Anyone else get told you're "not a team player" at work because you're quiet? I was a straight-A student and do excellent work but apparently none of that matters.

Oh man time for a rant right here.

Today my boss told me that the entire team has complained about me being quiet and keeping to myself. I am late to this post but jesus fucking christ I hate this shit right here. At my last work review I would have had a perfect score except for a few marks taken off, all of them taken off specifically because I wasn't 'social enough'. What is that even?

This is a summary of what they told me in my review:

I have the highest skill of any of the designers in my department. I constantly help and assist every other junior designer on any project even if it's outside of my division (as encouraged by the director.) I always attend work functions both required and optional. I go out of my way to volunteer support other departments without missing my own deadlines. I don't bring any drama or shit to work. In the entire review they gave me raving compliments for all of these things I just stated. Yet marks off.

I asked specifically, what is it that I am not doing? 'Oh well, you never really participate in friendly banter you know. You never want to do anything for your work anniversary, and you never even mentioned it was your birthday when you came into work X weeks ago. We never see you in the breakroom...'

Okay this is who I am. I've learned in my life that I am just a person that is meant to be alone. That doesn't cause me much problems except for this bullshit. I go to work. I do my job the best I can. I don't cause any problems. I go home and shut the door and leave the world alone, and the world leaves me alone. Is that so terrible? Just because I take my lunch alone in the car (I need to decompress) I get a bad mark on my review? The shit is that.

If all jobs are just a giant popularity contest then things are never going to get better for me.

I don't know what industry you work in, but I've known people from all walks of life. Every little dumb popularity contest in you experienced in high school just continues with adults, just in different forms. Sorry to say, shit sucks. All you can do is work for yourself and hope for a string of luck.

/r/introvert Thread