# Caught having sex at work... so bad?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 22, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493 "2004-02-22T09:04:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/1 "2004-02-22T09:04:35Z")
I read the draft report of the nightwatchman at work yesterday, one of my collegues pulled a girl from another department, took her to our dept after the pub closed (11:45) and said to the guard that they were getting their bags. An hour of so later he was patrolling and saw him giving her ‘lip service’ under a desk (these words in the incident report) and then he stripped butt-naked and they had intercourse.
It sound like the guard watched for some time, and I don’t know if he said anything (ewww) but anyway, the report has been filed with the building manager and I expect on Monday these two will be summoned by the powers that be.
What’s the protocol for this? Does it breach any part of their contract (appropriate behaviour?)?
I think it’s a bit mean to send a report right to the top, but then perhaps the guard would be in trouble if they found out any other way.
…and in your humble oppinion?
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/2 "2004-02-22T11:02:30Z")
Unless you’re a whore or a president, this is usually a fireable offense in the United States. I think the reason has to do with lingering Puritanism.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/3 "2004-02-22T11:10:31Z")
Just ask the security guy if he could arrange a showing of the security camera footage in the staff canteen at lunchtime.
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### Author:  [@Tortuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tortuga)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/4 "2004-02-22T11:39:25Z")
Well, if they fire them, they should discipline the guard as well. If he just stood there and watched them 1)that’s really disturbing 2)if it’s something that shouldn’t happen in the building it is his job to stop it from happening in the building. Just a simple, “Ahem. I’m sorry but you shouldn’t do that here. I would have to put it in my night watch reports if you did.” would suffice. Being a peeping tom is bad, being a snitching peeping tom isn’t great either. Would he just stand there and watch while they loaded their pockets with stationary, or their cars with computer equipment?
I think it shows really poor judgement and unprofessional behaviour on their part to give each other the business at their business, but I think the guard is absolutely disgusting for watching and putting a “blow by blow” report in the official annals of paperworkdom and not stopping the activity in the first place if it was something that warranted security attention.
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### Author:  [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/5 "2004-02-22T12:06:27Z")
Frankly, I don’t have a problem with it.
Two people want to hump in an office somewhere - what do I give a shit!?
The office place is a VERY sexual place. At least I think so.
I’ve done it. Right up against a window looking down onto traffic!
If I were the security guard, I’d probably casually mention to the couple that I was witness to the act and that I should probably file a report, _unless_, I could be persuaded not to (while holding my palm out). Make a couple bucks for myself.
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/6 "2004-02-22T13:59:38Z")
I’m with **Tortuga** – the security guys transgression is worse, IMO, than the couple’s. The couple were there _after_ work, after all – it’s not like they were doing it during working hours, or on company time. The security gaurd was watching them – and, did his report include what he was doing _while_ he was watching them? – when he was supposed to be working. My guess is the other cameras weren’t being very thoroughly monitered while the show was going on. He could have (if he were a gentleman) just flipped on the intercom and said, “Hey folks? You know there’s a security camera up there, right? And I have to log everything I see… 'Nuff said?” Or, if he really wanted to peep, he could have gone ahead and peeped and left the incident (other than logging the couple’s arrival and departure) out of his log altogether. What a creep.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/7 "2004-02-22T14:11:59Z")
It’s happened twice at places I have worked at here in Australia.
The first time the couple were caught _in flagrante delicto_ by a security guard in a conference room. No-one was punished but everyone at work knew about it. The woman moved on (probably coincidently) but the guy is still there. I don’t care and I don’t think anyone else does.
On the second ocassion the participants were caught on video in the carpark. The security manager discovered it on Monday when he reviewed the tapes since Friday night. He destroyed the tape and issued a bland email notifying staff that the carparks were **now** under video surveillance. Even though he is one of the people on my speed dial I, just like everyone else, don’t know who the people were.
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### Author:  [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/8 "2004-02-22T17:44:46Z")
If it were during the work day, I think firing or at least reprimanding the two of them is appropriate. I mean, people are trying to _work_, you know? As for after hours … well, I would still think it merits a stern talking-to about inappropriate places to carry on, but no more than that. The ol’ “Find a hotel room, woud you?” speech.
As for the security guard getting punished … I don’t see that at all. Yea, it may be “creepy” to consider he just _watched_ them, but, unlike those two **it’s his job!!!** It’s his job to see everything that goes on after hours and report it. Furthermore, if you are in the camp that “they did nothing wrong”, then his behavior was absolutely correct: He saw something out of the ordinary, he reported it, but he did NOT interfere. And if you still find that creepy, well, find a hotel room!
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### Author:  [@zephyrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephyrine)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/9 "2004-02-22T18:01:44Z")
I don’t have a problem with people having sex, having sex at work, or having sex after work, at work.
I would have a problem with a security guard being a voyeur, AND chronicling the fact. OK, be a creep: watch it and pretend that you didn’t. OR, stop it before it happens. DON’T let it happen, and then purposely try to get someone into trouble for it by creating a scandal.
This isn’t the Pit, so I’ll shut up now.
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### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/10 "2004-02-22T18:27:16Z")
Aren’t Peeping Toms usually just people with a problem of privacy? As is consistant abuse of privacy? I bet many here would’ve stopped and watched a little too, how is it different than a porno?
The only thing I fault him on is that he didn’t stop it while it was going on. But I don’t think many here would’ve tried to stop it either. The difference being sex between consentual adults is different than stealing office equipment, or fighting, or the ‘act’ being done on business hours. Other wise, he did report it. Considering circumstances, I don’t think it’s a big deal.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/11 "2004-02-22T20:32:16Z")
We have a strict rule at work: \*\*No Sex. Ever. \*\*. Violation of the rule will get one fired at the least, and imprisoned at the worst.
Of course, I work in a maximum security prison, where it is now a felony for a staffperson to have sex with an inmate.
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### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/12 "2004-02-22T21:34:35Z")
Does this remind anyone else of George Costanza, having been reported for having sex on his desk with the cleaning lady? “Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?”
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### Author:  [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/13 "2004-02-23T08:23:48Z")
I just can’t figure out how he could be watching them and yet they knew nothing about it.
I agree, it’s bizarre that he could watch them carry on and carry on and do nothing. It would be one thing if he were somewhere else, watching from the video cameras. He’s not physically there in the room with them. In that case, I could see him peeking at the screens from time to time to make sure that they’re not stealing equipment, but otherwise leaving them alone.
I’m really straining to find a way to figure out how the guard could be in the same room, seeing all of this, not clearing his throat or putting a stop to it, and still not be creepy. Unless (here’s me straining again) he stepped out, and peeked in once in a while to see what they were up to next, just to make sure they weren’t stealing or something. But . . . wow. How odd.
As far as this couple being fired, well, it’s a judgment call. I don’t think that it’s a 100% certainty that they _should_ be fired, but on the other hand, I don’t think it’s shockingly unjust if they are, indeed, fired. Because they had to go _out of their way_ to go to work and have sex. They could have left the building and gotten a room somewhere. But NO. They had to go to _work_ to do the deed. (And even if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, couldn’t they wait until they got a room elsewhere? They were off the clock, after all. Nothing’s keeping them at work.)
In a nutshell, they’re morons. Perhaps the company doesn’t want to employ these particular kinds of morons. I can’t say I’d blame them.
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### Author:  [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/14 "2004-02-23T08:56:30Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Of course, I work in a maximum security prison, where it is **now** a felony for a staffperson to have sex with an inmate.
_Emphasis mine._
Please tell me there’s a disturbing story to go with that.
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### Author:  [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/15 "2004-02-23T11:58:42Z")
> [@flapcats](#):
>
> It sound like the guard watched for some time…[snipped]
From what did you make this deduction? It is just as equally likely that the guard came back later, saw the guy naked and humping the woman.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/16 "2004-02-23T13:40:30Z")
My husband and I “almost” did it in my office (I chickened out, but not before I was half nekkid). Someone from building management called the next the next morning. I was the receptionist. She told me that “a man and a woman were spotted in the office doing…” and with the straightest voice I could muster, I just said, “Yes, that was me.” She just said “oh” and that was the end of it. She didn’t even tell my boss.
My sister-in-law was fired for giving a guy a blow job in the cafeteria.
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### Author:  [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/17 "2004-02-23T14:04:30Z")
If the “no sex” rule isn’t written down somewhere is firing the couple justifiable legally ?
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### Author:  [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/18 "2004-02-23T14:15:50Z")
The story where I work is a couple folks got canned years ago for getting busy in a conference room.
Apparently it was an expensive table. (ahem, sorry)
**Omnipresent** , you sound like a really stand-up kind of person. Nothing like a little bribery/extortion what have to round out the story…were you kidding? 😕
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### Author:  [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/19 "2004-02-23T14:19:15Z")
> [@Early Out](#):
>
> Does this remind anyone else of George Costanza, having been reported for having sex on his desk with the cleaning lady? “Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?”
First thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. “If I had had any idea that that sort of thing was frowned upon…”
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### Author:  [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-having-sex-at-work-so-bad/230493/20 "2004-02-23T14:22:21Z")
> [@Arcite](#):
>
> First thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. “If I had had any idea that that sort of thing was frowned upon…”
Same here. “I’ve worked at a lot of places in my day, and let me tell you, people do that all the time.” 😃
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