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Comment by RickJWag | Hacker News Reader

As a baby boomer, this would have confused me 'till recently.

I've been studying generational differences for an upcoming talk, so I'm tuned into generational attitudes.

We had a mail-list thread this past week about an employee who felt lonely. I found it hard to relate to, but someone on the thread mentioned a YouTube video by Simon Sinek, it's about Millennials in the workplace. It really clicked-- I can see how some people feel this way.

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What about this confuses you? Is it that someone could be lonely at work, that someone would expect not to be lonely at work, or something else?

Your confusion is as surprising to me as workplace loneliness is to you and I'm genuinely curious to see your answer.

No op, but it's not surprising that someone might feel lonely in any context. What's surprising is that so many people would lack the social skills to rectify this problem that employers have created policies where they instruct your co-workers to be your "friend.". And it's equally surprising that an employee would have this expectation of their employer. It's rather juvenile, like parents setting up play dates for their kids.

I don't see the idea that managers should assign friends in this interview. Where are you getting that from?

I was referring to this comment in the grandparent post:

>We had a mail-list thread this past week about an employee who felt lonely.

You're assuming the mail-list thread was about managers ordering people to be friends with the lonely employee. Maybe that's what happened but I doubt it.

That's true, it may not have come from the top down, but it's still a foreign concept to me culturally. If I found out my coworkers were sending out communication regarding my perceived loneliness I would be mortified and GTFO asap.

What was the 'ah ha' concept from that video? What was the difference it made in your perception?

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