Have a moan about work colleagues

[Southerner]

The thing is I am deaf and finding it hard to communicate with other people at work. They are finding it hard to talk to me and avoid me like I've got the plague but whenever they are forced to speak to me the conversations tend to be awkward, brief and strained.

I can honestly say I am not a difficult person to talk to that I can understand other people most of the time by lip-reading but when things get hard to understand I always ask for what I've missed out to be repeated again which is not always a problem.

Because of my disability I cannot get everything what was said in one go - what people are talking, laughing about etc. and let alone unable to eavesdrop either and I tend not to butt in other conversations in case I make a fool of myself but otherwise these people could be thinking "he cannot be bothered to talk to us" which they themselves hardly speak to me most of the time!

They are generally a very nice bunch of people for saying hi/bye but that's as far that goes. The funny thing is some of them can get visibly annoyed when I don't talk to them just because I get ignored in the first place. I really don't want to cause frictions and make things any more worse than they are.

What should I do? Go along with the flow that you cannot change some people for the better?

Cheers for reading!

 

[Queso]

Sounds like you're not the only one feeling awkward to be honest. Open up to them more and they'll probably do the same. How long have you worked there?

 

[xsedrinam]

.

 

[furious]

most people at my work don't find me easy to talk to either. but that is because i am quiet. i hardly have anything to say so i don't talk. they find this irritating.

 

[gekko513]

What should I do? Go along with the flow that you cannot change some people for the better?

Like you say it can probably feel awkward for both you and the others. I think if I was in that situation, I'd make a point of going regularly to speak to the closest colleagues one on one, just to have a chat. Not so often that it becomes intruding, but often enough that you all get used to talk to each other.

 

[Counterfit]

I tend not to butt in other conversations in case I make a fool of myself

I do that all the time, and I don't usually have trouble hearing.
I used to work with a guy that has multiple sclerosis. It was a little tough understanding what he was saying at times, but if you concentrated you wouldn't have a problem.

 

[Mr. Durden]

Hmmm. I would count it as a blessing. I hate talkative colleagues and would be thrilled if they only spoke to me when it was actually important. More time is wasted in meetings and at peoples desks by people yapping away all the time.

(just realized im wasting time at work posting on MR)

aaaaannnndd... I guess Ill get back to work now.

And why is it that people assume that since you work together you want to know about their personal lives?

 

[The Mad Kiwi]

My workmates are all fantastic, and the boss and owners of the company are fantastic too.

If you don't like the people you work with get a new job.

 

[SC68Cal]

I work in System Administration.

My coworkers are great.....

but... I work in System Administration..........