Even the most well-intentioned of co-workers do not always deserve an honest answer about your weekend plans. What to do when your office inquisitor wants to know a little too much:

Q. I work in a House office where everyone knows everything about everyone, which is hard to avoid when we all sit in one room. However, I would like to separate my personal life from my colleagues, at least a little bit! Any tips on how to gently and professionally let colleagues know that they don’t need to know everything about you and what you do with every free minute outside of work?

Often the excessive conversationalists are just looking for a chatting buddy. If you want to keep your private life guarded, keep the conversation focused on the one who wants to talk the most. And remember: Just because someone asks you what you did on Saturday, that does not warrant a detailed response. “I had a night out with friends” can be sufficient, provided you aren’t baiting him or her to ask you exactly what that “night out” entails.