Friendly Teammates

Friendly teammates are potential friends. It’s socially expected that people who work closely with each other will be pleasant. Those shared experiences can seem like a relationship but often times it’s just a friendly working relationship. The problem is that a friendly person may not have shown an interest in us beyond the shared goals of the team. A friendly person doesn’t likely know how we are doing outside of team activities because they don’t ask. They smile and they may be looking for an opportunity to build a friendship but a friendly co-worker that doesn’t know my wife’s name or my kids’ names is not someone I would call in a time of need. If I do, I am setting myself up for disappointment.