The Taxi Driver Syndrome

Sometimes I just smile in amazement whenever someone in the office just comes to my work area and starts blabbering about anything under the sun.

"Why me?" I'd often ask myself. I'm sitting here working (or web surfing) in peaceful solitude but all of that will be disturbed by these officemates who think that I'm sort of a Guidance Counselor of some sort.

They think I'm interested in what they're talking about but what I'm really thinking is when can they finish that pointless story in their life and let me go back to what I was doing?

My AVP-officemate has coined it simply as The Taxi Driver Syndrome (TTDS). The reference to taxi drivers is uncanny, since they'd often sit in the car all day with no one to talk to. Their excitement over the latest AM radio news or whatever they've read in the newspaper gets bottled up, until the next listener-looking passenger flags their vehicle. Poor passenger now has to contend with listening to the driver's story as they ply their way over the metro to his place of destination.

Yes, here in the office, it seems that I'm that poor passenger for some of the time. Maybe I should put a sign on my cubicle wall that says "Guidance Counselor is OUT" or "P100.00 per hour to listen to your sob story or whatever it is you want to talk about."

The Taxi Driver Syndrome is not applicable to social networking sites like FB or Twitter since you have ALLOWED yourself by being their FB-friend or Twitter-follower to read about the goings-on in their lives. But should current officemates be included in such social-circles?

Hmmmm, I'm now pondering on removing current officemates from my FB/Twitter account. It doesn't look good if they catch me with TTDS.