One of the benefits of having a commercial water cooler from Arctic Coolers Inc. in your office in Maryland, Delaware, or New Jersey is that it enables coworkers to bond. The office water cooler is the place where workers gather and exchange stories, ideas and learn a little more about each other. Of course, there is a negative aspect to office chatter around the water cooler: The topics of the conversation.
Ask a few people around your office if they think there are subjects that should be taboo around the water cooler and most will say yes. But there will always be that handful of people who think that no subject is off the table when it comes to water cooler chatter. Of course, this leads to awkward and annoying moments.
As you might already expect, politics and religion should always be subjects never breached around the office water cooler. You should also check first before discussing the latest episode of whatever television show is trending that month to ensure you aren’t giving away spoilers. People hate spoilers.
Here are a few other subjects that should not be a topic of conversation around the office water dispenser.
Perfect Children
For the record, your children are no better or worse than any of your coworker’s children. Talking about your children around the water cooler is perfectly fine, it is even OK to boast about them a little bit. But when you start claiming that your children are basically perfect and do no wrong, it is really annoying. So don’t do it.
Spouses
It is sweet and refreshing to hear a story about a second honeymoon with your spouse of 30 years, but these types of stories are too few and far between. You are much more likely to hear stories about how your spouse drinks too much or spends too much money or how lazy they are. It seems the bulk of conversation about spouses is negative and in some cases, derogatory. Keep these stories to yourself and ask yourself why you got married in the first place.
Food
For the most part, food is a totally acceptable subject around the water cooler. It is a subject most of us can sink our teeth into; please forgive the bad pun. But the subject matter can go too far when a coworker complains about their weight while stuffing two jelly-filled donuts down their mouth. And you can bet there is a vegan in the crowd who is morally superior to the rest of you and has to voice their opinion on the matter.
Then there is the person who doesn’t eat gluten even if they are not gluten intolerant. Which is fine, except they won’t shut up about it. They don’t eat gluten person is just like the Crossfit person, they don’t stop talking about their gluten-free diet.
Wedding Plans
Congratulations on your recent engagement, everybody at the office wishes you and your future spouse many years of happiness. But please don’t talk about your upcoming wedding around the water cooler.
You have been engaged for 18 months, but it feels like a lifetime for your coworkers because you have been talking about it nonstop. Everybody in the office has seen your ring, at least five or six times. We all know about the music you have chosen, the menu, the caterer, and the bickering bridesmaids. We even know where your uncle Bob is going to sit. But it is especially annoying when you start in on how your spouse isn’t handling the wedding planning very well. We are now taking bets on how long your wedded bliss will last.
The Weekend Recap
It’s quite acceptable to let coworkers know what you did over the weekend. Just make sure you get to the point and don’t drag it out in a long, detailed story. You can tell people how you enjoyed a long bike ride or had a lovely dinner and movie outing. What you don’t want to do is bore people with your 20-minute play-by-play of your golf game. And we really don’t want to hear about your struggles with yard work.
Medical Drama
We have sympathy for any coworker suffering a medical issue, no matter how serious or small it is. We just don’t want to hear the gory details. Don’t you dare drone on with graphic details about your ingrown toenail that had to be surgically mended and don’t even mention the funny-looking mole growing on your backside that requires a biopsy. There is always somebody at the office who is obsessed with Web MD and feels obligated to offer other advice about their medical issues.
Separation And Divorce
If you want to subject yourself to emotional drama, spend some time with a coworker who is going through a divorce. We get it, separation and divorce are difficult and will drain you physically and emotionally. But you shouldn’t suck everybody at the office into your vortex of emotional turmoil. From separation to final divorce orders, the emotional and legal drama will play out by the water cooler.
Pets
Everybody loves their pets and loves talking about how cute their cat is or how good their dog obeys. But there are coworkers whose pets are the center of their lives and make sure you know about it. You will hear about these pets every single day of the week. You will see pictures of them, hear about their mild affliction, troubles with other animals and you will even be invited to follow them on social media.
Arctic Coolers Inc. encourages you to order a commercial water cooler today and to avoid these water cooler subjects.
