I need a sanity check, please

[figmo]

Here's the situation:

You're in a large, open room, working side-by-side with someone. A person from the other end of the building comes by and starts casually chatting, initially with just the other person you're working with side-by-side. Someone comes out of an office nearby and joins in the conversation.

The questions:

Is it rude for you, the other person in the open area, to also join in on the conversation?

Is it rude for you to acknowledge the conversation that had been held out in the open when chatting with the first participant later on?

or...

Is it rude for one of the people involved in the conversation to randomly exclude you even though they were holding the conversation right under your nose?

Please advise.

Comments

[mrlogic.livejournal.com]

If I'm working with someone, and a third party starts a conversation with that person, then I feel that I am tacitly included in the audience for that conversation, because otherwise the third party would not have chosen to start the conversation in my vicinity. Thus, I don't expect to be excluded, nor would I pretend the conversation had not happened, nor would I consider any comments I might make to be rude.