r/coworkerstories

This guy was weird. For starters, my introduction to him was walking in on him using the urinal in the men’s bathroom with his shirt tucked high under his chin, and his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles. Like how a 6 year old boy uses a urinal. This is how he peed every time he went. Just bare ass hanging out for everyone to see. He also never spoke to anyone and walked around the office with an annoyed look on his face 24/7. Strange, unpleasant guy.

Well, a few of us started to notice that someone habitually threw their used paper towels on the men’s room floor, directly in front of the trash can, every time they dried their hands. There were maybe 6 men in the office, so the list of suspects wasn’t very long. A few of us discussed how disrespectful this was to the janitor openly at lunch one day. We also spoke to the janitor and he was like, “Yeah…why is someone doing this? It’s annoying.”

About a week later, the janitor puts a laminated sign on the paper towel dispenser reading “Please do not throw your used paper towels on the floor”. Very conspicuous.

This simple request went unheeded and there were still used paper towels on the floor every day in defiance of the sign.

I had my suspicions it was the weird urinal guy doing this, mostly because he was the only man in the office I hadn’t discussed this with, but I had no proof.

One day I go to take a dump in the stall. No paper towels on the floor when I enter the men’s room. As I’m pooping, I hear someone enter. I can’t see their shoes from where I am, so I point my phone camera down under the stall and take a pic of their shoes. Chuck Taylors. One guy in the office wore Chuck Taylors every day and of course it’s weird angry pants down chin-tuck urinal guy. Well, he washed his hands, I hear him dispense a power towel, and he leaves.

I finish my business and leave the stall and sure enough, there is a used paper towel on the floor.

I hatch my plan.

I usually made it in to the office about 30 minutes before anyone else every day. So, the next day, I crumple up about two dozen paper towels and throw them all over the floor of his office.

I wait.

About a half hour later he comes up to my cube, mind you, I’ve never spoken to this guy before.

He says, “hey Man, how long have you been here?”

No hi, hello, good morning.

I fein my best naive act and say, “hmmm, I’ve been with the company for about three months now.”

He looks annoyed and replies, “No I mean how long have you been at the office TODAY??”

With the biggest grin, I reply, “Oh I just got here a few minutes ago. Why?”

He’s exasperated. “Someone threw paper towels all over my office floor!”

I’m loving this. I respond, “Excuse me, what?”

He replies, “Yes. Someone purposely threw a bunch of used paper towels all over my office floor.”

Still grinning and enjoying every second of this, I respond, “Oh maybe it was the janitor and they just knocked over your trash can?”

He’s indignant now, “No, someone did this on purpose.”

My time has come. I reply, “Oh my gosh. I wonder if it’s the same guy who leaves paper towels all over the bathroom floor!”

He says, “What?”

I say, “Yeah, some guy keeps leaving paper towels all over the bathroom floor and it’s very rude to the janitor and everyone else and the janitor even put up a sign about it.”

He stares at me.

He replies, “No, I don’t think that’s it.”

For the next hour I hear him going cube to cube asking everyone if they saw something. He’s at his wit’s end. I’m loving it.

No more paper towels were left on the bathroom floor after this.

The end.

My first job was a graveyard shift at Target while they performed a complete remodel of the store. One night, I was clocking in when I noticed a new face standing in the doorway to the break room, waving his hand back and forth, trying to get motion sensor for the light to recognize him. Dumbfounded, I watched him for a few moments before he finally gave up, muttered something about the light now working, and walked away. The light did work, he just wasn't far enough into the room for it to sense him.

That was my introduction to a man I'll call "Derrick", who looked and acted as if he was an antagonistic character from a sitcom, who was written to be as dislikeable as possible. He looked to be in his mid to late 20s, white, skinny, had short, black spikey hair, piercings, and overall dressed like a Portland hipster. As the night went on, he increasingly got on everyone's nerves with his abrasive and indignant attitude.

I was returning from backstock when when I came across him and another coworker, (who I'll call Gary because I can't remember his name,) talking about each other's tattoos. Gary was trying to be nice, showing genuine interest in Derrick's terrible choice in body art, and Derrick responded by insulting one of Gary's tattoos, after which the mood completely changed, and Gary, (who was visibly insulted,) had a look of pure contempt on his face as Derrick walked way.

Immediately after, Derrick had a brief interaction with two other coworkers, where he asked which one of them was Chrissy, and which one of them was Christy, before making some degrading joke about it not mattering, which once again, clearly offended both of them. Never before in my life had I seen someone so quickly turn everyone around them against them, in a matter of a few minutes. I didn't see much of him for the rest of that shift, in fact, the last I saw of him he was messing around with the glassware he was supposed to be moving.

I ended up calling in the next night, and by the time I returned, he was gone. According to my coworker Larry, (shout out Larry,) Derrick over the course of 24 hours racked up so many individual complaints that our supervisor fired him on the spot, which caused Derrick to freak out, cuss everyone out, and storm out of the building to thankfully, never be seen again. I was 18 at the time and I still sometimes think about that night, and what Derrick taught me; to never be as insufferable and obnoxious as him.

Flair ✨entitled ego✨ added for the main character.

So in short story, the leader of my department asked a passive aggressive question. Of course I replied the answer. After small rifts I then suggested that we needed to update means of communication since yelling at people is considered talking in the work place.

“You are a toxic dark cloud over this work place and you stress me out” they exclaimed.
(Mentally I am throwing soft tomatoes at this person, just know)

For context:

We were friends. I got to watch them degrade everyone around me and say how uneducated everyone was at work. I got to watch how bitter this person became because people preferred to speak to me about issues over their leader. If I speak then my leader is quick to linger and see what I’m talking about. If I leave the department then they follow me around the building. If I go to the bathroom then surprise surprise, there they are.

The last two weeks I have spent head down at my desk and make sure to direct any comments and concerns to the leader. Fool me once is all it takes these days. I have told my friends at work “there is no point in conversation at work” because I do not want them to get in trouble. If I am to direct anyone for their job then I am quick to have a thread going with my actual boss and my leader.

Everyone at my job this specific week has told me that they all feel more comfortable with me. They all say how happy they are to have me at the workplace and wish they had me sooner.

How ironic that only one person believes I’m a toxic cloud.

Anyways, when it’s all said and done I took two days mental health. I’m done with the tomfoolery!! End of rant.

This is a bit of a small funny story for me, and it involves a small psychological trick I decided to try out.

At work I always tell people Good Morning when passing by them as a sort of polite thing to do. I started doing this when I first started working at the company in order to slowly meet people/get people familiar with me, which has greatly helped me better know everyone in the office. I even greet coworkers who I only ever see when I clock in/clock out, which has again greatly helped and made my experience amazing with my coworkers. Now of course not everyone is going to say it back, and some people will give a simple nod or a smile, which is perfectly fine with me. Some people however I noticed they would see me say Good Morning and would completely ignore me or turn the other way, making it clear that they heard but don't care to acknowledge it. Whatever, I personally don't really care because I just continue on with my day. After a month or two of working there, I decided that I would stop saying Good Morning to any coworkers who don't acknowledge what I say or make it obvious they ignore it. I decided this because I felt like I was already on good terms with most coworkers, and I see no reason to acknowledge anyone who would blatantly ignore me, and I did just that. So the following two days, I did that and just stayed silent and didn't acknowledge any coworkers who would ignore me, while continuing to do what I did with my other coworkers. This wasn't done in any sort of petty way, nor would I do anything different with them, I would just walk past like they would. The third day however, one of the guys who I started ignoring told me Good Morning once I passed them again silently. It wasn't said in a rude way or with an attitude, just a regular good morning. I was surprised but quickly said Good Morning back to acknowledge them. After that, two other people who wouldn't tell me anything started telling me Good Morning as well, and would start to even talk to me while I passed them in the halls. Soon enough, I was telling everyone in the office good morning, and all the guys who were previously ignoring me started to greet me and acknowledge me.

It's funny, cause I never had any grudges about it nor did I ever have any issue, I just stopped doing it because I felt like maybe my Good Mornings were just annoying to hear, but I guess it must be awkward for them to see me cheerfully greet someone in front of them and then be given the silent treatment once they get passed. There is like one person who doesn't say it back still as often, but honestly I noticed that anytime he can hear me coming they book it straight to their office. Which honestly respect as I'm a introvert and I hate having to talk to people if I don't need to and often hide in my office as well, so respect to him lmao

So I work with this older lady, let's call her Susan. Susan originally seemed nice when we started working together and i dont remember who added who on instagram, anyway now we follow each other.

Susan and I no longer get along, lots of work instances where she is rather difficult, she hates younger people i noticed and likes to assert that she is a veteran at the company, very unpleasant lady. I was recently promoted to assistant manager and in a meeting HR and senior management were discussing social media picture of a young lady we recently hired, HR didnt like her rather busty and what they deemed was inappropriate profile picture, of her at some party, making a kind of seductive face

I thought it was ridiculous and pathetic she put her social media on a TV for everyone to see so when I spoke, I first made my argument that, first of all, i think HR should stay out of people's personal social media, and there is no mention in our policy about dresscode in social media picture. New employee sems fine, shes doing her job ok, she's just new.

And if they choose not to and decide to review socials, they should check out Susan's reposts on Instagram, and tell me what they think about firing Susan who has been here for ages. She might be unpleasant, but she's still pretty good at her job, just occasionally nasty to work with.

Lo and behold they looked at few things Susan was reposting, we work in Canada and the company is very diverse. A lot of her reposts had to do with too many Indians being in the country and some rather extreme conservative views. Myself, who voted conservative, i wholeheartedly disagree with her reposts, its just vile. Also one of the shareholders of the company is immigrant Punjabi

I felt bad singling out susan but if you're going to have an HR discussion about a woman posting pictures that weren't even that bad of herself, then have a discussion with Susan who thinks all Indians dont deserve to be in Canada, and is clearly racist, there is definitely something in our policy about that. Screw it, add me to the mix and see what kind of dumbass posts I was making on Facebook in highschool, and here I am, a manager.

Anyway, this HR is older woman herself and not exactly easy to work with too, friends with susan but i felt it being wrong she pulled up a profile picture of a coworker on a TV in a meeting room in front of a bunch of managers, thats just cruel and if that woman found out, might have been mortified.

Senior manager sided with me, he opened his facebook to a picture of him with his family at the beach, hairy chest out and all, and said, here you can have an HR chat with me too.

Manager is now having Susans reposts reviewed by her very friend.

Screw them both

This is so dumb and I need to get it off my chest. I’m fudging names and details, obviously.

Some background for context: At my office, we all have our own laptops and do hot desking, so when you start your shift you just grab whatever desk is free in your team’s area and plug your laptop into the monitor. Chairs are normally shared as well but several people have their own special chairs due to disability that nobody else is allowed to use. The special chairs all have official signage on them with the name of the person it belongs to and a reminder not to use or adjust them. There are also 2 dedicated sit/stand desks allocated for the people who need them for medical reasons, but they are still hot desks so technically anyone can use them so long as they move desks if someone who needs a special desk asks them to. In practice, people just leave them free unless there’s no normal desks available and if they do want to use one everyone is pretty good about checking the schedule to see if one of us is on shift, since it’s not a huge team and everyone pretty much knows which of us need to use those desks. 

The coworker in question and I both have one of the dedicated chairs and both need to use one of the special desks. I’m on an earlier shift and Coworker starts later, after I finish. She always sits at the same desk of the two special ones and I started sitting at that desk as well, because it just makes sense for her and I to alternate since we have more predictable schedules and it leaves the other desk available for anyone with more varied shift patterns to use if they need it. This also means that I’ve spoken to this woman maybe 4 times ever and up until now there’s been no drama at all. Literally all I know about her beyond her name is that she has a different type of special chair than mine, works on different systems and usually does evening shifts. 

A few weeks ago, I came in and there was a laminated sign on the monitor stating that it was Coworker’s dedicated desk and could only be used when she isn’t on shift. It had the company logo on it and was in the same format as the signs we put on the custom chairs for people with disabilities (including mine!), so I assumed it was legit and there was some reason she had to use that specific desk. The way they are positioned means the two desks get different levels of natural light, so I figured she had an accommodation in place that wasn’t my business and just started double-checking the schedule to confirm Coworker wasn’t starting early doing overtime before I sat there, and putting the sign back up on the monitor when I finished work to make sure it was left free for her. No big deal. 

Two days ago, I came in and there’s a photo of a kid stuck to the bottom of the monitor with blue tack. Obviously having a photo of a random kid in my direct eyeline all day is weird and uncomfortable, so I pull it off and stick it down to the desk instead, in a way where I can block the view and don’t have to look at it while I’m working. Yesterday morning, the photo is back, this time taped to the monitor, and the sign has an extra note added in Sharpie saying to leave the photo where it is.

I email Coworker (since again our shifts don’t overlap so I can’t speak to her in person) explaining that I moved it because it’s hugely uncomfortable to have it there and asking if she can leave it where I put it, so she can still see it when she’s working but I can cover it when I am using the desk.

I get an incredibly passive aggressive email back claiming that the photo is necessary for her mental health, that it’s her desk anyway, and accusing me of leaving the desk a mess after my shifts (not true). I reply with a professionally worded but admittedly equally passive aggressive email saying it might be her desk but other people use it when she isn’t in, I haven’t been leaving messes and I’m asking for a very reasonable compromise in just having the photo 3 inches from where it was previously so I don’t have a stranger’s child staring at me while I’m working.

I initially also wrote another whole paragraph about how wildly irresponsible it is to have the picture up anyway and asking why the hell she was comfortable leaving a photo of a child in an open office where literally anyone could see it. I ended up taking that part out before I sent it since it crossed over from passive aggressive to just aggressive, because it’s just so monumentally stupid of her! We’ve had a bunch of new people start recently and while we do get background checked at this job it takes a while, so people can be working here for a couple of weeks before anything bad might be flagged up. She knows this, and the kid is wearing a school uniform in the picture with the NAME OF THE SCHOOL clearly visible! It just blows my mind.

Anyway, a couple of hours into my shift, my manager pulls me aside and asks what’s going on, so I recap the whole stupid exchange and this is where it gets REALLY dumb. The manager confirmed that the hot desking/clear desk rules still apply even if you use the dedicated sit/stand desks or have your own chair, and it turns out that Coworker made the sign herself and just fully invented this rule about it being her desk, and then gone to her team manager to get him to enforce it when management had no idea this was going on. She also apparently accused me of throwing the photo of the kid on the floor when I left yesterday, since she found it there when she came in even though I left it on the desk.

My manager is doing that careful phrasing where she’s making it clear it’s all total bullshit, and she confirms the photo shouldn’t be there at all and the sign has already been removed. She also asked me to forward over our email exchange (I was very glad I took out the part accusing Coworker of being irresponsible) and told me to come straight to her in future instead of approaching Coworker directly. Reading between the lines, Coworker already had other strikes against her and now she’s in more hot water for making up her own rules and trying to get me in trouble for breaking them.

I'm just amazed at how badly Coworker screwed herself. She could have just left the photo where I moved it and I would have been fine with it. It was literally a difference of having the photo hanging off the bottom of the monitor or lying flat on the desk in the exact same spot. I wasn’t going to speak to my manager about it and I would have happily kept going along with her made up rules about claiming a particular desk, I just wanted to do my job without having to constantly look at a photo of someone else’s young child. Instead now she’s got herself in trouble and I had to have another incredibly stupid conversation with my manager at the end of my shift to confirm that I have left the photo on the desk exactly where I put it yesterday, it hasn’t been thrown on the floor otherwise desecrated, and I’m officially leaving the whole issue in her hands. Thankfully since we’re on such different shifts, I won’t have to deal with any in-person drama if Coworker does kick off about the whole thing, so I can go back to being a good little corporate drone in peace!

I worked at a fast food restaurant (that serves fried chicken) in a mall that was local to us when I was a teenager. My sister and a couple friends also worked there. We at minimum on shift had a manager, front end- prep area person, and cook (3 people). On busy shifts we could have anywhere from 1- 4 additional people. So getting to know everyone there wasn't uncommon. You ran into everyone at some point.

Most of the workers were 30 and below in age, though there were a scattering of workers older. Flirting between coworkers wasn't uncommon nor was making good friends. Our managers were very good at hiring people that would blend well so the shifts would run smooth.

Of course there were some that worked little, with great personalities, they didn't last long. Then there were ones who worked hard, but talked little, kept to themselves, or were crotchety. They typically lasted because as long as never were outright mean or anything, work still flowed.

One cook we had kept everything about his personal life to himself, but also would try to flirt with every female he would work with. This went on for a few months and I found him a bit creepy for this, but I was stuck without anyway to get home. It would have been an hour walk, only a 15-20 min drive.

So I accepted the ride and literally held my house keys in my right hand between my fingers. He was very chatty on the way. I kept making it known I had a boyfriend, so instead he kept asking about my sister (which most guys did, she was gorgeous). I kept trying to say things in a way that I wasn't going to give out personal info about her and if he wanted info, to talk to her. Also found out he was in a military regiment with a friend of ours who had already graduated.

He kept going on about how there were so many pretty girls at work and boy was it difficult to work around that. He asked for a hug as payment and did it as much of a distance as I could because I was wary that he would grab me. I literally jumped out of the car.

(Ewwww) I had him drop me off at a house several down from mine and walked through backyards to get home. I also noticed a baby car seat in the back. When I got home I filled in my sister and our best friend. Of course they were trying to give him benefit of the doubt on all of it.

A week later my sis actually started to go out with him. It went on for a couple weeks, just a few days a week, until it slipped out he was married and also had some kids, but they lived out of state but he tried to visit his kids as much as he could.

This was the red banner my teenage sister finally reacted to and she broke things off. Not long after his regiment was called up.

Years later we found out this guy had become famous. His name? Charles Granger. The guy who did the pics and torture of prisoners at Abu Graib.

My coworker has an earlier start time for work than the rest of us. She will make a FULL pot of coffee as soon as she arrives, which is 30 mins before the next person is even expected into the office. By the time the rest of us come in and settle in at our desks, the coffee has already been baking on the heating plate for almost 45 mins and it tastes burnt. I've asked her to not make the pot so early or to even leave making it for the first person who comes into the office after her or to make a smaller first pot, but she wants to have her FRESH cup of coffee right away and thinks it's a waste to not make a full pot of coffee (she's not the brightest bulb). Hardly anyone touches the first pot of coffee and 8 out of 10 times most of the first pot is poured out before a new pot is made later in the morning for the rest of us, so it's wasted anyway. But she sees it as US wasting coffee - not her. Just ridiculous.

This is part 3 of working with one of my colleagues - Pantry Queen R.

First, she had a break down over an empty ice tray in the pantry fridge.

Then, she whined about not getting promoted and then whined when she finally got her promotion.

This time round, it was drama over lunch arrangements.

Bit of context - our worksite is at a remote location with very limited dining options, hence we will either pack our own lunches, send someone out to buy from town, or order via food delivery.

The practice is for someone sitting in Desk M to head out to buy lunch or to set up a food delivery order (here, our food delivery apps allow you to send an invitation link to many people and we can order as a group). However, this is not a hard-and-fast rule. Anybody can set up the food delivery order or head out to buy lunch. If the person at Desk M doesn't need to buy lunch, someone else that needs lunch can set up their lunch orders or head out.

(In our dispatching office, we take care of different things from different desks on a daily rotation, and the person in Desk M usually has a lighter workload - it was set up this way on purpose)

-----

Few weeks ago, we had a team reshuffle where people are moved around the team to balance out the seniors and juniors in each team. R's team had a clean reshuffle except herself, and since she is the most senior member in the team by seniority, she tried to boss people around.

Then the drama started.

On one of the day, everybody in the team brought their own lunches except R. Nearing lunch time, R asked Desk M coworker (a junior) to set up a food delivery order so that she can order her lunch. The coworker said most of the team is not ordering lunch, so R can set up the food delivery herself or head out to buy lunch, and Desk M can cover her duty while she's away.

R became unhappy and asked why did the Desk M coworker not want to order lunch for her when it is his duty to buy lunch.

The other seniors then stepped in and said that there is no such written rule that Desk M must buy lunch. In any case, since Desk M does not need a food order, why should Desk M set up the food delivery order and pay food delivery fees for R?

For the rest of the week, R made a fuss over the matter and went to see the manager for 2 hours to complain the Desk M coworker for not ordering food for her, and told everybody (including people from other departments) that the junior did not want to order food for her.

One of the seniors in the team - G - was tired of her harping on the issue and sent a 600-word, 10-paragraph text in the Whatsapp work group emphasizing company values, sharing how each team has handled lunches, that there is no hard-and-fast written rules on lunches and people have been doing on goodwill, and ended saying that food arrangements are a very trivial matter and having even to have a debate over that defies common sense, decency as mature working adults.

R then replied to the text with a 300-word text that basically said (quote):

>When I applied for this job x years ago, one of the interviewers asked me if I am okay to head out to buy food for everyone?

>Back in my days, I always went out to buy food for everyone when I'm on Desk M despite my huge body size

>Life is getting better these days with more new bloods (smile emoji) that they don't need to set up food delivery orders.

>As a big-sized individually that is usually HUNGRY MOST OF THE TIME, I sometimes can't figure out what I should bring to work for lunch, so I had to order food.

>New bloods nowadays have good lives that their mommies can cook lunches for them to bring to office.

>Moving forward, I will settle my own lunch when I'm in this team. Peace (emoji).

I had recently joined a company of 100+ staff and signed up for secret Santa (trying to be a team player). The problem was I had absolutely no idea who the person i was given was. I asked around and all could find out was his name was Sam, he was at manager level, a family man, loved football, dad jokes and was left handed.

Ended up buying a novelty Christmas tie that lit up and put it in a novelty box that said 'left handed tie' (as all ties are sort of ambidextrous so i thought it would be cheeky and show some thought.)

I wasn't there for the gift opening, but apparently it went down REALLY badly because, unbeknown to me, Sam was missing his right hand, not only was the box in poor taste but he can't really tie a tie in the first place

Fortunately nobody knew it was from me and whoever organised the secret santa didn't tell on me, so I continued to work at the company and with Sam for another 9 years without anyone finding out. On my last day at the company i confessed and he called me 'an utter prick' bur we has a laugh about it.

I work at an after-school program, which is usually pretty chill, but my coworker is making it exhausting. It started a year ago with repetitive "dad jokes" that I forced myself to laugh at. Now, he constantly tells the kids that I’m going to dance for them, which creates awkward situations where dozens of kids are pestering me while I’m trying to do my job.
He also regularly yells or whispers "señor" to get my attention, only to look away when I face him. If I am quietly working, he repeatedly asks if I’m okay or tries to guess my mood just because I’m not smiling. Being asked this constantly is incredibly aggravating.
Worse, he uses the kids to "cheer me up" by telling them to give me hugs, or promising he will buy them McDonald's if they do. This is a massive issue because we have a special-needs student who already struggles with personal space and clinginess. I am actively trying to teach her boundaries, but his behavior completely derails that progress.
Finally, he constantly makes passive-aggressive comments about my schedule. Because I shift-out an hour before him, he constantly jokes to the kids that I should stay late until 6 PM so he can go home early instead.
Even when I give completely generic, unamused responses, he fails to realize his jokes aren't funny. I have autism myself and struggle with certain social cues, but his complete inability to read a room is on another level. I dreaded coming back after the summer break hoping things would change, but it is just as bad as before.

This is a true story. Many years ago I worked with a waitress from South America. This girl was in her mid 20’s married to a guy in the Air Force and unbelievably gorgeous. She was quiet and friendly.

In our part of the country there is a serious problem with feral hogs. They cause extensive damage to farms and ranches . Ranchers search for creative ways to eliminate the wild hogs. If they can make money in the process, even better.

As a gift to his wife, the Air Force husband set up a paid hog hunt. Not just any hunt, no firearms, they would hunt with tracking dogs and a spear. She was excited and looking forward to her hunt.

She took a couple of days off. When she returned everyone wanted to know how it went.

The other waitresses were asking questions about the hunt. One girl asked her what her favorite part was. She replied that after she “Used” the spear she finished off the hog with a large knife. The best part was the hot blood flowing over her hand.

I got chills. The room went silent. Everyone slowly walked away. She quit work shortly thereafter, didn’t keep in touch with anyone.
Who would have guessed.

I work as a cleaner, there's about 4-8 of us on shift and, while we work independently, we can see each other often. Anyway.

I went on holiday for a couple of weeks, and when I came back yesterday I asked for the usual catch-up. Usually it's just wherever I happen to see someone, but this time my a coworker pulled me aside for a more private convo.

She tells me one of the male coworkers, let's call him Richard, has been "cleaning" his hair and face with the chemicals we use for the floor - literally spraying it onto his hair. She tells me she had a chat with him about the obvious health and safety concerns and hadn't seen anything since, but to let her know if I see anything because our supervisor won't be back till next week.

So yesterday I see him combing his hair - a lot. Like, not multiple times over the evening but like for 10 minutes combing his short hair over and over. But I never see him spraying anything, and I didn't see him again that night.

Tonight Richard's working very close to me and I see him again combing his hair, running his hands through his hair, whatever for like 10 minutes, and then I see him wipe his face with a cleaning cloth. I'm like something's going on here, so I tell coworker 1.

About an hour later she comes back to tell me what she figured out - he's dipping his comb into the bucket with the floor solution and then combing, dipping again, combing. This is worse than before because that's the mop bucket. He's putting dirty, chemical-filled floor water on his hair. Does this strange ritual once an hour. It's weird and hazardous, not to mention a waste of time. I don't know why he's doing that but I fear for his health tbh. :v

I can only hope the supervisor or the building manager calls him in about it sooner rather than later because if he didn't care about my other coworker's warning, then he certainly won't care about anything I say.

Anyway, have a good evening :) don't use floor cleaner on your face.

I've just realised I've never followed up on my story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/coworkerstories/s/rbODZHo2Z7

TLDR Mark has been coming up with absurd stories to get away with getting reprimanded about his performance or avoid working during busy periods. Him getting married, gf miscarriage, father getting heart attack, him getting mugged. Then he showed up one day in tears saying his cancer ridden mother had passed and I wasn't sure whether to believe him at the time.

So, after doing some thoughrogh investigation on social media and obituary sites I found out that Mark was indeed lying. Evidence showed him, on the day when the funeral was meant to happen, happily dancing and singing in a pub with family and friends and then taking a family trip on the west coast. Loads pics and videos of him smiling and everyone else having a blast. Not a funeral vibe, really.

On his return, we confronted Mark who after some initial denial admitted about lying.

Mark had no choice but to leave the company. When I spoke to him privately, I told him that his lying was going to cause him serious problems if he carried on.

A few days later he asked me to give him references for a new role. I told him best not to. He still went ahead and gave his recruiter my contacts. I made the recruiter read between the lines without being blatant about Mark. He didn't get the job.

It's been 4 years, I haven't heard from him since.

Was trying to have a conversation & eat my uncrustable but this grown ass woman has to open mouth cough allllll over planet earth. Appetite lost.

She’s the kind of person that complains all the time that she’s fat, but only eats fast food.

She’s always dumping her personal issues.. even though I’m quick to ignore her or change the subject. “I don’t make enough… I’m so poor… I’m so fat”

Lady will walk in every morning with McDonald’s, eat chips all afternoon, go out and buy 3 tubs of fried food for lunch, and then snack on candy and cake until close. It’s sad really.

I’m in shape and healthy, and she always commenting on my weight and food choices. Whenever I eat lunch or a snack she asks me what I’m eating has to eat herself. I never once comment on her eating habits, although it’s disgusting to smell all the time. She has insulted me for eating healthy has bought junk food “for the office” and tried to influence to me to eat things that my body literally just can’t digest. I turn it down, she acts like I’m stuck up.

This is toxic at this point. At first I was happy to be able to snack and have lunch at my desk, but she’s abusing that privilege and eating herself to death in front of us. I get that food addiction is a mental illness, but her lack of boundaries has worn me thin on caring about her wellbeing like I would for anyone else.

Honestly, she’s so bad at her job anyways, I’m just counting the days until she’s fired. She’s just trashy and unprofessional and considering she can’t not keep her private life private she’s already told me 10 times that the boss has told her he doesn’t think she’s right for this job.

Thanks for listening to me vent.

Edit: There's been a lot of assumption that I'm a health nut because I stay in shape. I wish I liked working out that much. I'm not even super skinny, but I know I have to have a balanced diet and regular exercise to protect my body. I am preachy about it to no one. I'll eat takeout on the weekends and junk food on occasion; I'm not that strict.

This story is about my co-worker, Gary (Fake name), who transferred to a branch in another country.

I'm in HR and am changing some details here just in case.

I work with Gary (non-HR), and we have had many clashes in the years we worked together.

As part of offboarding procedures, Gary was required to submit a form to our government for his exit from this country. This form takes a grand total of 5 minutes to complete. Very simple. He already has all the details. His details. I told him, "Hey, here's the link. Please complete it 1 week before you leave".

Gary: "But my Embassy said that it should be done through the Employer. You should fill it in instead."

I pointed him to the Government's webpage. It doesn't say "Your employer", it says "You".

Gary: "Can you call the Government to check?"

I bickered back, annoyed. But I still went to make the call because Gary refused to listen. "I'm just following the Embassy's instructions." Fair enough.

The officer on line said the same thing: "The Employee should fill in this form".

Gary: "Maybe the officer isn't very clear about this issue..."

Honey, that's literally their job.

Gary: "But it is the Embassy's job too. Are you saying the Embassy's info is wrong?"

After bickering for another hour, over this form that takes 5 MINUTES, he called his Embassy.

Gary: "The Embassy person said they were pretty sure that the Employer should submit the form"

Oh. My. God. This is a 5 minute form. I had already checked with official channels per his request. Apparently the Embassy's words held more weight than the actual Government he needed to submit the form to. Gary continued to bicker with me regarding the Embassy's choice of words in their document. "They worded it this way. They wouldn't do that if they didn't know for sure."

We spent another hour debating who should fill in this online form that takes 5 minutes.

I gave up first. I went into the link. Sent him the screenshot of the declaration (that says *I*, not *I, on behalf of my employee*) asked him to give me some details so that we could be sure it was accurate and completed the 5 minute form with his details before he left.

For context, I work in food service. The Dept. Shift Lead is a visibly brown woman who considers herself white. A single mom (48F) of 3* who uses food stamps and government assistance, but states she's not like "one of those people". Really weird about immigration despite being first-gen.

When my Lead was first hired, she saw my coworker and I taking our allotted 15-minute break in the morning around the work area, where my coworker was doodling.

She laughed when we jumped and said, "It's just me, guys! You can do whst you want on your break." Then maybe 20-minutes later, she reported her to our supervisor and said how "unprofessional" she was.

Then, she started using the n-word and several other racial slurs once in a while (the other girl and I are brown/Black). Due to the environment and a personal lack of boundaries, there was a lot of push and pull.

She started giving me gifts and chatting about personal things, and we helped each other with resources. I thought I saw some good in her because sometimes she WOULD understand issues and was "nice".

She would regularly ask for ideas on how to improve recipes and we would give them, to which she would ridicule until a higher up suggested the same thing. Then she would do it.

This Lead talked about her love for Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, and Ben Shapiro. I said they promoted racial violence and she told me she didn't agree with them on that.

She asked me if it was true that "Africans sold themselves into slavery" and if I, a queer person, just wanted to go back to the "good ol' days" of women not having to work. That she believes in a "man and a woman" for marriage.

She also regularly used a specific racial slur that my coworker and I told her was a slur. She continued, saying how this ethnic minority was all "bad people".

Eventually, she turned on me right after I lost three family members in one year and wrote that I was underperforming. While some of it was true, a lot was twisted out of context or just a straight-up misrepresentation.

She never wrote a letter of my improvements or correction so it just sits in my file.

After that, her gay male friend (one of our bosses) stopped hanging with her and instead directed his attention to others in his department.

She was rightfully upset. But then she started spreading rumors that he was trying to sleep with them to the point that HR had to come and do an investigation.

Sometimes she would praise me when I did work that she didn't want to do. And other times she felt that she had to "remind me" that she was the boss. She'd point her finger in my face or tell me that I needed to care about an installation for our oven while I was grieving the loss of a family member.

Long story short, she messaged me on my day off and a holiday to accuse me of not meeting standards again (I had made over 400 fresh scones for her to use) and that I just used stale product.

I was already stressed from working multiple jobs and realizing I was in an abusive romantic relationship. So, I wrote down everything that I wrote here, in great detail. Perhaps I was too harsh, and I do somewhat regret that.

Ultimately, I think I did the right thing.

She refuses to acknowledge me now (which is fine), and only stopped her worship of a certain political figure when her food stamps were cut. I've heard from others that she badmouths me when I'm gone. The cognitive dissonance is WILD.

Anyway, I think she thought I would quit, but instead I'm in a better position in the company and mostly far from working with her.

She screamed at me in front of the kids recently because she lost control of them in line. This isn’t the first time she’s raised her voice at me.

I’m going to report her for her rough handling of the children.

I (31 m) just had the displeasure at attempting (and failing) to explain to a coworker (39 m) that sounds needs a medium to pass through, and that if we sent rockets up to the moon to explode on the surface we wouldn't hear it "ring like a bell" here on earth because the sound couldn't get to us. His replies are "i dunno, they say they did it once". "They". As like in scientists with peer reviewed work that has been building off the backs of many generations of discoveries? No, "they" as in a tik tok short he watched about a conspiracy theory and took as the truth. If he were to watch 1 TikTok with incorrect information, and then immediately after watch a 2nd TikTok that has all the correct information it wouldn't matter, its too late. He already accepted the first one as true just because it came first. The source doesnt matter to him.

He tries defending himself with "what about radio waves? How can we hear that?." I was almost stunned. I explained the difference between sound waves and electromagnatism, one is an actual thing (photon) and the other is just an emergent property of molecules moving. I explained that we aren't hearing the radio waves. That the radio machine receives the waves and converts it into sound waves. He gives me this look of like "i dunno if I should belive you or not" and just says some thing like "space is just super mysterious to me and I dont think we have it all figured out".