r/office

I recently joined a new workplace and there's a guy sitting near me who I find attractive. I'm trying not to overthink things, so I'd like some outside opinions.

On my first day he barely talked to me, just asked if I was a fresher. But over the next few days we've started talking more. He asks me questions about my training, explains work to me, checks if I understand things, and tells me not to take stress because I'm new.

He's also helped me get a chair when mine was taken, moved someone's bag for me, and once made sure I got my tea when I didn't know the tea person had come.

He smiles a lot when we talk, sometimes seems to look toward my desk, and today while I was talking to my TL I noticed him looking at my face even though I wasn't talking to him. At one point I was talking to him and pushed my glasses up with two fingers, and he had this big smile like he was trying not to laugh and then broke eye contact. He asked me if I'm overwhelming from work.

We also joke/laugh about small things at work.

I know all of this could simply mean he's a friendly/helpful coworker, and I'm not saying he definitely likes me. I just want an outside perspective: does this sound like normal coworker friendliness, or could there be some interest?

Hello,

Two years ago, my boss (let's call person B) agreed to let me leave the office at 2pm due to heavy traffic (one of the worst freeway in the nation) and continue to work at home.

Now the office is moved to a new location where all the 10 employees will sit next to each other in an open area, including my boss.

A few days ago, I talked to my supervisor (let's call person C) and he disclosed to me that my boss and him talked to the big boss (let's called person A), who almost never comes to that open area, and the instruction from the big boss is all employees should leave office at the same time to avoid complaints from certain employees.

Next week is the first day with this new setup. My question is:

- should I keep leaving at 2pm as usual

Or

- in the morning, tell my boss that I will leave at 2pm.

Thank you.

A day

A week

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Hi everyone!

I’m currently working on my Master’s thesis at Maastricht University, researching how employees experience and deal with changes in the workplace.

I’m still looking for 100 more participants, and I would be incredibly grateful if you could help me reach my goal!

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I (24f) recently started a new corporate job where everyone in my office is older than me by at least 10 years. There are about 10 people in my department, and our desks are pretty spread out and separated by dividers (so I can’t see anyone unless I scoot my chair back to peek around the divider). Theres one lady in her early 50s that sits right next to me and when I first started, she seemed normal enough. It’s a very quiet office so no one talks much in general, but over time this lady has started making small talk with me every so often. Unfortunately her small talk quickly started making me more and more uncomfortable. On an almost daily basis now, she’ll make comments about what I wear, what I eat, how I sit, she even pointed out that I tuck my hair behind my ears a lot and offered me a hair tie.

At first I thought maybe she was just a very observant and awkward person but I started to realize she doesn’t do this to anyone else we work with. I noticed she memorizes my schedule, even when it comes to things completely unrelated to work like a doctor’s appointment or oil change. For the most part, she’s always seemed harmless but now I’m beginning to feel uneasy about just how close she pays attention to me.

The most recent thing she commented on is just so weird that it really got me thinking. For context, I pretty much always use the same pen when I write notes at work (and not even intentionally, it’s just what I keep in my notebook). It’s not a fancy pen either, it’s just a plain black pen. The other day, I was at my desk minding my own business and I grabbed a blue pen to write something down quickly. This lady immediately rolled her chair back and turned toward me. She didn’t say anything but I could feel her staring at me so I looked back and sure enough, she was sitting there facing me, just waiting for me to turn around. I looked at her confused thinking she was about to ask a question or something but she just says “so what makes you decide to use the blue pen over your black one?” keep in mind, I was at MY desk and there’s a divider between us… why would she be watching me write a note at all and more importantly, why would she notice I used a different pen?

I could not tell you what any of my coworkers wear, I couldn’t recall what snack they had, and I FOR SURE wouldn’t be able to tell you what type of pen they use everyday. She makes me feel like I’m being watched 24/7 and I feel like it’s slowly making me crazy.

I was recommended by a higher up at work for a different position in my company. This position would be remote, and I have no idea the pay difference, but it would be at least the same if not a little more, definitely not less. however, I’ve always worked in food industry, office, etc. so I’m used to being around people all day. I’ve always wanted to remote, but now that it’s happening, it’s stressing me out thinking of having no human interaction all day. if you had a chance to leave your office and go remote, would you? I keep thinking like what if I go fully remote and then I miss being in the office. my coworkers are nice, but we don’t hangout outside of work. I do think I could go into the office if I wanted to, but I wouldn’t have a desk anymore and it might be weird. HELP

Edit: I’m also young and scared that once I go remote, if I ever wanted to go back to an office job, the people hiring wouldn’t consider me as a candidate. Is it hard to get an office job after being remote?