Boss tells assistant to stop chatting with coworkers, she maliciously complies by giving everyone the silent treatment: 'You told me to stop talking to people [...] So I did'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Sep 1, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

Being a Chatty Cathy is a blessing and a curse in the workplace. On the one hand, people do tend to enjoy the humorous personality in the office as well as the person who's simply easier to talk to than most. That being said, if you're the type of person who cannot read social cues or understand when a conversation should end, your coworkers are going to avoid having to chat with you at all costs. 

We feel for this Chatty Cathy because it does not seem like things were entirely her fault. Other people tended to confront her all the tine, hoping to have a conversation. So when her boss told her talk less, she decided to comply albeit maliciously. The difference was noticeable and everyone started to wonder what happened to Chatty Cathy. Eventually, it got back to the boss and he had to ask why she was so quiet, in a full circle moment. 

Keep scrolling below to see her response. For more, check out this post about a Karen coworker who shamed an employee for not working hard enough.

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  • 01
    "You talk too much. Wait, why are you so quiet?"
    via Nastuh Abootalebi
  • 02
    You talk too much. Wait, why are you so quiet? M OC I originally posted this as a comment to another thread, and someone suggested this might fit here.
    via oylaura
  • 03
    I used to work as one of three assistants for the engineering / r&d department of a medical company. My desk was situated between the other two assistants, and we were all in the middle of a cube farm.
    via oylaura
  • 04
    It was problematic because everyone who had to go anywhere had to come by my desk. They would stop, say hello, and no matter how hard I tried, they'd start chatting. This of course impacted my work.
    via oylaura
  • 05
    After a certain point, my supervisor pulled me into an office and told me that I'm talking too much, that it's impacting my work, and to not talk so much with people. I asked her to give me a script for what to say to people, and she didn't have anything to offer.
    via oylaura
  • 06
    I was in counseling at the time and I asked my counselor the same question. She said to use the phrase, "I won't talk to you right now" and return to my work.
    via oylaura
  • 07
    I'm a bit of a people pleaser, and that's too abrupt for me. So I stopped talking. To everyone.
    via oylaura
  • 08
    After about a week, once again my supervisor calls me into the office. She asked me what's wrong. I told her nothing was wrong. She said people are complaining that I'm being antisocial.
    via oylaura
  • 09
    I said, "you told me to stop talking to people, that I was talking too much, and it was impacting my work. So I did."
    via oylaura
  • 10
    She said, "I didn't mean it like that". Once again, I asked her to clarify exactly what I should and should not say, how much conversation was too much, and what to say when the conversation went on too long.
    via oylaura
  • 11
    Again, she had no response. She said, "Just don't talk too long." I returned to work. One of our lab techs was one of the chattiest, and one of the worst offenders. She came by my desk one day, we exchanged greetings,
    via oylaura
  • 12
    and she started chatting. I quietly told her that I had gotten in trouble for talking too much, and I needed to get back to work. She respected that, and walked away.
    via oylaura
  • 13
    I did that a few more times, and the point got made to the office. It didn't make my supervisor look particularly good because everyone knew when I said I was in trouble, what the source was, and when layoffs came sometime later, guess who was the first to go?
    via oylaura
  • 14
    Don't get me wrong, it was a blessing in disguise. The severance was amazing, they paid for job placement training, gave us 9 months notice, and once our termination date came, they paid
    via oylaura
  • 15
    us out in regular paychecks, not in the lump sum. During that time, for me, almost 3 months, I accrued vacation and sick time the whole time. They cashed it all out at the end.
    via oylaura
  • 16
    The week after my severance package ran out, I found a job at another division of the same company and continued for another 11 years.
    via oylaura
  • 17
    untitledfolder4 1 day ago Da if you do, if you don't. It amazes me how people like that boss get a management position without at least being able to provide guidelines for what they want in the office.
    via oylaura
  • 18
    mizinamo 1 day ago +3. Especially fun if you're neurodivergent and your boss is neurotypical and just expects you to magically know how much is "too long".
    via oylaura
  • 19
    tisonlymoi 1 day ago I was getting in trouble for talking, even got a written warning for it. The thing is, at the time, I worked for Safeway collecting the trolleys/carts.
    via oylaura
  • 20
    My department manager asked me " why is it every time I look out the window you're talking".
    via oylaura

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terrible coworkers workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work coworkers reddit thread Reddit company coworker toxic-work-environment
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