It’s not just romantic relationships that require boundaries—they’re vital at work, too. When everyone treats each other with respect in the workplace, you can focus on your job. But if someone lacks self-awareness and they’re blind to personal boundaries, it can make your day-to-day life hell and genuinely scare you.
Inspired by u/GreasyTobey, the folks at r/AskReddit spilled the tea about the creepiest things they’ve heard and seen at work, both from colleagues and clients. We’ve collected some of their most disturbing stories to share with you. Read on to check them out. Meanwhile, if you have any creepy work stories of your own, feel free to share them in the comments.
#1
More unsettling than creepy TBH. I was checking the voicemail at the dialysis clinic when I opened one morning because sometimes our patients will leave us a message the night before if they know they're going to be late or miss treatment. Sweet elderly patient had left a message that said "I'm sorry ladies, I won't make it tomorrow morning. I'm going to see Hazel." Hazel was his wife who passed away 4 years earlier. I immediately called house- no answer. Called his son that was listed as an emergency contact and he tells me he was just about to call us to let us know his father passed away in the night.
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#2
#3
When dealing with someone behaving inappropriately at work, communication is everything. Unless the other person suddenly becomes extremely self-aware, the odds are that they’ll continue doing what they’ve been doing. That is unless someone calls them out for their behavior.
You can start things off very simply. Very calmly tell your problematic colleague that you don’t appreciate them doing something the next time they overstep your boundaries. By all means, be assertive, but don’t sound accusatory or judgmental. Make your boundaries very clear.
If your coworker is reasonable at all, they’ll change their behavior after you bring up the problem. Some folks have an issue with self-awareness. They don’t understand how their actions impact the people around them.
#4
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#6
Others, however… well, if they’re narcissistic enough, they won’t ever admit that they’re wrong. They’ll continue causing chaos and acting creepy because they want to. In that case, it’s probably best to escalate things. Document some examples of their behavior and go talk to human resources, your supervisor, or your boss. Maybe they can help put an end to the toxicity.
Meanwhile, you might feel uncomfortable being anywhere near that coworker. You might want to consider sitting further away from them. Or, if things are seriously bad, you might even want to consider transferring to another department altogether. Though, if that’s the case, it’s an indication that there’s an issue with the entire workplace environment. Looking for another job might be your best way forward. Though, if you have the time and money, you can always seek legal help. There’s no excuse for harassment at work.
#7
I had a patient tell me in graphic detail about how they attempted to sexually assault my co-worker who was on night shift the previous night. He had cornered her in a small med room but she was able to get out luckily. The detail which he went into, the tone, and the way he spoke just made every fibre of my being stand on edge. He said he was going to do it again that night and "They were meant to be together. He would take them both away the next night." Lots of details I don't want to repeat. Everything he told me he was not joking in any way. Management hadn't done a single thing about the attempted assualt the previous night and he was in my care that day. Spoke with his Attending and got him to the right care floor he needed. Our med/cardiac wasn't the right spot for that. I strongly feel that if I hadn't he would have [SAed] her or worse. I've never felt that way before. I imgagine that is our innate primal fear. My whole body was just screaming with anxiety, danger warnings going off. I'll never forget the way he made me feel when he spoke about it. I'm just happy he wasn't able to hurt anyone.
#8
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#9
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At the end of the day, it’s up to you what your boundaries are, how you communicate them, and how you enforce them. It’s also up to you to decide whether you still want to stay at the company if the problematic individual gets spoken to, reassigned, or fired.
However, in some cases, keep more of an open mind about the importance of having crystal-clear communication about your boundaries. Some individuals aren’t ignoring subtle social norms because they’re ‘creeps.’ As The New York Times Magazine points out, some people can struggle with social cues and behavioral norms because they have autism spectrum disorder. Other folks might be extremely socially awkward. And yet, this is not a blank check to do whatever you want.
“Once the rules have been carefully explained, however, it’s infantilizing to use the condition as an excuse for harmful behavior. It isn’t hard to understand a rule that, say, forbids a supervisor from making sexual or romantic overtures to junior staff members. An adult man on the autism spectrum is an adult man; the spectrum isn’t a certificate of sainthood,” Kwame Anthony Appiah writes.
#10
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#11
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#12
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What is the creepiest thing you've ever seen, heard, or experienced in the workplace, Pandas? Have you ever had to deal with a colleague who completely ignores common sense and thinks boundaries are optional? How did you handle the situation? Let us know in the comment section, at the bottom of this post.
#13
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#22
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#23
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#27
Was training a new guy. We were driving by a middle school and he says “man the way these girls dress these days makes it so tempting…” I’m like. “Uhhhh. You mean young adult women, right?” Trying to see if I misheard him or something and that he wasn’t implying [SA] and of teenaged children. He didn’t help his case by saying that girls in his day didn’t dress like that to school. I told my boss but since it was a he said, he said, they just agreed to not put him with me anymore since he made me uncomfortable. He ended up creeping everyone out but they let him go due to not being able to perform the required tasks in a timely manner. Now he’s a school bus driver ?.
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