharing very much with coworkers. There are a couple of exceptions—people I came to trust for one reason or another, but work is too important to risk being discriminated against for something that really has nothing to do with your work performance. Even if it does have an impact on my work, if it’s health, it’s still protected by law. It’s not legal to discriminate against folks for medical reasons, if the illness is what causes the change in your ability to work.

I had a co-worker tell me that her first husband wouldn’t let her breastfeed her kids, (her kids are all grown now) and that she got a UTI from the coffee I offered her during our shift. (I’m not sure how a person gets a UTI from specialty coffee, but that’s what she claimed), I always drink a pot of coffee during work and I was just being nice to offer to share, and a few other things that made me say to myself, “And I need to know this, why?”

Fortunately, she has moved on to another dept, so I don’t have to listen to her crap anymore.

I abhor small talk and gossip. Revealing your private life will likely add fuel to those types of smoldering waste. When I worked, I was polite, courteous and approachable, but I was all business. Coworkers respected my time and privacy, as I did, theirs. See ya….Gary/wtf