I have a dilemma

[chirurgeon]

WWYD? My supervisor sent me a friend request on FB. Do I accept? Do I ignore it? Do I say I'm not comfortable having my supervisor as a friend? We are very friendly at work. We have worked together on and off for 10 years. When I joined our department we were both peons, but she moved into management.

I just don't know what to do. I have friended a couple of other management people where I work, but they aren't my boss.

Kim

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I do not believe it is appropriate. I'd just ignore it. I highly doubt he/she would ask why you didn't accept a friend request. Another option is to create a work friends list and limit what your co-workers can see on your profile, status updates, etc. I have done this myself. You can control it through the settings.

 

[Alztybrn]

Nikki...can you tell me how exactly you set it up so that only certain people see your updates? I have looked and can not figure it out...

 

[daneenm]

I would not accept. I have specifically kept work out of my FB friends. Usually, i am venting about work

 

[kab407]

Kim, I would not respond. I am FB friends with only a 3 people from work. 3 people who I trust. I have had a few other request and I do not respond. There are something about my non-work life that I want to keep separate from my work life.

 

[catycatcat4]

If you have worked together 10 years i don't see whats wrong with it as someone above said make a group for work and block them from what you dont want them to see

 

[anonymousegirl]

I agree that you should ignore the request. One wrong word and you could be opening up a world of trouble. I vent a lot about work on my FB and I so don't want any of my supervisors seeing it.

 

[LMO429]

you can customize your settings on facebook so that certain individuals would not be able to look you up on facebook, even if they put your name in the search it would not come up

go to your settings, go to privacy settings, and then go to block people

and type in the name of who you would not like to be able to contact you. It has worked for me.

 

[LMO429]

WWYD? My supervisor sent me a friend request on FB. Do I accept? Do I ignore it? Do I say I'm not comfortable having my supervisor as a friend? We are very friendly at work. We have worked together on and off for 10 years. When I joined our department we were both peons, but she moved into management.

I just don't know what to do. I have friended a couple of other management people where I work, but they aren't my boss.

Kim

I think facebook is like giving someone an open invitation to see everything that is going on in your life. If you dont want your boss knowing certain information about you I would suggest you not accept/ignore her facebook request.

 

[auroralark]

Yikes. I would ignore it too. I don't have anyone from work as a friend on Facebook. I personally don't want my work life and my home life blending together at all.

 

[spaddy]

I had a similar problem this week. My mother sent me a request and I accepted. My mother is also my boss and she had a problem with something I posted. I am very upset with her about it because in my mind you are looking at my FB page as a friend and not a boss. If you don't want to be "friendly" about it then don't send me a friend request.

Long story short, don't accept.

I am going to have to spend sometime looking at the privacy settings so she can only see my photos and nothing else.

 

[LilGMom]

Not sure if I would accept or not. If you do I'd definitely set up a 'group' for people from work so that you can limit what they see.

 

[robertgp124]

Even with the privacy settings, I worry that it's very easy for someone else to get hold of updates, photos, etc. I teach, and I've had students friend me. The things they put in their profiles, the photos they put up run chills down my spine. I worry for them about what an employer might think when they inevitably get hold of the stuff. Even if you delete it, other people may have made a copy, downloaded it, something. (Call me paranoid! )

But to more directly answer the question, I'd just ignore the request. Facebook doesn't send a rejection notice (I don't think) and the person might forget the request, especially if they have a lot of friends. I've done that a number of times and have never had anyone follow up or question it.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

I ignored my supervisors request. I thought it was a bad idea but you seem to be better friends than we were. I am of no help. Maybe do that blockout things and accept it. Good Luck.

 

[tlcoke]

I have a few friends from work, but not my supervisor. I have a co-worker who will not accept any friends from those he works with. I would just send a note to your boss and say nothing personal, but I am not accepting any friends from those I work with. Or you can accept him and then de-friend him/her.

 

[chirurgeon]

Thank you for confirming my initial instincts on this. I am just going to ignore this request. If she asks, I'll talk about it, but otherwise I won't bring it up.

Kim

 

[tiggerbell]

My boss sent me a friend request. I spent some time thinking about it and decided to accept it. It keeps me from making the mistake of writing something I shouldn't or FB'ing when I should be working. I have nothing to hide and I know she added me because she was lookng for friends, not to spy on me.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

I am reading this thread with amusement. Maybe your relationship with your supervisor is different than mine (I would honestly be close friends with my boss had she not been my boss before my friend) so I actually "friended" her. Last week we spent a couple of hours playing UNO with another Diser. Honestly, I wouldn't say anything on FB I wouldn't want people to read/know. Even if you aren't friends with someone (say, your boss for instance?), one of your friends might be friends with your boss which will allow your boss to see something you didn't want posted. I just assume everything I post is being read by everyone. There have been many times I have started typing an update for my wall and backspaced....

 

[Renysmom]

Many in my office has FB as well. We have made an unwritten rule not to send friend invites to each other. So we are friends and co-workers in real life, just not FB

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

Many in my office has FB as well. We have made an unwritten rule not to send friend invites to each other. So we are friends and co-workers in real life, just not FB

What?!? FB isn't real life???