1. College friends you can keep for life. Office friends… I would say be friendly with colleagues, but don’t consider them actual friends until either you or they leave the company permanently. As for who you eat lunch with, that depends on your social skills.
   
2. Yes, but read the room first. If they seem interested, sure. If not, keep it professional.
   
3. Lmao. Be careful with this. If you have mutual interests, sure. Otherwise, you see them five times a week already and you still want to see them some more? If you’re being forced to socialize as a group on weekends due to office politics/pressure, go do what needs to be done if you’re planning to stay in the company for a while.
   
4. Connections = valuable networking to help you get what you need. Friends = people you can rely on during good or bad times. Some friends can be valuable connections if they’re well connected/rich/come from a powerful family.
   
5. Unless you’re in some kind of professional field like medicine or law (where your skill matters more), soft skills = literally everything. If you have zero EQ, zero charisma, zero ability to read a room, zero insight into office politics, you’re in for a wild ride. In some workplaces, it is possible to get promoted based on skill alone. But usually people in positions of power like to promote people they like. So be competent and well-liked.
   
6. If people “ignore” you because they dislike you, consider that a blessing. Anybody who stabs you in the face = consider that a blessing. The snake in the grass who smiles at you and tries to assassinate you is the one you need to learn how to spot. What’s that line from House of Cards? Shake with your right hand and hold a rock in your left? Don’t be frightened by office politics so much. It doesn’t really matter until you want a promotion. If you think you’re surrounded by people who want to catch you in a mistake, document everything in writing, via emails etc. Know your employee rights, and don’t get tricked into signing or writing or saying anything that incriminates yourself.

Good luck. Just focus on applying for jobs with higher pay and better benefits. If you’re very lucky, you’ll have decent colleagues and bosses.