AITA- Sharing personal info on team meetings

[Anonymous]

I just mame something up. “I murdered a prostitute in Krakow” or some such.

[Anonymous]

I hate this stuff so much because I'm the "boring" one, or at least I enjoy quiet, relaxation, and exercising versus running off to concerts and sporting events and trying all the latest restaurants, all of which is totally unappealing to me but which all of my colleagues love doing. So usually I just come up with a lie on the spot -- celebrated a friend's birthday, had family in town and saw the monuments, went to a BBQ at a friend's house, etc.

[Anonymous]

Use boring stuff.

Did laundry
Cleaned baseboards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it’s a Monday meeting I might say “did everyone have a good weekend” and someone might chip in or I’ll briefly rag on one of our local sports teams. Then we get on to business. Personal stuff is off limits because it can lead to going down a rabbit hole.

That's a perfect way to handle it. If people actually did something fun they can volunteer. I never have anything interesting to say.

[Anonymous]

The problem with people just talking to start out is that even virtually cliques start. Not intentional, but a few will start talking and get to know each other and have things to share. Oh, that's great Little Timmy is doing so well in baseball, then the baseball chat and most everyone else is left out. Bad example, but if people aren't forced to talk, a few won't and then eventually are even more disengaged from the 5-minute small talk session.

The point of these is getting everyone involved in the exchange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with people just talking to start out is that even virtually cliques start. Not intentional, but a few will start talking and get to know each other and have things to share. Oh, that's great Little Timmy is doing so well in baseball, then the baseball chat and most everyone else is left out. Bad example, but if people aren't forced to talk, a few won't and then eventually are even more disengaged from the 5-minute small talk session.

The point of these is getting everyone involved in the exchange.

I'm happy to ask people questions about the things they did or ask how their trip was. I just don't have fun cool stuff to share and no kids to update on. At person meetings, we never got called on like it was show and tell day. People would ask how my weekend was, I'd say fine and that was enough.