Should You Get Close to Colleagues? The Pitfalls of "Work" Friendship

In every person's life, work occupies a significant place – we spend a large part of our time there. It’s no surprise that most people form acquaintances with colleagues, and this acquaintance gradually develops into friendship, leading to joint shopping trips, travels, and close communication outside the workplace.

However, such friendship can also have a dark side. And a story from my life is a vivid confirmation of this.

Once, I was "lucky" enough to get a job at a company that had just started its operations. The team was small – me, a female accountant, about a dozen production workers, and a driver. And, of course, the manager. The workshop was located outside the city, the driver was constantly on the move, so my only colleague was the accountant. It’s no surprise that over time our communication turned into a strong friendship and intimate conversations.

I worked at the company for about ten years. During this time, a lot of changes occurred – we experienced each other's weddings and divorces, conflicts with relatives, and crises in our work sphere. It seemed that this only strengthened our friendship. I sincerely shared all my troubles with my friend and considered her my closest person.

In the last year of my work at the company, disaster struck – my mother had a stroke. Since she lived in another city and my disabled sister was under her care, I had to take a leave of absence to deal with family issues. I still remember those terrible days with horror. But what happened later became the final nail in the coffin.

I had to travel back and forth to my childhood city. Since there was no one else to take on my work duties, I periodically showed up at the company and dealt with the accumulated tasks. And, of course, I shared my troubles with my "faithful" friend.

Upon returning to work after my leave, I learned the shocking news – the company was on the brink of bankruptcy and was closing down. After being laid off, I quickly found another job and immersed myself entirely in it. It was only after some time that I noticed my relationship with my friend had practically faded away.

A few months later, I received a summons to court. There, I found out that a large loan had been taken out in my name, which I allegedly received from my previous company. The date of its issuance was one of the days when I was dealing with family matters.

It was my "friend" who took advantage of my personal misfortune for her own purposes. Having access to the banking documents and account of the company, she placed the loan on me and withdrew the money. At that time, the bank was experimenting with a system of issuing loans to legal entities – and accepted contracts only in electronic form. So, my signature was not even needed.

I won’t go into detail about how I dealt with this problem. I'll just say that this "friendship" really tested my nerves. But the main conclusion I made is that you should not mix work with personal life. And one should not blindly trust people who have the opportunity to use you for their own interests.

Have you ever faced betrayal from colleagues? Do you think it is possible to find lifelong friends at work? Or does friendship really end where personal gain begins?