He said that in reference to coworkers at your job. Some of the women are “mean girls” who gossip about other people, some guys are bullies (obviously not in an in-your-face way), and some of the adults just act like high school students. The only difference is that some of your coworkers are in their 20s, 30s, or 40s.
Would you say thats accurate?
Not even close. This old ZeFrank video really applies: https://youtu.be/-KQb3Mx2WMw
Teens just think differently. It’s not their fault, no more is it the fault of my four year old when he can’t understand things. It’s just part of growing up. But this part of growing up involved emotions being heightened not just to 11, but like 27 or something absurd like that. It creates so much drama, heartache, and pain.
Now, all those saying that work is, in fact, just like high school? They’re complaining about individual people they meet who act immature, reminding them a little of high school. The fact is, as adults we SHOULD be leaving that all behind, and anyone that continues to do it is an outlier. And outliers get attention, and we tend to focus out experiences on them.
But it IS an outlier. Adult life is not like high school, except in exceptions that we sometimes focus on in frustration because we shouldn’t have to deal with it, but sometimes do.
In highschool, it’s not the exception, it’s just how things are all the time. It can’t help but be that way. It’s how you grow up. It’s how we are as young humans, anywhere and everywhere.
Adulthood is different. There are times we remember being young and stupid, mostly when witnessing people being stupid sometimes— and that never changes. But adulthood is different.
100% accurate. I’ve had coworkers say things to others rudely for no reason, get spoken to by the big bosses, and then somehow make the person they said it to the bad guy… People don’t actually grow up, they just become old children.
Kinda.
Mostly no but high school bullshit pops up every now and then. Just lame drama. It’s usually one person who is known to “be that way” and starts petty conflicts, or is overly controlling and not collaborative, takes everything as a personal attack on their authority, spreads gossip, whatever. It feels like high school when all I want to do is do the work and go home.
I’ve had at least one at every workplace I’ve ever had. In wildly different industries.
The strategy of ignoring them like you would in high school doesn’t work because you have to work with this person so it’s about creating paper trails, CYA files, minimizing interactions, and otherwise just dealing with frustration.
Depends on the workplace. All of them have a bit of drama, IME, but most aren’t nearly as bad as highschool. But I have had a few employees who were absolutely that bad tho.
Oh no. It’s so so much worse.
Maybe it depends on the workplace, but i would say no. Everyone in my office is pretty chill and there are no exclusive cliques; there are friend groups but they are much more permeable. Unlike my high school friends, I rarely see my colleagues after work. The people are also more homogeneous- in high school you’re lumped in with a bunch of kids from all different backgrounds: some are headed to college, others to jail, etc. At the office, everyone but the support staff might have advanced degrees (for example). The policy on harassment also makes bullying a very dangerous proposition- way stricter than any school i attended.
God, no. High school was awful. Adult life has not been. People have been largely reasonable in my experience, once out of school. I do think some people are more gossipy, sure, but not in a mean way. Some more loud, outgoing, dramatic, others more quiet, sometimes that causes friction but all seem within specs for normal adult behavior, nobody being mean to others (well, except once - there was a lady who went to HR to complain about how someone else dressed, but it’s the exception that proves the rule) Can’t say I’ve encountered bullies at work at all.
And I am not in my 20s or 30s or 40s.
One of the best things about maturing – which often comes with but is not guaranteed by age – is learning to be comfortable with yourself. Teenagers tend to spend a lot of their emotional energy clamoring for approval from peers, not yet aware that it’s really their own approval they need.
This unfulfilled need can lead teens to do or say all kinds of silly or even hurtful things. Some teens grow into adults without ever learning how to love themselves. I don’t think that’s the case for most people. Just a small minority but you may encounter them in the workplace from time to time.
It’s also worth noting that psychologists believe around 10% of the population suffers from some type of personality disorder, most of them undiagnosed. I’m reasonably certain that I’ve encountered at least a few of these people in my career.
I spent many years traveling and visiting many different companies
I can confidently say that this is totally a function of the ownership/management
Not at all.
Really depends on the workplace I think. Even within similar sectors, I’ve been in situations where it was definitely that way, but in another similar workplace there was absolutely none of that. A lot of it has to do with leadership, I think. But also humans are prone to gossip and be judgy and not everyone grows out of that or learns to keep it to themselves, so there will always be people.
i work as a float teller a a bank, and some branches are cliquier than others, and some have workers who act about as responsible as a teenager, but overall it’s far better than high school
The idea of growing up is broadly a lie or misconception. Some people realize they are now responsible for themselves and perhaps even others, and that is pretty much the biggest change psychologically after puberty. A lot of people don’t have that realization or much great impact from it, so yeah, a lot of “grown-ups” working jobs are not all that different from highschoolers.
There are also marked biological changes that affect behaviour though, like the development of the prefrontal cortex, but I agree: it’s a matter of personal responsibility and not everyone gets there, sadly.
I’ve been a working adult for 30 years and every work environment has been with colleagues who are non-judgmental, do their jobs, and mind their own business.
But now that I recall my high school experience, there wasn’t much drama there either. At least not in my sphere.
Same, then again I am not from America and so I obviously didn’t go to high school there. I don’t know if the media portrays high school accurately in movies and TV shows. Certainly wasn’t like that where I live.
Well as far as accuracy goes, not really, or heavily exaggerated.
For example; Most American schools don’t have an “outside area” where all the students seem to hang out.
We had play grounds in the early grades, but that’s about it.
Maybe that’s location dependent? I went to high school in the South and our whole school was outdoors. Like the classrooms were a building, a bunch of rooms in a row, but all the doors opened to outside, and all the hallways were outdoors. Between the cafeteria, the auditorium, and the band room was a big grassy area for people to hang out, and also between each row of classrooms were long lawns. The administration was housed in a regular building, and one set of classrooms had indoor hallways.
That said, the amount of free time shown in shows at school always feels exaggerated. We had a lunch period but no “free period” or “study hall periods.” We also had no indoor seating for hanging out or student lounges. Did your school have those?
We did have “study hall periods”, but you weren’t allowed to disappear and do what ever. You had to sign up for them, and if you never showed up they forced you take a normal class. (And it was a few times a week, not every day).
You could pretty much either stay in the classroom or go to the library. And the library kicked groups out if they weren’t really doing anything beside being noisy. They didn’t really care before/after school hours so much.
Some of the schools had a courtyard, but they didn’t really let us use it freely.
My school spent a lot money (grant, I think) to build a nice lounge area and then didn’t let students use it because they were afraid the soft cushions we’re going to get wrecked.
The cafeteria and library were pretty much the main “hang out” spots before/after school. We only had 5 minutes between classes, so it was always a mess of students rushing across the building.
I mean more behavior wise among the students, rather than physical characteristics.
Fair, I just used an obvious example.
Behaviorally, yes there’s the typical bullying, occasional fights, social cliques, nice people, “nice” people, and the anime club that learned a little too much from the romance dramas. Big parties and dances where less of a thing in real life, sure they do happen, but it was never a significant event across the school.
I guess overall movies are accurate, but still exaggerated; way too much homework, there are crazy science teachers and evil history teachers and teens not having all their screws tightened yet is a real thing.
Wow. You are very lucky. My current job would be the best ever except my supervisor makes my life a living hell. :(
I have been here so long that it is hard to leave my friend.
I dunno about you all, but I sure as shit didn’t get paid for attending high school…
