Workplace Myth

It has been more than a year since  I stepped into the corporate world. 

Nothing much has changed since then. It probably got dirtier compared to the last time. 

I thought that I was finally getting the hang of it. I could adapt to the environment and try not to be tainted by the dirt while earning an honest living. 

Well, I was wrong. I learned something new in a pretty harsh way (don't we all learn things the hard way)

I am pretty sure most of us have heard of the most famous workplace myth about making friends and I am about to share my perception about it. 

How do you know if your work friends are your real friends? 

Just because you share coffee together, share lunch and see each other for 8 hours a day doesn't mean your colleague is your best friend. 

Sometimes (actually most of the time) working colleagues are just people you hang out with while you happen to be stuck in the same building. 

There is a difference between close friends and people that you work with. 

So how do we differentiate one from another?  its easy to mistake one for the other, especially when you are alone away from home. In school, making friends is as simple as walking up to someone and introducing yourself. When all your school friends seems to be on a different path than yours, the tendency is to target your co-workers. It makes sense. After all you spend more than 8 hours with them than anyone else. 

There are differences between close friends who will be there for you through tough times and people you hang out with while you happen to be stuck in the same building. 

Don't try to find a new best friend in the office. Office is the place you work and try to grow not a place to build friendship. 

Most people have an agenda hidden up their sleeves and they could be the one carrying tails and burning your bridges while at the same time being all friendly towards you. 

You are just another passing cloud or a stepping stone that they could use to climb up the ladder. 

So have your guards up at all times. Go to office to work and not to make friends because your office mates are not the same as your best friends.