Disconnected at Work

Next week I hit 8 years with the same company. Overall it's been a good experience, but it feels more and more that the best days are behind. I am sure things will change, they always have here. Although I am not that crazy about what I am doing right now, it's not the work that is bringing me down it's the people.

My office has always been a smaller office. Generally we've never operated with more than 10 staff to support the brokers. Throughout that time there have always been a number of people who I could call my friends. As is the case, those people left voluntarily or not, but still I was always able to develop a rapport with the new additions. Until lately.

I've started to feel more and more disconnected with the others at work. Part of it is that I no longer work with the whole office, I just support one team of brokers. That however is not the reason. The people we have now, I've never been able to get completely comfortable with. Years past, a number of the staff used to go to the movies or go out for drinks now and then (I was even given the unofficial title of Social Coordinator). That just doesn't happen anymore. That part doesn't bother me that much anymore, people have other things to do it sucks but that's understandable. I admit I miss the office comraderie, it made for a richer workplace. What bothers me most is that I am not comfortable with the current staff. I have no level of trust with most of them like I did with previous people. There is no connection. And unfortunately it is extending to management too.

I still had some people at work who I trusted, but I did't work with them full time, one works in another office as well as ours and the other has been out due to injury. Well, now that number of people is down to one. The latest casualty is my coworker who had been out from breaking her neck in December. She worked here for 14 years. I don't know what happened but somewhere along that way she went from being friends with our manager to being fired without even the benefit of a phone call. A letter from HR was how she found out. I don't know what the manager's side of the story is, maybe my friend pissed her off, but it couldn't have been at work since she hasn't been able to return. I know she said that our manager wouldn't return her calls beginning a few months ago, so something was wrong for a bit.

There was a time I had a pretty good handle on what was going on, but that's not the case anymore. The saving grace is that with this place things change. We will be merging with our Sherman Oaks office in a few months for one. Hopefully this will work out well. As much time as I spend in the office it makes life a lot better if it isn't "just a job."