Politics and Work

[cayl]

Do you guys talk about the election with your coworkers?  I work from home (in CT) and 70% of my coworkers are at headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA.  There are two people who I work with who I have a huge level of respect for (one being my boss), and we chit chat about life (how are the kids, how was your weekend), but politics has never come up.  I suppose I'm better off not knowing, but I am so curious how these two especially are voting.  It would crush me if I found out they were voting for Trump.  Of course I'm not going to bring it up, but I wish they could come out and just say they are HRC supporters.

[redheadbaker]

Nope, never.

[jinkies]

Yes, but only because I pretty much already knew that we agree on politics. All of our offices are on one long hallway, and oddly enough, everyone at my end is a dem. All but 1 at the other end are republicans. We keep our conversations to our end of the hallway.

[EllieArroway]

We talk about politics and religion and a lot of probably inappropriate topics at work.

No one at my office admits to supporting Trump.

[isabel]

No! Mainly because I work for a construction company and I think a lot of people are Republican. It would not surprise me if a lot of them are voting for Trump. I'm better off not knowing.

I do talk to my one gay coworker about our Hillary love. He and I sort of felt each other out about politics and didn't fully engage until we were both confident the other was on the same side.

[RoxMonster]

Nope not at all. I am pretty sure a fair amount of my co-workers are voting for Trump. I unfortunately work in a town that is Trumpland.

[W.T.Faulkner]

I have talked about the election almost every day in the last year with my office. However, there isn't a single Trump supporter in our staff of 50. We have Republicans, but not Trump supporters.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

No, I am extremely private at work. But I also think discussing politics is almost always inappropriate unless your job is politically related.

[robyn]

No, I do not talk about politics at work. It's too personal and too polarizing. At my previous job, one guy in my department was extremely conservative. Another woman from a different department would come over to debate politics with him every day. I actually aligned really closely with her on pretty much everything, however listening to them every day was obnoxious and a huge motivator in me seeking out a new opportunity shortly after starting there. I did once contribute to the conversation, only because a rumor had started that the "new girl" (me) had a "pro God, pro guns pro life" bumper sticker on her car and the woman from the other department had spread the rumor far and wide. I was pissed, kindly told her that was disgusting, and asked her to please stop the rumor mill. Turns out it was a different "new girl" who worked upstairs. Prior to that position I had been with the same firm for 10 years and had pretty similar political beliefs as my boss, however actual politics/ who we voted for was not discussed.

[UMaineTeach]

Not really.

I was disappointed a minute ago upon seeing that an unexpected co-worker shared a trump ttp statement that included the words 'believe me' and 'I will fix the economy FAST' not going to be able to look at her the same way again.

[lilibet]

No. I don't talk about politics or religion at work. I live in a very conservative area, so my views are the minority in most situations around here. I've overheard others talking and know they do not agree with me.

I have heard one person who I used to be rather close with say things that really made me lose respect for her and that just cemented that it's much easier to work with people if I don't know what beliefs they have.

[scout8]

Yes. I work in real estate in a very liberal city. If someone in my office is voting Trump, they would never admit it.

[MrsAxilla]

I just went to dinner with an OOT colleague and she asked if I watched the debate last night. I kinda figured only wonky nerds watched, so I thought I'd be safe if I answered honestly but neutral. We both agreed it was boring, that the interrupting was annoying, and that Pence did better and Kaine worse than we expected.

We are in rural-ish TX in all day meetings with career utility workers. You can guess what their politics must be. I'm literally sitting in on meetings of the ol' boy's club. It's...weird. I had one guy on the opposition ask me "so....are you the secretary? Or a lawyer?" He seemed so confused, which was even funnier because I actually AM the secretary and a lawyer - lol. I want to think Trump deplorables are easily identifiable, but the truth is that these bright, polite, blue collar professionals are almost certainly voting for trump. And they ALL have wives, children, grandchildren!

[winecat]

The one Trump supporter has tried to engage me. He said "Why can't we talk politics?" Because Dorito Mussolini isn't "politics."

[MrsAxilla]

Oct 5, 2016 21:37:42 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

No, I am extremely private at work. But I also think discussing politics is almost always inappropriate unless your job is politically related.

It was so fun to discuss politics when I was a lobbyist!

[Deleted]

At my current job no. Except for this one awful old racist lady who loudly spout her hatred for Hillary and love for Trump. She tried it once on one of our European Vps and he totally shot he down and was like he's crazy we all think your crazy for supporting him why would you vote for him. Thankfully she's shut up since then.

At my old job all the freaking time. I kept my mouth shut but my former boss ran around telling everyone they were morons if they voted democrat. And the job before that every day I had to hear about how awful the liberals and blacks Hispanics gays etc. I'm so glad I'm not either of those places for this election.

[chw57]

Yes. We are teachers in Portland and nobody is republican.
There were some mildly heated Bernie vs Hillary discussions during the primaries though.

[pinkdutchtulips]

nope

i do though have a Hillary sign in my window but its NOT visible to my co-workers.

[pixy0stix]

I used to not, and then someone said something and I corrected them and now people know that I know a lot about politics. (Thanks CEP!) I try to stay really super neutral while at work, though.

[ESF]

Yes because it is safe to assume there are no Republicans in my field, given destroying my job is pretty much a bullet point in the party platform.

Even my opposing counsel will occasionally crack a political joke. I wouldn't ever be the first one to do it, but in general even the corporate lawyers in SF are by and large very liberal.

[agnes]

I try not to. But my cube-mate, Negative Nancy, likes to make comments about everything all the time. She has never out-right said that she's a Trump supporter, but I know how much she hates Hilary and she's very much right wing. And there's a Berniebro who likes to egg her on. I haven't met my probation period yet, so I try to avoid their conversations at all costs.

[aurora]

I talk about specific politicians only to a few close colleagues who are friends, and outside of work buildings.

I talk policies related to my work more often and openly (for example, the absurdity of climate change denial).

[downtoearth]

Oct 5, 2016 22:42:54 GMT -5 aurora said:

I talk about specific politicians only to a few close colleagues who are friends, and outside of work buildings.

I talk policies related to my work more often and openly (for example, the absurdity of climate change denial).

Ditto.

More discussions about how policies would affect our environmental work.

[starlily]

Only with other liberals, because there are so few of us in the office that we need to cling to each other to maintain our sanity during election years.

[gretchenindisguise]

With my direct coworkers yes. With people outside of the small circle (of 4), no. The only exception is that my boss is a bit fast and loose with her opinions, so I know she was a big gun Republican who voted against Obama but is anti Trump and flummoxed by all that comes out of his mouth.

[miniroller]

A couple of days ago I was browsing FB & saw that a former CW (neither of us work there anymore) who I chat with a few times a year/ once a month? posted a pro-Trump something. I was legitimately upset! H tried to talk me down, but there's no way I can talk to her before the election; she'll have to be the next to approach me.

And I'll consider our relationship on a much more disconnected/ shallow level after seeing this. I'd not push it, OP, sorry.

[alleinesein]

I work for a campaign so talking politics is part of my job! Even though we are all the same party we do have some differing views on some topics. We share an office with a candidate for the county board and I went on a massive rant one day about a proposed development project in my area that I am totally against. No one could understand why I was against it because it would provide short term work for the construction industry and it would add to the tax base. One of the staffers from his campaign heard my crazy rant and finally understood why there is backlash on this project in our area. We have a lot of former Bernie staffers and supporters on our team and they still have some unrealistic views on how things should be.

[secretlyevil]

With one or two people but as a general rule, no. Definitely not religion at all.

[CallingAllAngels]

Oct 5, 2016 23:02:18 GMT -5 starlily said:

Only with other liberals, because there are so few of us in the office that we need to cling to each other to maintain our sanity during election years.

Same.

[rbp]

Yes, because I work in academia and many of us are FB friends. One of my colleagues in the political science department is particularly vocal, and it's a common topic of conversation at lunch. During the primaries, I think my colleagues leaned slightly toward HRC with some Sanders supporters as well. I haven't talked to a colleague who admits to being a Trump supporter. I think they would be shunned. I wonder how it is in other election years--would a Romney supporter in 2012 have been respected? I started this job in 2012 and don't remember a ton of political talk that year.