I usually make it a point to keep my personal life and work life separate. Not because I’m a private person- but rather because since people at my work are very polite, it would be unlikely they would interject someone’s story wtih, “Why are you telling me this?”. So there’s always a chance the conversation could be unwittingly awkward.
However, sometimes something slips. Yesterday I was very, very tired at work, and when a student (whom I’ve worked with for about a year) asked how it was going with my girlfriend, my brain said “No comment” and my voice said, “We broke up” :smack:
She found this information disconcerting, and kept asking me, “oh my gosh! are you ok? are you sad? did you cry???” :rolleyes: I mumbled that we were just friends now, that it was a mutual breakup. Me and my BIG mouth :mad: I shouldn’t have said anything, but I was tired at the time and know this particular student well so it is a little easier to have conversations like this happen. I think she was upset, because she didn’t seem to understand the concept that two people can mutually break up; I’m guessing she thought that if people break up it is because one person did something bad. I thought I would have a problem on my hands, with her gossiping about it. But I reminded her that when she didn’t want to discuss her moving to her dad and stepmom’s house, I didn’t press the issue, and I would appreciate the same kind of respect back. Fortunately, she seemed to understand this.
