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.
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.