I don’t talk about politics or religion at the workplace, yet there is a drama queen that loves just blurting out what she thinks to everyone around.
My way to go so far has been to ignore her, but sometimes I just want to yell at her how incoherent she is.
Then I’d be the one starting drama I guess…
I’m looking for advice to deal with these kind of people. I don’t want to work listening to conspiracy theories.
Try to maintain a safe distance of at least 30 m at all times. If you’re stuck with her in the same room, ask lots of work related questions and keep the conversation strictly professional. Dry work stuff only. The more boring the better. As soon as the conversation is about to go off the rails, steer it back.
Well, i mean, based on context, she’s probably dumb, and the opinions match her lack of social grace. There’s that quote about not letting morons drag you down to their level, where they can beat you with experience. You need to work on you selective deafness, or, start using her bullshit for your own amusement. Agree with her in a real backhanded way she’s not sure of, English style.
Whole ‘Alt right playbook’ series is great, but this one aligns with your question:
https://youtu.be/yts2F44RqFw?si=i4spe1pMZEYyswrLMind your own business, Sarah. I know it’s you.
I straight up called a coworker, in public, a brainless idiot for falling for right wing propaganda and then spent the next half hour mocking his views.
He never spoke about them again.
Wish this would work, it wouldn’t. When your company is 95% on the opposite side of your views, you just become the crazy person. The whispers begin, then the group jabs, then the outcast etc etc. You know you’re the sane one, but that’s not how the majority thinks of you.
Changing jobs is always an option.
Wow, such smart, much progressive! No brainless idiot at all!
I’m not sure what your plan was with this comment but if it was anything other than to showcase your room temperature IQ, it didn’t succeed.
IMO you just came across as an arrogant jerk with your comment, who might as well be the type of “drama queen” OP was talking about. Somehow if you hold “the right” political views, it makes it ok.
The reason people find it ok to tell a right wing cunt to shut up is because usually you have to be a massive donkey or a proper cunt to believe it’s ok to make other people’s lives difficult just because they are different.
People who are able to think for longer than 5 seconds in a row without requiring immediate medical assistance tend to see through the constant distractions, bullshit and lies of the right wing.
Now piddle off.
You might as well be a donkey to believe in right wing propaganda, but you have to be a pathetic spiteful jerk to be so angry at everyone holding different views. Because in your system there can be no different views, only the “correct” propaganda, which you believe in as god’s honest truth. Did you also cry and had to take a day off when Trump won? The problem with libs is - they tend to wish reality into existence. “I think it’s true, so it must be”. “Everyone disagreeing with me is a fascist cunt and must be exterminated, or worse, cancelled”.
“Look at the polls, people are tired of your bullshit. - No, it can’t be, it’s all Russian / Chinese propaganda”
“Your present is brain-dead and his successor can’t sit through a real interview for more than 5 minutes” - “I will still support him, and then be devastated when they horribly lose”
“Mr President and his son are part of a corruption scheme in another country” - “This is ridiculous”, “OK, might be actually true”, “B-b-but what about Trump!”
I was once holding the same views, hated everyone else and believed in every word they said. I was really disappointed when it started showing through the cracks. Not because they lie (because, apparently, everyone does), but because they were always on their high horse and always sowing panic.
but you have to be a pathetic spiteful jerk to be so angry at everyone holding different views.
Yes because right wing cunts are known for being extremely tolerant of others. We’re not talking about ‘different views’. We’re talking about harmful views. People who think it’s ok to make people miserable just because they’re different. So fuck off.
“Everyone disagreeing with me is a fascist cunt and must be exterminated, or worse, cancelled”
Considering I largely disagree with fascists, if you disagree with me then there’s a solid chance you’re a fascist, yes.
And there’s a known cure for fascism.
Did you also cry and had to take a day off when Trump won?
I’m not american, but I guarantee you that if the right wing won in my country, I would need far more than a day off, not to cry, but to set shit on fire. Americans are weak people.
Fuck off, nazi sympathiser.
I can never seem to articulate what I think, so talking politics is very difficult to me. I would love to be able to mock someone’s brain dead political views for 5 minutes. 30 seems inconceivable. Good on ya!
Right, I’m very conclusion oriented. So while I might know that I did validly get to a certain view or conclusion, I don’t always know well enough why to the point I can explain it to others or argue with someone about it.
This can even be something as simple as why I chose one product over the other. I know I had good reasons for choosing the laptop I did when I bought it, but if you ask me what specifically about it made me choose it over another I probably can’t tell you.
Would it be good enough for you if you heard the conspiracy theories around you, but you could mostly not be affected by what they’re saying?
When you figure it out, please let me know.
Headphones and a volume dial that goes to 11.
Or noise canceling headphones, and only up to 5 so you don’t destroy your hearing.
Not no tiny ones either, or they’ll still walk up to you with their nonsense. Get some bigass highly visible headphones.
They when they start yapping at you anyway pretend you can’t hear them. When they start waving around frantically in front of you, and this is the important part, slowly take off the headphones, look at them sideways and go “huh?”. Make them repeat themselves. Don’t engage. Get back to work asap with the headphones again.
Eventually they’ll tire of this song and dance every time and move on to someone else. Hopefully.
I, personally, have always been fond of headphones that double as ear muffs. Back in the day that meant Sennheisers - it may mean something else now, though.
Well, it’s one louder, innit?
“Please don’t talk about politics in the workplace. It is unprofessional.”
People like that routinely ignore polite exhortations.
Skill issue
Are you trying to blame the victim here?
I didn’t suggest being polite.
For the discussed situation, you response is so neutered that it verges on transparently hypocritical.
ignoring them is the best thing. when you start feeling super annoyed, that’s a good time to take a break & walk away for a few mins.
also, the headphones suggestion is on point.
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Maybe it will be some consolation for you to remember that you and your coworker have a common adversary: your employer. If you find yourself taking your ignorant coworker’s bait, you can try constructively twisting it or redirecting her complaints against the ownership.
Nah. You’re giving an enemy tools against you.
Not sure what you mean, but pitting enemies against each other is also an option.
If OP bad mouths the company, annoying colleague can snitch on them if they disagree.
Oh shit. Are we coworkers? Is it me?
Haha, same thought.
You don’t. You care about what you care about.
What you can do is a combination of stone face and meditation.
Stone face is never giving a reaction of any kind. They shoot off their mouth, you just look away, walk away, or stare blankly at them. Should they question it, you just state you’re going back to work (if leaving their presence), or “nothing” with nothing else added.
The meditation part is so that you don’t crack. You learn to control your breathing, which gives you the later ability to both exist in the now without dwelling on the events of the now, with the side benefit of being able to tune useless signals out.
Both take practice. And they kinda depend on each other. You do stone face without meditation, you end up just eating yourself up inside from the stress. You do meditation without stone face, you end up looking calm and happy, which encourages the behavior.
Now, it’s important to remember to do it when a person is voicing their silliness that you agree with, too. See, if you only go blank with one area of politics, or only that person’s religious vomit, you end up causing problems for yourself. So hold everyone to the same standard that politics and religion are just utterly useless to bring up around you.
Are there cases where someone is going to push? Sure. You fall back to stating that you’re hearing them out, but you have work to do. This does come with the consequence that you’re going to have to also stay distant with other conversation and stay on task at work, at least verbally. That can be a loss if the workplace is otherwise relaxed and less “work now scumdog slave!”, but it usually ends up being worth that.
AirPods?
