We had an attractive young salesman visit our office the other day and I had to walk him around to show him some stuff in the building. Many female heads were popping up over cubicle walls, even in advance of our progress, as the grapevine passed the news. As soon as he left, several ladies pounced on me to find out what company he was from and if we could expect him back anytime soon.
I did - we must have just missed each other.
I’m the hottest chick in my office and so far there have been no complaints. Even if I find myself saying “Daaaaayum, girl!” to myself in the mirror on occasion.
No, we definitely notice, we just don’t follow them around drooling or making comments to our coworkers. Especially at my age, where I’m more than twice the age of any fresh out of college graduates.
Hell, I went to an ice cream shop with my niece for her last day of school. The place was packed with 16-18 year old young women and all I could think was “children”. Which by the way, I am not interested in. I did look at two moms though.
In a previous job I worked as a scuba instructor at a resort destination. Dive instructors tend to be young and reasonably fit on average. And wearing a swimsuit is essential work attire at times.
When we hired in a particularly stunning young dive instructor I certainly noticed that the tip pool was better when we worked together working a dive boat. Certainly seemed like the customers noticed. But the fellow members of staff didn’t treat her differently. No favorable job assignments.
I take it you don’t work in a shipyard.
The temerity of those men, saying “hi” to pretty new hires.
How dare they.
In the middle of being trained by someone who probably has a lot of other things to do. Getting trained on things she needs to know to do her job, with repeated interruptions? Yeah.
Yeah, how dare they only say “hi” to the pretty ones and NOT the new male hires or the less attractive female ones.
I’m glad you get it.
Thank you.
If I worked in a shipyard I presume it would be perfectly fine for all the men in the office to ship themselves with any woman unfortunate enough to cross their path.
runs
Do you work from home?
I couldn’t resist.
What makes you think we follow them around drooling?
However yes, if an extremely attractive person starts working it isn’t uncommon to mention that fact to coworkers in a private setting.
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
So what would you be doing if the laws didn’t apply? Do you not work in a place with any professional standards? Fucking hell.
Whereas I wouldn’t dare - less because I’d be worried about being censured, but because drooling over one’s coworkers is considered shitty and unprofessional by most sensible people and I have only a precarious grip on respectability as it is. Becoming known as the office creep is something I don’t need.
You guys are great, all pretending to be so moral and above your baser instincts. Its really nice to watch.
What would I do? The same thing many people do now. Mention how attractive the new coworker is to a trusted coworker in private, and not let it have any effect on our professional relationship or my image of how qualified she is to do the job.
Who said anything about drooling?
Do you think you guys are projecting your own suppressed fears and desires? I’m confused why you think making a mention to a trusted coworker in private is the same thing as drooling or following them around. Its no different than if a coworker has really bad BO that day, you make a quick mention about the issue to a trusted third coworker about the issue and move on.
Also I had an extremely attractive coworker at an old job a long time ago. Most guys mentioned how pretty she was in private but it never affected how we related to her at work, or our respect for her as a worker. And I’ve overheard women do the same thing when an attractive man started working.
If people want to pretend this doesn’t happen in the real world and they are above these urges, feel free.
You did, actually. Specifically you said you don’t follow such ladies around drooling over them, and I believe you. What you confess to is drooling over them in private with your other coworkers.
Excuse me - “making a mention”. Mm-hmm. Yep.
As for pretending to be above our baser instincts, I’ll just make a big huge fat confession. I do have baser instincts, and they’re a pain in the ass. When I’m sitting in a room with a lady with a nice figure, there’s this damned annoying part of my brain that is trying to drag my eyes and attention to bits of her that aren’t there for my viewing pleasure. This is a real thing that happens to me, and I’m not proud of it - and it’s certainly not helpful in any way, shape, or form.
The thing about these baser instincts, though, is they don’t compel me to gossip about the ladies I work with, because that’s stupid. My biology doesn’t compel me to put words to voice; that’s not how biology works. So I’m free not to be a leery gossipy creep - the leering is something I have to actively resist, but the gossipy creep part comes for free.
You posted this:
What sort of behaviour would you default to, if you weren’t constrained by, y’know, the law? I mean, it certainly seems that unconstrained you’d like to go further?