I try to have tolerance for “small talk at work”

(defined in this case as, I guess, “conversation not required for work, and therefore distracting from the work I’m trying to do and thus making it all more difficult than it fucking has to be”)

because I know that for most people it’s not such a compounding factor in the difficulty of the work, and is in fact considered to be relaxing and good for morale and interpersonal relationships

but i gotta say I would find this a lot easier, if it weren’t for how

1. conversations not about work are either about controversial public events, or about personal life

2. you don’t know how personal a question is for me until you’ve pressured me into answering it

3. once you have dragged out my personal information, such as “no i have never been to that restaurant because I don’t eat meat because I have sensory problems with the texture and it all makes me gag,” or “I moved here for health reasons involving nerve problems in my leg that make it difficult to walk” …..you don’t even bother to fucking remember that personal information and then you act all fucking surprised if I have trouble walking, or if I don’t eat the fucking gristly sausage pizza you brought in

conclusion: small talk is only good for work relationships if you actually fucking care. And most people I know seem to treat small talk as if it means talk on topics you don’t care about.