Office small talk is a minefield, and the safest move is usually to say nothing at all.

One employee at a company with generous leave policies had the time and money to travel overseas, since she didn’t have kids or other obligations like most of her coworkers.

She never minded sharing about her travels, but after a coworker blurted out her December trip in a team meeting and her manager’s face showed envy instead of excitement, she decided it was best to keep her plans closer to her chest.

However, that didn’t prevent her from turning around and sharing with that same coworker once again about an upcoming trip to Rome, with one clear request to keep it between them.

The coworker proved they couldn’t be trusted a second time at a birthday party for an executive on her team, when he announced the Rome trip for her once again.

Now she understands why everyone else stays so tight-lipped at work.

Keep reading for the full story.

Can’t Share Anything at Work (Travel Plans)

You try to be sociable at work, and somehow it backfires.

I work in California for an employer with generous leave policies. Most of my coworkers have kids and obligations. I do not, so I have time and money to travel overseas.

This employee always tried to keep her private life private.

Last year, I went to Europe in April and again in December, each time for a week.

I noticed when I had time off approved for my December trip, I kept the details of said trip to myself, except for telling my coworker about it.

This coworker soon spilled the whole thing.

She mentioned my trip in a team meeting the day before I was leaving, and the look on my manager’s face was one of envy/jealousy/surprise.

Clearly the employee didn’t learn her lesson.

Fast forward to now: foolishly, I told my coworker again about a trip I’m taking this week to Rome. I told her I did not want to share it with the team, because I felt like last time there was some awkwardness around me traveling a lot.

A few weeks ago, we had a birthday cake party for an executive on my team.

That’s when her coworker ratted her out once again.

So of course we all sat around quietly waiting for the cake to be cut. To break the awkward silence, the executive asked if anyone had any exciting things to share, and when nobody responded, my coworker opened her mouth and said, “He has a vacation to Rome coming up!”

Now she’s finally starting to get the memo.

So now I am understanding why so many of my coworkers don’t share anything about their personal lives at work unless prompted or if it’s impossible to hide.

Example: at that same birthday party for our executive, one of my coworkers announced she is pregnant, though it’s fairly obvious, and another announced she is getting married (also obvious, because she showed up with a huge diamond ring).

You can’t even tell someone about a vacation you’re taking and ask them to not share it with other people.

People like to separate their work and home lives for a reason.

What did Reddit think?

This user agrees privacy is the right way to go.

Oversharing comes naturally to some people, but it needs to be kept under control at work.

Silence is a great tool, one this employee should be using more often.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tech support worker who told a manager a computer needed replaced, only to be told no thanks.

It could be this employee just isn’t experienced enough in office politics yet.

Learning a coworker isn’t as trustworthy as you once thought is basically a rite of passage in the workplace.

Ultimately, asking a trusted colleague to keep their mouth shut shouldn’t be too much to ask for, but in this case, it clearly was.

The silver lining here is that she learned a valuable lesson about being professional at work — and also about who she could trust.

Her vacation days are hers, and the details only need to go to the person who approves them.