Why is it "not appropriate" to talk to your coworkers just because you're younger?

I started an office job a few months ago, and while it's not a bad job, it's also lonely, and I've hardly talked to anybody here.

There's this one guy who's actually pretty nice, especially when we bump into each other outside of work, but I've rarely had any deep conversations with him. So I've tried to get his attention, and get him to talk more, but he once pulled me aside to tell me that it wasn't appropriate, and that having conversations with each other isn't appropriate, and generally not socially accepted, because I'm 18 and he's 35, so we have to keep everything limited and strictly professional.

And honestly, that broke my heart, since he was one of the few people who I've managed to have a semblance of conversation with. In fact, it was at this point that I realized that the only people who've talked to me were him and the only coworkers here close to my age.

hm the only reason I could see for that is if you were a sexy 18 year old girl or smooth gay bottom

>>81913783 (OP)
this might be some seriously high quality bait.
>>81913803
it's just this, pretty much. Everyone's gonna look at him like he's trying to fuck the new hire.
White collar jobs are huuuge on appearances and office politics. You can't talk to any of the chicks?

>>81913803
Not gay, nor would I call myself sexy

>>81913817
>this might be some seriously high quality bait.
Why?

>it's just this, pretty much. Everyone's gonna look at him like he's trying to fuck the new hire.
I don't think he's interested in any of that. I wouldn't really mind because he's really nice, but I don't know him well enough to consider that

>You can't talk to any of the chicks?
The office is majority women. It's the same problem with them

>>81913783 (OP)
I pumped and dumped my 18 year old coworker. Lmao

>>81913855
fool, it doesn't matter how much or how little either of you want to fuck, all that matters is the optics of the situation.
It'd be better to talk to you female coworkers, i'm sure the issue isn't nearly as pronounced with them as it would be with him. He doesn't want to lose his job.

>>81914416
>>81914416
>It'd be better to talk to you female coworkers, i'm sure the issue isn't nearly as pronounced with them as it would be with him
It's practically the same as the other coworkers: they don't talk to me, and brush me off
At least he gives me a chance and makes me feel less isolated

>>81914627
Brutal. I suppose your other coworkers just plain don't like you. Oh well, what can you do? Respect the guy's boundaries and keep interactions with him relatively minimal. Be nice to your coworkers, before long they'll likely come around.

>>81914726
>Brutal. I suppose your other coworkers just plain don't like you.
So what you're saying is that op has a ... job

I guess guys who are older don't care to associate outside their own contemporaries.
Age-gap friendships may not be as much of a thing, unless they are family friends and you grew up around these people.
Just do your job, and talk to whoever cares to talk with you. That said, they are not your friends.
Colleagues are known to fuck each other over, so don't appear so needy or weak.

>>81914940
what? no. never. I would never insinuate such a thing.

>>81913783 (OP)
You're not at work to make friends. It's not high school. You're there to do a job and go home.

>>81915157
>don't talk to anyone there, just want to leave asap
>everyone treats me coldly
it really is just like high school

>>81913783 (OP)
He really just didnt wanna talk to you and came up with a very clever excuse not to talk to you.
Youre a zoomer. Its common knowledge that most zoomers are weirdly puritanical and make huge deals out of age gaps in anything.
He used the knowledge of you being a zoomer to come up with an excuse that would seem reasonable and legitimate to most of you when in reality he just didnt like you.

>>81913783 (OP)
Finance office worker here.
Its even worse here because all the men compete with women but really youre not supposed to talk to women at work unless you want to get HR'ed

>>81915236
>Its common knowledge that most zoomers are weirdly puritanical and make huge deals out of age gaps in anything.
That's really us (millennial). We're the ones who keep pushing this shit; not zoomers. Zoomers have more diverse opinions on the matter
And no, it's not because they smarter or anything, it's just that younger generations tend to have a wider variety of viewpoints than older generations. Even my generation had more diverse opinions on various topics until age began to set in