The Ways Your Coworkers Know More About You Than Your Friends Do

When it comes down to the sheer numbers, you’re with your colleagues during the majority of your waking hours, sometimes even from the wee hours of the morning to late at night. So, notwithstanding your intense hatred for a few choice coworkers, we’re naturally going to form close relationships with our fellow associates. Some might even start dating.

It’s important to enjoy the people with whom you work. Above all the tedious assignments and deadlines, they will be the reason you actually want to get out of your cozy bed, put on pants and go to the office. And after you get through exhausting your Excel docs and Google searches, it’s your colleagues who can make work that much better.

At the end of the day, when it’s finally time to pack up and leave, you’d rather be punching in the nine-to-five than the person next to you.

1. They see you under pressure and immense stress

For the most part, your coworkers are right there with you when you’re in the trenches and sifting through the muck. Your colleagues know how to handle you when you’re on edge and can empathize when you’re juggling a nearing deadline and demanding boss.

2. They celebrate you on your actual birthday

Your best coworker also plays the role of your mom when she sneaks away to organize a surprise “Happy Birthday” serenade in the kitchen. She even knows you well enough to buy your favorite Macchiato cookies, instead of cake.

3. They see you in your natural state

Whether you’re running late and looking like hell or eschewed the makeup case after a rough night out, your colleagues have seen you at your worst. Sick, tired, hungover, tear-stained, puffy -- you name it. We seriously wonder how anyone lands a cubicle boyfriend.

4. They double as your therapist

When your significant other, family or friends are pissing you off, you know you can vent to your coworkers about it. They won’t judge you or take sides because they don’t personally know these people in your life (aside from what scary stories you share about their grooming habits and from briefly meeting at those blurry holiday parties). Above all else, office policy dictates they are obligated to listen to it.

5. They know how you take your coffee, what you order in your salad and what cream cheese to buy on bagel day

And on a rough day, they know what bag of chips to grab, or which bar of chocolate when you’re having a random craving at 3 pm. Colleagues know your eating habits better than the neighborhood Chipotle cashier, whom you routinely visit more often than you’d care to admit…

6. They don’t judge when you’re bitching about something as trivial as a paper jam

...Or when you’re frustrated because Jack in Accounting messed up your paycheck. Or when your computer spontaneously shut down and didn’t save. Or when you have to come in early for no reason, other than it’s your job. Or maybe today the lack of toilet paper really set you off. Whatever it is, your coworkers have been there.

7. They commiserate with your financial struggles

No one quite understands how to live off your pitifully low salary until they have inherited your job. Your colleagues are among the few who can share in your financial woes because they’re earning basically the same as you. There’d be way more happy hours together if you and the team could afford it.

8. They can directly relate to a huge component of your life

Articulating why your boss is the devil to an outside friend is not as easy as when you explain it to your associate. She better understands the office environment and personal dynamics and, thus, relates to your problems with authority. If you’re questioning whether to take a sick day, you know she’ll give you an honest answer because she’s familiar with the work mentality.

9. They know the live details of your breakup and when you’re on your period

Who else is going to slyly pass you a tampon underneath your desk?

10. Everything is communal

Your associates are obligated to share everything with you: bathroom stalls, casual snacks from the commissary, talk time and even your favorite pen in times of desperation. It’s easy to bond over a shared love of black ballpoint Bics.

11. They’ve seen you with your guard down

Whether you got momentarily heated during an intense debate or you cried after receiving terrible news about your performance, your associates have seen it all. They’re the people sitting side-by-side with you every day, through the pressure-cooker situations and account celebrations. While they may be slightly horrified at times, they definitely know you better than most.

Photo via He's Not That Into You