Observing people at work, I recognize three different types of people. People who seem like they’re acting like themselves all the time, people who act fake in front of clients, and then people who just seem genuinely insincere in all of their daily work-related encounters.
What really bothers me is when two equally insincere people start having a “friendly” conversation with each other talking about their “personal” lives. It irritates me to see people who obviously don’t care about what the other person is saying [and probably don’t care about they’re saying, either] talking to each other like they’re buddies.
Give it up. You’re not fooling anyone, even yourself, into thinking that you’re a nice person that actually cares about their coworkers.
On that note, don’t expect me to bend over backwards for you because of your ‘nice guy/girl’ persona, either. I’ve seen your true colors come out whenever you feel as if your profits or image are threatened in the slightest.
Irritating.
I have to admit, if I’m to be categorized, I’d probably go under the category of being a different person around clients. Much of it is because I’d probably scare away our clients if I acted like my normal geeky self.
What type of work persona do you have?