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Io
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19 Apr 2011, 7:18 pm

I've posted a couple of rants about things that happened to me at work before, but those were different jobs. Right now I'm working somewhere else where I'm about to hit the 4-month-mark which will be a personal best for me. Still not sure whether that has me more optimistic or depressed but anyway..

Here's the thing. I've been off the autism diet due to my own neglect for some time and so now I'm back to my old defective aspie self (I plan to start it again tomorrow but it takes a looong time to start to kick in). Even though I feel like I'm doing nothing differently from before I start to get the "lol you're so quiet hurrhurr!" comments again so apparently *something* has changed?? It probably wouldn't be so bad if not for this one really obnixious guy there that works with me (there's only 6 of us there total) who seems like he gets really obsessed with pointing it out for no reason several times a day. This just started happening randomly last week and ever since then he's stuck with it and keeps getting more and more outspoken about it. I think most people know what I mean, when they get real condescending almost as if being quiet must mean you're also stupid, or they start to ask you really simple pointless questions about you as if they're doing you a favor by allowing you the privilege of starting a conversation that you must have been too "afraid" to start yourself. :roll:

Today came some of the worst. Like when the remote possibility of him ending up somewhere else was mentioned by another coworker he says "well I would miss (name) and (name) too much." After a brief pause he continues, "I WOULD miss Io too, if only he'd SAY something once in a while." Also once he implied that something at a certain table was out of order because of me and I responded back at him so he laughs "Oh! He finally talks when someone accuses him of something! Maybe I'll keep accusing him of stuff just to actually hear him talk." Several times out of nowhere he also throws in the same old "Hey don't talk too much there Io" and that one in particular is really getting old. And of course this is always in front of everybody else too, but at least they don't really take much notice of it. The crazy thing is I do talk to people there and one guy is actually just as quiet if not more so than I am, so I don't know why he suddenly just chose to single me out. I'm not really sure if there's anything I can do here. If I really said what I wanted to in reply I'd probably be out of a job pretty quick since the guy is a bit above me (we work the same hours but technically he's a "real" employee while I'm a temp). If I talk then each time it's "LOL you actually talked!" even though he's too dumb to realize he's contradicting himself with this; if I just ignore the comments then yeah obviously that doesn't help either. Honestly I felt like I was at my breaking point when I got home today but I don't even understand what this numbskull is even trying to accomplish or why he's so obsessed with the idea even though nobody else over there cares. It really figures, I find a job I actually like and it takes one little piece of human refuse to throw it all off track. :x



leejosepho
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19 Apr 2011, 9:14 pm

Io wrote:
If I talk then each time it's "LOL you actually talked!"

Have you tried something like, "Yes, glad you noticed!"?

I would suspect that co-worker is insecure and is acting like a "class clown" to try to cover his/her loneliness.


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draelynn
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19 Apr 2011, 9:18 pm

Some people are just in love with the sound of their own voice. Any anyone who isn't is instantly a threat.

It may not hurt to ask him why's he's so insecure. What is it about your silence that him spooked. It is a little odd to be hounding you about it.

Bottom line, if he is becoming that much of a pest, it is harrassment. A talk with HR might be in order.



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19 Apr 2011, 9:34 pm

Story of my life. I get that everywhere I go if I'm there more than 15 minutes.

"Shh! Be quiet!" (sarcasm)
"Do you ever talk?"
"Say something."
"I don't think I know what your voice sounds like."
"Wow, you can talk!"
"One day I'll get you to say more than 2 words."
"You talk too much!" (sarcasm)
"I'm going to keep bugging you until you say something."
"Are you always this quiet?"
etc.

I've even been pinched and tickled because I was "too quiet." :?

So, I don't think this behavior is odd at all. Many people do it to me. I totally feel your annoyance.



Dinosaw
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19 Apr 2011, 9:49 pm

He wants to piss you off, just to get you upset. He is an animal that enjoys the smell of fear, it enables him to hunt you more efficiently. He is a predatory beast.

I would try meditation, to learn some control of your emotions, that is the doorway through which he walks. Keeping your mind at peace is the goal. You do not want to be afraid and you do not want to be angry, both will fuel his hunt lust. When he doesn't get a response from you he may learn to respect you.

If you believe in a 'higher power' and I mean truly believe, then I would try prayer when he bothers you. My prayer goes something like this - "God, please help me to handle this difficulty. Please give this individual the education they apparently need." No judgment, just a request for assistance. Keep evil out of the prayer and keep it specific, about you wanting him to leave you alone. DO NOT pray for specific things to occur. When The Universe gives the individual the education they lack, they will learn to stop. They will learn that The Universe demands humans to be humans and not animals.


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wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 9:51 pm

What type of work?

Is the harasser a boss?


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Io
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19 Apr 2011, 10:36 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:
What type of work?

Is the harasser a boss?


Configuring and packaging different types of computers in a warehouse basically. Which was a very aspie-friendly job, until... :roll:

The guy isn't a boss but like I said still technically above me as he's been there longer and is not a temp so all other things being equal they're automatically going to give him some preference just because of that. (we both work the exact same hours though)



Io
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19 Apr 2011, 10:43 pm

Dinosaw wrote:
He wants to piss you off, just to get you upset. He is an animal that enjoys the smell of fear, it enables him to hunt you more efficiently. He is a predatory beast.

I would try meditation, to learn some control of your emotions, that is the doorway through which he walks. Keeping your mind at peace is the goal. You do not want to be afraid and you do not want to be angry, both will fuel his hunt lust. When he doesn't get a response from you he may learn to respect you.

If you believe in a 'higher power' and I mean truly believe, then I would try prayer when he bothers you. My prayer goes something like this - "God, please help me to handle this difficulty. Please give this individual the education they apparently need." No judgment, just a request for assistance. Keep evil out of the prayer and keep it specific, about you wanting him to leave you alone. DO NOT pray for specific things to occur. When The Universe gives the individual the education they lack, they will learn to stop. They will learn that The Universe demands humans to be humans and not animals.


I'm getting that idea too. What confuses me is that if he wants to piss me off so much I wonder why he waited 3+ months before he finally decided it would be such a great idea? He definitely fits the mold of one of those people too.. it's not that I mind talkative people in general but this guy has what borders on a Napoleon complex IMO. Always using foul language really loud around everyone, talking about whose asses he "would have" kicked in various situations, yadda yadda... It's people like him they had in mind when they coined the saying "the smallest dogs bark the loudest".

I've been terrible about praying lately but yeah I'm not going to make excuses for it. That aside, probably the only thing I can do is ignore it since no one else there seems to care. If I find a way not to let it bother me the whole thing is essentially reduced to nothing but one insecure guy attempting to masturbate his ego.



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19 Apr 2011, 10:47 pm

Io wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
What type of work?

Is the harasser a boss?


Configuring and packaging different types of computers in a warehouse basically. Which was a very aspie-friendly job, until... :roll:

The guy isn't a boss but like I said still technically above me as he's been there longer and is not a temp so all other things being equal they're automatically going to give him some preference just because of that. (we both work the exact same hours though)


The simple answer is to just do better work than him. Consider him the equivalent of noise in the system. On a factory floor, management cares most about productivity. Do better than him, and you should be fine. A word of caution - don't actively try to make him look bad. Just do better than him and let management figure it out. Let him have his fun while you quietly go about your business, knowing all the while he's a dolt and you're better at what you do.


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Io
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19 Apr 2011, 10:49 pm

Zen wrote:
Story of my life. I get that everywhere I go if I'm there more than 15 minutes.

"Shh! Be quiet!" (sarcasm)
"Do you ever talk?"
"Say something."
"I don't think I know what your voice sounds like."
"Wow, you can talk!"
"One day I'll get you to say more than 2 words."
"You talk too much!" (sarcasm)
"I'm going to keep bugging you until you say something."
"Are you always this quiet?"
etc.

I've even been pinched and tickled because I was "too quiet." :?

So, I don't think this behavior is odd at all. Many people do it to me. I totally feel your annoyance.


Meh, I'm really sorry.. I'd totally lose it if people did it to that extent around me. It was a lot worse when I was a kid though and probably not much better than what you describe. I've tried to block it out of my memory though. :wink:

How do you typically react to that stuff now?



wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 10:53 pm

Io wrote:

How do you typically react to that stuff now?


For the most part I learned that people like that aren't worth the energy to get that upset over. It's a hard lesson, but eventually you realize that they have little to no power over you. The ones you have to worry about are the ones that can cost you your job.


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Io
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19 Apr 2011, 10:54 pm

draelynn wrote:
Some people are just in love with the sound of their own voice. Any anyone who isn't is instantly a threat.

It may not hurt to ask him why's he's so insecure. What is it about your silence that him spooked. It is a little odd to be hounding you about it.

Bottom line, if he is becoming that much of a pest, it is harrassment. A talk with HR might be in order.


That's pretty much it.. he always has to be bellowing about something no matter what the case and that's just how he is all the time. I'm afraid to say anything that could remotely be construed as negative against him though (even implying that he's at all "insecure" in some way) because even though the other people there get along just fine with me, the problem is that for some reason they also seem to like him as well. This includes the one supervisor in our area that I have any access to. He's also been there a lot longer than me, so.. yeah...

Perhaps I should respond with something along those lines though.. I've wondered about just saying something like "is something bothering you?" or whatever.



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19 Apr 2011, 10:57 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:
The simple answer is to just do better work than him. Consider him the equivalent of noise in the system. On a factory floor, management cares most about productivity. Do better than him, and you should be fine. A word of caution - don't actively try to make him look bad. Just do better than him and let management figure it out. Let him have his fun while you quietly go about your business, knowing all the while he's a dolt and you're better at what you do.


That is correct Io, good advice to heed. Talking wastes time and time is money. Management probably already knows about him.


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Io
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19 Apr 2011, 10:58 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:
The simple answer is to just do better work than him. Consider him the equivalent of noise in the system. On a factory floor, management cares most about productivity. Do better than him, and you should be fine.


I have several times already, now that you mention it LOL; part of me can't help but think that may be part of the motivation to "bring me down" in some way.



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19 Apr 2011, 11:45 pm

Io wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
The simple answer is to just do better work than him. Consider him the equivalent of noise in the system. On a factory floor, management cares most about productivity. Do better than him, and you should be fine.


I have several times already, now that you mention it LOL; part of me can't help but think that may be part of the motivation to "bring me down" in some way.


That's a good line of thinking. My experience in management has led me to some simple observations. One of them is "those who point are typically more of a problem than their targets".


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draelynn
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20 Apr 2011, 12:57 am

Io wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
The simple answer is to just do better work than him. Consider him the equivalent of noise in the system. On a factory floor, management cares most about productivity. Do better than him, and you should be fine.


I have several times already, now that you mention it LOL; part of me can't help but think that may be part of the motivation to "bring me down" in some way.


You know, predators have a way of zeroing in on the what they perceive as the weakest member of the flock, seperate them out and set them up for the kill. You may need to find a way to let him know that this sheep is a wolf in sheeps clothing... let him see your fangs. Flashing some fang can still be totally polite...