Okay, this didn’t happened to me, but it happened to my female coworker in my department. We both found it very bizarre and I thought i would see what other thought.
FYI: I work in a department of 7 people. There’s the manager (male), myself (female), another woman, and 4 males instructors.
Anyway, on a day like most days, when it comes to lunch my boss usually walks to a sandwich/fast food shop that is located up the road not far from work to buy his lunch (he never brings it from home). Sometimes my co-workers and I walk up to the shop with him when we haven’t brought our lunch.
Anyway, one day last week my female co-worker accompanied him up to the shop. She and my manager had both placed their orders but his order was made faster and he paid for his meal and took it outside to wait for my co-worker.
When her meal was ready, she paid, exited the shop and found my boss not outside but in the next door underwear shop. She entered the shop. My boss then proceeds to hold up a pair of underwear (male underwear, that is) and exclaims how cheap they were (like, $2 or something). My co-worker is starting to feel embarressed. My boss then picks up a few pairs and pays for them. The sales assistant alerts my co-worker that they “have more cheaper ladies pairs at the back of the store” to which my mortified co-worker politely refuses and exits the shop.
On the walk back to work, my boss tells my co-worker that he is normally buying underwear for his wife, but that night he would be showing off his new undies! My co-worker tries to keep up with the banter by commenting on how cheap they were, etc but inside she is incredibly embarressed. One, she does not want to think about my boss buying underwear, and second, she does not want to know about what my boss does in the privacy of his own home!
She told me this story on Friday. And, although I found it amusing, I commented that it would have been a bit more freaky had he been holding up women’s underwearing, saying that he was buying him for himself!! (now there’s a fetish I don’t want to think about!) I suggested that maybe he felt very comfortable doing this kind of activity in her presence and talking about his private life to her, treating her like ‘one of the boys’.
In any case, we both found the behaviour very odd. How many co-workers go buying underwear with their bosses? Is this kind of behaviour normal?