My new co-workers want to "break the ice" with stories about the past. I don't think they want to hear mine.

Good Job is Slate’s advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small? Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here . (It’s anonymous!)

Dear Good Job,

I recently moved and started a new job. My co-workers are friendly and talented. But most of them went to high school together, and a lot of their getting-to-know-you conversations and topics revolve around teenage experiences. Theirs sound fun, goofy, embarrassing, and cute. Mine weren’t. How do I handle this? I don’t want to be the woman with a mysterious past; I just don’t want to talk about it with anyone but God and my doctor.

—Not Carmen Sandiego

Dear Not Carmen Sandiego,

This organization desperately needs you. If these former classmates are still talking about the same old high-school stories, the wor