Back when I worked in marketing, I had a colleague who was a massive oversharer. I am not even kidding, but I even knew the shoe size of his little kid, and that was some of the more decent stuff that he told me.
My point is, it can be quite uncomfortable when random coworkers bombard you with their private lives. The original poster’s (OP) colleague is an oversharer, but more than that, she’s so emotional that she cries over the smallest things at work, and disturbs everyone. Let’s see what OP did about it!
More info: Reddit
Some people overshare despite the displeasure of their coworkers, who prefer to maintain professional relationships
Image credits: Kindel Media / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The poster's coworker's (Susan) desk is right next to her, and she loves to share everything with her, making things uncomfortable
Image credits: etlifereview
Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Susan also has the habit of crying over the smallest things for hours, which is quite disturbing to the poster, so she complained to HR
Image credits: etlifereview
Image credits: Kaboompics.com / Pexels (not the actual photo)
However, management ignored the poster's complaint and asked her to "show some passion"
The poster has had enough of Susan's crying 2-3 times every week, as it disturbs her, so she vented online
In today’s story, Reddit user etlifereview tells us about the dilemma that she is in, all because of her coworker (Susan), who is rather too emotional and loves to overshare everything. In fact, she bombards OP so much with her personal life that the poster even knows the medical issues her son is facing in his private parts!
While OP finds this uncomfortable, there’s still something worse than this, which is just how emotional Susan is. She cries over the smallest of things, like inconveniences, someone correcting her mistake, or even when she gets more work. The surprising thing is that her huffing and puffing like a toddler happens almost 2-3 times every week.
Susan even works while she is crying and takes calls as well, but the poster’s desk is right next to hers, and all this is too much for her to bear. OP finds Susan’s behavior quite unprofessional and must even be disturbed by her constant tantrums. Frustrated by all this, the poster complained about it, but unfortunately, nothing has worked so far.
She has seen HR and management have meetings about it, but they never really take any action. In fact, they even asked the poster to “show some compassion”, however, since it’s disturbing her so much, OP is all out of compassion. She vented online to seek advice on whether she is being a jerk about the situation, but netizens didn’t think so.
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Many claimed that she should ask her manager to sit next to Susan and then see how “compassionate” they feel towards her. To see if there are any updates, Bored Panda reached out to the poster, but she told us that nothing has been done yet by the management, as Susan still cries regularly and irritates her.
When we asked OP about how she’s handling Susan so far, she said, “I ignore her like you do a toddler. You know when a toddler hurts themselves, and if you make eye contact, they cry, but if you avoid it, they don’t? I do exactly that. But honestly, the most challenging part is that I don’t know what to do when people cry.”
OP explained that in a 40-hour workweek, Susan spends a solid 2-3 hours with tears in her eyes. It makes her uncomfortable, as she has to walk on eggshells, when usually she’s the upbeat and happy coworker. “It’s really difficult to change my whole personality for her,” added the annoyed poster.
While narrating what motivated her to share her story online, OP expressed that when her manager told her to have compassion, she couldn’t tell if she was being mean or not. The poster is someone who doesn’t display emotion much, and she thought that other people within an office setting also had a grip on their emotions.
“However, when I started working with Susan, it became very apparent that that’s not true. I thought I was being a bit heartless until I realized that it’s not normal to cry at work,” she concluded. Many Redditors also jumped in in support of the poster, considering that Susan’s behavior is impacting her so much.
What about you? How would you handle a similar situation? Let us know in the comments!
Folks were quite baffled by Susan and suggested that the poster's manager should sit in her seat to see how disturbing it is
