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"You" is sometimes used for an impersonal pronoun, when the writer wishes to speak of "people in general." A more grammatically correct way to do this is to use "one," and shift the verbs to third-person tense, thusly--
"Show the new person somewhere good to go for lunch, because lunchtimes are always horrid in new places when one doesn't know anyone. And don't gossip. Not that I imagine for a minute you do, but nothing makes one feel more uncomfortable than hearing office gossip when one is new."
Note that the "Not that I imagine for a minute that you do" keeps its "you," because it is clearly directed at the person to whom I am speaking, the reader of the article.
This approach is useful precisely because it makes clear that "you," the reader of the article, and "one," the new hire, are two separate people. Its only drawback is that, to the average reader, it can appear precious and over-literary. |
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