Tale of a very ... different co-worker

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve been meaning to share this, but kept forgetting to! I wish I could find a clever title or share the story in rhyme, but hopefully it will come out okay.
I do not work directly with this person, but do come into contact with them daily, usually in the break room, occasionally in the bathroom (more on that later! LOL). We have a full-size fridge, microwave, and sink w/garbage disposal. There are a couple of other break rooms like this on our floor, but the one closest to my office is also in the most central location on the floor and hence gets a lot of use by staff from many offices. This particular co-worker, who happens to be female, is into natural foods, and brings meals from home. Actually, she brings a bag or two of food (grocery bag!) just about every day. She has taken over the fridge–everything on the door is hers (that’s where she started out…), and gradually she has taken over nearly every shelf inside the fridge. There’s barely room for anyone else to put anything in the fridge! She’s taken over the cabinets too. You would think that it was her kitchen, in her home. Now this by itself is annoying, but she goes beyond that. She’s very fastidious about her food and preparing her food, and normally when she’s in there, I just stay out, and let her do her thing. However, she does -not- extend that courtesy herself! If I’m in there trying to wash up a dish or fix a cup of coffee and she comes in and wants to do something at the sink or get something from the fridge (it’s a fairly small area, the sink and fridge are crowded closely together), she will get right up behind you and go ahead and do her thing. I guess she can’t possibly wait a few minutes for you to finish. That annoys me to no end. LOL But last week, I was floored by what I saw in the bathroom…

First of all, I walked in and the lights were off, but she was in there, at one of the sinks. So, I asked if it was ok for me to turn on the lights, she said sure, I went into the stall, the whole time she’s out there at the sink, water is running, and I’m starting to wonder, “wtf is she doing?!” because I smelled something that smelled like shampoo. Be darned if she wasn’t shampooing her hair in the sink! And she has long hair (to her waist)! Another woman came into the bathroom in the meantime, and the two had a conversation. Maybe the other woman wasn’t shocked, but I certainly was. Mind you, we have a fitness center in our building that is equipped with showers, etc.; she could easily sign up for the fitness center and use the shower there. But why is she washing her hair in the sink of the bathroom?! I don’t think she’s homeless, but you never can tell. It’s not the first time she’s done it either; I’ve talked to others who’ve seen her washing her hair in the bathroom.

Anyway, that’s my tale of my … unusual co-worker. Anyone else work with anyone like this? :slight_smile:

tarragon

2

That is the weirdest story I’ve ever heard.

One would think that management would have a talk with her.

3

Wow that really is strange. It kind of sounds like she may be homeless, if she’s storing so much food there and washing her hair. That is so bizarre that she washes her waist-length hair in the sink. Does she bring towels, etc? Has anyone ever asked her about it? I think I would mention this bizarre behavior to HR or management or whoever. And, heck, if I were you, and you’re at the sink and she tries to get behind you to use the sink, I’d make sure to take up as much space in front of the sink as possible and politely tell her that she’ll have to wait her turn. What do your co-workers think about this woman?

4

I hope she used conditioner. Long haired can get snarled easily, and a nice creme rinse would help her comb out all those food bits that probably got tangled in there.

5

Shampooing her hair at work in the dark? (do-do-do-do do-do-do-do (twilight zone music))

The poor thing. She sounds like she might be off the beam. Or homeless. Did she go back to her desk with waist-length WET hair? Or does she pack a hair dryer in with all her groceries?

6

Unfortunately you may need to check her car for a pillow.

7

It’s not entirely unheard of for people in the physical sciences to live at work, by which I don’t mean live at work, I mean live at work–especially if they have a short research appointment somewhere. They sleep on a mat in their office or on a couch in a lounge, shower at the gym on campus, live on takeout and microwavable fare, etc. I knew a grad student who was actually homeless for a full year . . . but he had, uh, other problems, and he left school.

It’s still considered weird, and they have to do it on the sly, because typically it’s not actually allowed, but, like I said, it’s not unheard of.

8

If think that’s weird behavior, I’ll bet you guys never worked with engineers. ‘Dilbert’ is a documentary.

9

Its true - MIT let Richard Stallman live in his old office at the AI Labs for 12 years - he was even registered to vote there.

10

I’m another who would suspect that she’s living out of her car or in a similar situation. Perhaps the other woman knew this and that’s why she wasn’t surprised to see her washing her hair in the sink?

11

Just a quick note - a local woman was found not too long ago dead in her storage shed, and her co-workers said she also did some of things yours is doing. Turns out this lady was really in bad shape financially, and was washing, dressing and eating at work. When she did go home, it was to a house with no heat or running water. Poor thing froze to death one night when the space heater in the shed where she was sleeping went out. (I guess it was easier to heat the small space of a shed than a house, so that’s why she was sleeping in there.) While everyone who knew her thought she was a little odd, no one suspected how bad off she was.

12

Will try to answer most of the questions asked, as best as I can. :slight_smile:

Most of the other people at work think that she’s a bit off the beam–she’s been that way for a while. I think her supervisor is afraid to approach her for fear she’s going to go off. She has, a few times in the past (it’s been a while ago; she may have been suspended for a while because of it). I don’t want to formally report her, though, because I do not want her to lose her job, and I don’t feel that she’s dangerous, just a little strange.

She had towel dried her hair as best as she could, but it was still quite damp. And when I saw her, I recalled seeing her with damp hair several other times in the past–probably she’d washed it in the sink then too.

I don’t think that she’s homeless; I think she just finds it more convenient to her to take care of certain things at work. I guess she figures that she spends most of her time there. Her job pays well, and as far as I know, she only has herself to take care of; however, rents can be very high in the Wash. DC metro area, so she could possibly have financial obligations that I don’t know about and not have a real place to live. I will keep that in mind, especially in light of LifeonWry’s post about the co-worker who was found dead. :frowning:

In the mean time, I’ve just been giving her fairly wide berth, but will try to be more empathetic and less peeved. Thanks!