As I have already said, the Germans set clear boundaries between their working life and their private life. They don't generally socialise with their colleagues.
This means that, even though they may have been working opposite someone else in their little shared office for 20 years or more, they will still call each other Herr Schmidt and Frau Meyer. And they will normally say "Sie" to each other, i.e. the formal version of the word "you".
And why is this an advantage? I'll tell you why. It forms a sort of "wedge" between you and your colleague. It's a sort of barrier, across which you simply do not step. It keeps your colleague firmly at arm's length, which means that when they ask you for a "favour", then it's much easier to say no. You don't feel guilty if you turn down their request, not like you would if you were using the more familiar form of the word for "you" (i.e. "du").
It's very liberating - this feeling of not "owing" something to a fellow worker at your company or institution. You are not a "workmate", you don't feel chummy with them, you know they won't be moaning at you over a pint down at the pub after work because you don't socialise with them - so you don't feel bad at saying no.
German might be an unwieldy language, but it does have some advantages.
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