I am getting a new coworker that I will likely need to work closely with, and it’s a “they/them”. Haven’t seen this person or a picture yet, so not sure if it’s a female or male at this point.
What are some tips for dealing with this? Should I just completely ignore the issue and make on as if it isn’t “a thing”, just avoiding the use of pronouns? I want to keep my job, but I don’t want to betray reality and my principles.
If it's a woman then you are fucked. If you interact to little she will report you, if you interact with her to much she will report you.
If it's a dude just minimize your interactions. Also talk about your kids, I noticed that that immediately stops any non-work related interactions.
The thing about pronouns is that they never get brought up. When you talk to someone you do not use he/him.
Somewhat funny story, since I work in tech and teams tend to be multi-national, there was a lot of confusion about who was going to do some tasks. It was along the lines "them are going to do the tasks" - "ok, who is going to do the tasks" - "Gomez is" - "Gomez and who?" - break to explain that he identifies as "they/them" and what that means - very awkward silence after.
The westerners underestimate how alien the use of "they/them" is for the rest of the world.
Sure come at church on Sunday and you can see them after service.
Well, your kids are.
Or just lie. "Oh yeah, I'd love for you to meet my family! But we're super busy these next few weeks, maybe we can figure something out some other time?" And repeat every time you're asked. What are they gonna do, question you?
A couple of sharp knives, a few buddies with shovels, and you can do the world a favor one heart at a time.
Another good one to shut down conversation is when asked something like “how are you?” Actually go into detail about how you are doing. It’s used as a polite greeting but most people really aren’t interested in knowing any real detail. They just expect the reply to be good and to carry on
I used to watch "Billions" and one character wants to be referred to as they/them. When said person wasn't around and people used they/them, I honestly got lost a few times thinking they were referring to a group.