I do not mix the two, and I never understand people who treat work as one big social gathering -- "So, on Saturday night, I was out with Denise -- she has that new boyfriend you know -- well, we just got so drunk! When her boyfriend found out ..."
Sorry. I just don't need to hear anything at all in that vein. Let's discuss our 3 o'clock meeting instead: we have still have numbers to crunch.
I don't see this as a man-woman thing or an "I've got kids" thing. You're here to work. You're getting a paycheck. I have an idea -- focus on the work and shut up about the rest.
Some years ago I took a class in human resources management as a college elective, and there were a number of interesting case studies about management styles of the American corporate culture and the Japanese corporate culture. They distinguished the two cultures in five different ways. I forget what all of them were, but I believe one of them was the difference between American companies where executives enjoy special benefits and Japanese companies where the CEO doesn't even get a reserved parking space outside the building.
Anyway ... the case studies and further research suggested that the ideal company took four of the Japanese characteristics and one American characteristics. The one area where the Japanese managerial style was seen as inferior to the American style was the overbearing intrusion of a Japanese employer into the lives of its employees. I think about that every time I overhear a conversation among my employees about their home/personal life. I don't really give a sh!t, dude ... you're here to get a job done.
some people work with personal friends of theirs.
Or, they work somewhere, and make friends with people they work with. IF that happens, then naturally there will be spillover of home life into the workplace. But everyone needs to focus on work when they are “on the clock”, whether you work with personal friends of not.
This self-centered feminista should not be at work talking ABOUT her kids. She should be at home talking TO her kids. The poor kids need her love and attention.
You only want to talk number crunching AT LUNCH? Wow, that’s an attitude that has always made me hate the grey, boring life of office work.