Woman Said She Was Almost Fired for Not Making Small Talk With Co-workers

A woman said in a now-viral video she was once at risk of getting fired from a job she previously worked if she did not socialize with her co-workers.

Posted by TikTok user @moodynomad333 on August 16, the video amassed more than 770,000 views as she discussed the expectation of spending time and making small talk with people from work.

"Spoiler alert: I quit," read the caption of her video.

Job listing website Monster published a piece that said socializing with co-workers may be beneficial.

"You can form friendships and make contacts that could be very useful and supportive later on," the article said. "Most importantly, it may be necessary to form such connections and friendships for the sake of your career."

Socializing, the article said, could lead to learning about potential job opportunities within the company.

TikTok user @moodynomad333 "stitched" her own video with another TikTok that was shared in which a woman said nothing would make an employee more "hated" than if they skipped making "small talk" with their co-workers.

"It's actually the reason they gave me an ultimatum, saying that if I didn't put more effort into socializing and into being a 'team player,' then I was going to get fired," @moodynomad333 said.

She explained that she worked at an architectural firm where most employees were already friends.

"I didn't want to hang out with them because we didn't have anything in common, plus they were all friends from school or from doing the same job, and I was just an outsider," @moodynomad333 said.

She continued and said that she also opted to skip happy hour with co-workers.

"I was there for eight hours a day, why would I want to spend two or three more hours drinking with people that I wasn't even friends with," @moodynomad333 said. "I also despise small talk, it makes me physically uncomfortable."

She said she wore her headphones going into the office, waved hello to the receptionist and immediately got to work.

"They did not like me for that," @moodynomad333 said, concluding her video.

The video sparked a conversation among viewers about work culture and socializing with fellow employees.

"So unfair for introverts too, not everyone wants to have a talk," a viewer wrote.

"I'm paid to do my job, I'll start socializing when they start paying me for it," another TikTok user said.

"Some [people] just don't want to socialize, specially [sic] not outside the office, and we should be respecting this," one viewer commented.

Other viewers, however, pushed back against @moodynomad333's video.

"It's just socializing, even if we hate people we work with we have to be 'professional' and just say hi, they're just coworkers not friends," a viewer said.

"Just keep in mind that promotions and jobs are rarely what you know and come down to who you know," one viewer said.

"Small talk is not going to hurt you," another TikTok user said. "At some point you have to recognize other people are not exactly like you and maybe put in a tiny bit of effort."

TikToker @moodynomad333 posted follow-up videos addressing some of the comments her initial video received.

In one video, she said she understood it was necessary to exhibit professionalism and acknowledge co-workers. However, she found it frustrating to be compared with other co-workers who were naturally more outgoing.

"It's just social politics, and it's bulls**t, in my opinion," @moodynomad333 said.

In another follow-up video, @moodynomad333 said she also noticed that men and women were held to different standards when it came to how they spoke with co-workers.

She said that the engineers and IT people she worked with rarely spoke with her, and when they did, they were often short. However, they were not criticized for how they socialized.

TikToker @moodynomad333 said that she spent much of her job writing and did not spend time with clients.

"But for me, because I wasn't being social, I was seen as a b**ch, but these awkward, nerdy engineers were seen as quirky," she said.

Newsweek reached out to @moodynomad333 for comment.

Work culture is a topic often discussed on the internet.

A recruiter shared a now-viral TikTok video in which she said that someone should find a job they can tolerate and would pay their bills.

One video sparked a conversation about hustle culture after it showed a man's average day working four different jobs.

Another clip featured a woman who revealed warning signs that a round of layoffs may be approaching.