# Working In an Office Makes me Socially Anxious.



## Cool Ice Dude55 (Jan 7, 2014)

So alot of people say that working in an office is a great place if you have SA. Which makes me feel like an idiot, because I've been working in various offices for the past 3 years and I still feel like I am very socially anxious?

Firstly people in offices are massive b***ches. The work is very quiet and mundane and as a result resentment over petty things are built. I hear innocent people being gossiped about and b***ched about all the time. I wonder if they say these things about innocent people, what are they saying about me?

In The U.K we do not work in cubicles, all offices are open plan. Everyone can see what I'm doing. I wonder if I look okay, if I look busy, as so many people walk by my desk all day. Another huge problem is I tend to look at the person infront of me alot as I dont like to stare at a computer all the time and need to divert my gaze. I worry that this freaks out the person infront of me. 

As well as this, working in an office is so indirectly social. People know about you. Lots of small talk is made every day. You have to dress appropiately and say normal things. It can be very mentally draining for an introvert like me, and on a Friday all I wanna do is go to bed and sleep the week off. 

My faveourite job was when I got to work in a small room by myself. I felt so at ease and relaxed and could just get on with my work.

So yes, maybe working in an office is a good job for SA because the work is so quiet. But for me the environment has made me feel much more anxiouus. I dont think working in an office is good for my mental health and I only hope one day I can find a way out of here.


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

It's a perfect environment to get some control of SA.


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## Cool Ice Dude55 (Jan 7, 2014)

nubly said:


> It's a perfect environment to get some control of SA.


 Hey nubly, I've seen you alot in other threads championing office work for SA'ers, I'm happy it's worked for you but not everyone Is going to have the same experiences unfortunately.


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## Hayman (Dec 27, 2014)

It depends what sort of office you find yourself working in. I've worked in a couple of different types of office environments over the last 14 (near 15) years. 

From my experience, the more communal it is (i.e – the more people who work in there), the worse it is for an SA sufferer. Even if you get to know the people. The less people you have to work with, the easier it is. It's the fact that you’re having to deal with people which causes me my own anxiety problems, not the actual job itself.

In my first job, I changed offices four times. I was in accounts, in sales, on my own behind the sales office and then back into accounts. The accounts office was okay as there was only two other people in there, the sales was more stressful as there was more people and customers coming in – which my fellow colleagues always had to help me with ops. When I was alone, behind the sales office in my own little room, it was superb. I had no problems at all… Sadly, I was moved back into accounts for reasons unknown and was subsequently laid off about a year later. 

I’ve been in my current job for five and a half years and it's an office with six women – ironically, given the problems they seem to have with me . They're okay to talk to some weeks and then turn positively cold the next. Some will talk to you, some will be abrupt and some simply ignore you’re existence. This is regardless of how nice you are. 

I've suspected for a while that they've been talking behind my back and thanks to receiving a 'hand-me-down' modern mobile phone a month or so ago, I can now actually record them doing it (and have done so – I've currently got one blog posted with the first batch of soundbites, with at least two more to follow over the coming week or two).


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## quiet88 (Jan 14, 2016)

I know what you mean. Open plan is terrible in my opinion too. Worrying how you look or if you are doing enough. You have to pretend to be busy or work with no breaks and at least say morning to a few people walking past. Leaving was a small stress too as it required a moment of attention! 

Can't really escape conversation either if someone talks to you as there is no where to go, or if people don't, then you sit there with thoughts about your lack of communication skills as others talk loudly around you! It's so quiet sometimes, I had a problem talking if lots of people could listen in so I never did.


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## Cool Ice Dude55 (Jan 7, 2014)

Hayman said:


> It depends what sort of office you find yourself working in. I've worked in a couple of different types of office environments over the last 14 (near 15) years.
> 
> From my experience, the more communal it is (i.e ? the more people who work in there), the worse it is for an SA sufferer. Even if you get to know the people. The less people you have to work with, the easier it is. It's the fact that you?re having to deal with people which causes me my own anxiety problems, not the actual job itself.
> 
> ...


Wow you went undercover on your co-workers? That's pretty crazy haha. I would be too scared that something would happen and they would find out.

I've been so anxious in my new office. It's a huge Corp with about 500 people working there. I can't relax because of how many peole there are? All the time I see new faces. It's hard to feel settled. In my area of the building there's about 30 bods there. I only know about 6. So I feel nervous all the time because I don't know anyone and I wonder what they must think of me. I just feel so much anxiety at work right now it's insane. This afternon all got abit too much. I can't wait for Friday evening when I can just get drunk and forget about them all. I feel like an idiot that my anxiety can't even handle an office job.

I feel like a newbie at school. Everyone has their squad and clique. Going through the lunch hall spins me into an anxiety frenzy. It's like Mean Girls cafeteria.... and I'm Cady!


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