# Tell Us About Your Odd Co-Workers **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340 "2011-08-11T15:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/61 "2011-08-14T17:46:41Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > Sounds like a South African. I’m in South Africa at the moment, and they don’t sound at all “vaguely English.” But more pertinent is, why would a South African person be vague about his/her origin? It’s not 1993 any more. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/62 "2011-08-14T18:26:23Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I’m in South Africa at the moment, and they don’t sound at all “vaguely English.” But more pertinent is, why would a South African person be vague about his/her origin? It’s not 1993 any more. I was pretty sure that she was not from South Africa, FWIW. And it was not vaguely English - it was a very pronounced, crisp accent but she did not like to discuss where she was from. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/63 "2011-08-14T21:37:57Z")
A guy who sits in a cubicle near me has it decorated with a LOT of Star Wars toys, including an almost-life sized model of the Milennium Falcon\*. It’s not uncommon to have a few knickknacks to liven up your work cage, but this guy is in his mid-forties and married with kids. He named one of his kids Annakin (honestly.) \*not quite ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/64 "2011-08-14T22:44:07Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > A guy who sits in a cubicle near me has it decorated with a LOT of Star Wars toys, including an almost-life sized model of the Milennium Falcon\*. It’s not uncommon to have a few knickknacks to liven up your work cage, but this guy is in his mid-forties and married with kids. He named one of his kids Annakin (honestly.) > > \*not quite I work with a male librarian who probably has catamite fantasies about the New Orleans Saints. His office is covered in their memoirabilia. He is walking database of trivia about them, but forgets basic information like the name of his insurance company or the bank where his salary is deposited (his wife volunteered this information at an office party. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/65 "2011-08-14T23:11:03Z")
I have a horrible feeling I’m the odd co-worker. I’ve been at this job exactly 6 months and people barely speak to me. And when I try to join in conversations I get stared at like I have two heads. It’s kind of making me paranoid. I made my husband and daughter sniff me one day before I left just to make sure I didn’t stink or something. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/66 "2011-08-14T23:49:53Z")
This is pretty tame by the standards set here. I started working at my current job at the end of October. In the nearly 10 months I’ve worked here, I’ve exchanged maybe six complete sentences with the Weird Guy. Weird Guy is in the same job I’m in and his office is in the next room over. He never says hello or goodbye to me, even to answer me when I say it first. If I accidentally come in through a door in which he’s trying to exit, I’ll say, “Oh, excuse me!” and he will remain silent. I’ve overheard the janitors, when training new janitors, say, “The really skinny guy doesn’t like it when you talk to him. Just leave him alone.” If I have to tell him something work-related, he’ll barely acknowledge me and I’ll be lucky if I get a grunt or a mumble in response. And yet if _he_ has to talk to _me_ about work, he does okay. Like, if he has to tell me the database is down because there was a problem with some corrupted data, he can say this right to my face without any apparent problems. He looks me in the eye, he doesn’t stutter, he remains on-topic and even offers additional, optional information. In that isolated moment, he would not appear to have any social problems. I hear him talking with other co-workers in a normal, non-socially-inept way. I don’t know if the fact that these co-workers are older, motherly-type women who have worked there for years, and I’m one of the only young women (is 33 still young? :)) in the office is relevant, but I suspect it is. It’s just very strange to me. I’m sure he’s just shy, although I’m pretty shy myself, but I’m not so shy that I can’t open my mouth when someone says “good morning” to me as they pass by. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/67 "2011-08-15T01:16:32Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I don’t know if the fact that these co-workers are older, motherly-type women who have worked there for years, and I’m one of the only young women (is 33 still young? :)) in the office is relevant, but I suspect it is. I think that’s a good theory. I used to have a friend rather like that - well, I really only knew him second-hand, as I was a female in my late 20s at the time. He was my husband’s colleague, so I’ll tell his story here. It was clearly exquisitely painful for this man to talk directly to me. If we were seated next to each other at a party, he wouldn’t say a single word to me and he could barely bring himself to grunt in response when I made remarks addressed to him. After a while I gave up trying. But I watched him interact with males just fine, and in their company he seemed like a really witty, warm human being. He had to travel to the Philippines for work fairly often. According to my male friends (obviously he never spoke to ME about this) he was quite a consumer of the services of prostitutes there. He did not have any trouble communicating with them, apparently; in fact he kept a scrapbook with photos of many of them, and seemed to genuinely care about them as people. He eventually married one of his ladies; I never knew her well but the few times I spoke with her I liked her a whole lot. That was all years ago. Now we are FB friends and that works just fine. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/68 "2011-08-20T15:38:53Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Ah yes, MBO #15 according to my daughter who’s a former hairstylist. > > (MBO=monkey butt orange) It’s more MAM - Mandrill-Ass Maroon 😃 UT ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/69 "2011-08-20T15:49:30Z")
> [@YaraMateo](#): > > To be fair, depending on the dress for your office, purple might be a really weird choice. Like if you worked here, people would be calling you Barney behind your back. Honestly, I’ve never seen people wear much besides black,gray, navy, and some shade of brown (I’m including nude/bieges with brown). Even khaki is kind of :dubious:. If people dress causually, I don’t really see a problem. Even when going out, I notice people in reds and purples. Those colors do call a lot of attention to themselves. Well, now I’m feeling self-conscious about the purple blouse I’m wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/70 "2011-08-20T15:50:04Z")
I once had a co-worker who was more than just odd. He had a thing about grabbing pregnant women’s stomaches, even after they told him to stop. But that was mild compared to his fetish for sneaking up behind women and grabbing them in a bear hug :eek:! The first time he did it to me, I jumped backwards and banged him into the wall. Hard. On purpose. He complained about it, and the Broker told him to keep his hands off the employees. He hated me after that. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/71 "2011-08-20T17:39:13Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > Ok here’s the story of the woman who doesn’t bathe on her period making the whole office sick, I apologize in advance for length and grossness. 😃 Holy shit. I think I would have gone out and gotten an industrial-sized can of scented spray Lysol. And sprayed… everything I could find. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/72 "2011-08-20T23:23:27Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > She told us that she had worked as a journalist in Palestine before coming to our office, and at one point had been severely beaten by police there. I have always wondered if she suffered a head injury that could explain her tendency to get angry constantly I read a story on this board by someone who said he went back to visit someone at his old job, which he had quit in part because of Angry Crazy Boss, who had become this way only sort of recently. “What ever happened to ACB?” “Oh, it turned out she had a brain tumor. She’s dead.” ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/73 "2011-08-20T23:51:12Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > Ok here’s the story of the woman who doesn’t bathe on her period making the whole office sick, I apologize in advance for length and grossness. How did this woman keep her job? And why didn’t the boss tell her to take a bath or stay home (without pay) if she wasn’t going to bathe? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/74 "2011-08-21T00:17:24Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I’m in South Africa at the moment, and they don’t sound at all “vaguely English.” But more pertinent is, why would a South African person be vague about his/her origin? It’s not 1993 any more. I’ve met a number of “English” South Africans with very plummy accents. (One of them went by the moniker, “Rhodesian Dave.”) And some of them really didn’t like to be associated with the Dutch-descended “Sood Affrika” South Africans. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/75 "2011-08-21T00:24:01Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > How did this woman keep her job? And why didn’t the boss tell her to take a bath or stay home (without pay) if she wasn’t going to bathe? You know, that’s a good question. She finally did get fired a while back, but not directly for this reason. Indirectly, because as the marketing person she wasn’t bringing in any new business, probably because she grossed out everyone she saw. We had a new CEO come in and when she realized that the marketing department was going nowhere fast she replaced “Kay”. Kay was also buddies with Scott, and Scott was just generally clueless. Nice guy, not a great manager. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/76 "2011-08-21T01:04:59Z")
In the past I have worked with a moon hoaxer and one of the 6000 year old Earthers. That I know of. Amusing to listen to for a short while but soon becomes as annoying as a screaming baby in a restaurant. And don’t worry if you can’t think of someone to post about. Someone will be in to post about you directly. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/77 "2011-08-21T02:30:16Z")
Husband and I work with a guy who’s really, REALLY into animal reproduction. When he found out we had horses, he all but cornered me in the office kitchen and said “Have you seen horses DO IT?? You know…DO IT??” He’d also trap people in their offices to tell them stories about what happens when animals breed. I think someone from HR finally got him to STFU because I haven’t heard anyone talking about him and his animal sex stories in the past year or so. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/78 "2011-08-21T15:10:32Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I’ve met a number of “English” South Africans with very plummy accents. (One of them went by the moniker, “Rhodesian Dave.”) And some of them really didn’t like to be associated with the Dutch-descended “Sood Affrika” South Africans. Was Dave Rhodesian or South African, though? My (admittedly limited) experience is that the English and Afrikaners get along, after all, it’s them versus the natives. (Some of the English have told me that they send their kids to the Afrikaner schools to avoid the blacks. I’m not placing judgment; just saying.) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/79 "2011-08-21T15:27:03Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Was Dave Rhodesian or South African, though? He traveled on a South African passport, what with there no longer being a Rhodesia. > [@Balthisar](#): > > My (admittedly limited) experience is that the English and Afrikaners get along, after all, it’s them versus the natives. (Some of the English have told me that they send their kids to the Afrikaner schools to avoid the blacks. I’m not placing judgment; just saying.) My knowledge is only from a few encounters and probably 15 years out of date, but I got the impression it was the more progressive English South Africaners who despised the (then only recently abolished) apartheid system and took pains to insist that they had nothing to do with the Afrikaaner minority who seemed to be most at odds with the black majority. Now, watch as a real South African comes and rips me a new one for not knowing what I’m talking about. But those were my impressions at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340/80 "2011-08-21T16:30:55Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > He traveled on a South African passport, what with there no longer being a Rhodesia. Many of the whites who left Zimbabwe after independence still self-identify as Rhodesian. The question of the passport is nonetheless interesting. Did they automatically qualify for South African passports when immigrating? Did it take time? Were there complaints of foreign, white, illegal immigrants then as there are now for black, illegal immigrants? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-your-odd-co-workers/592340.md?page=5)