Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

Woman Acts Like A Toddler At Work, Her Frustrated Colleague Can’t Handle Her Tantrums Anymore
Woman in white shirt crying at office desk with laptop, showing tears and workplace drama emotions.

Woman Acts Like A Toddler At Work, Her Frustrated Colleague Can’t Handle Her Tantrums Anymore

Interview With Author
ADVERTISEMENT

Back when I worked in marketing, I had a colleague who was a massive oversharer. I am not even kidding, but I even knew the shoe size of his little kid, and that was some of the more decent stuff that he told me. 

My point is, it can be quite uncomfortable when random coworkers bombard you with their private lives. The original poster’s (OP) colleague is an oversharer, but more than that, she’s so emotional that she cries over the smallest things at work, and disturbs everyone. Let’s see what OP did about it!

More info: Reddit

RELATED:

    Some people overshare despite the displeasure of their coworkers, who prefer to maintain professional relationships

    Image credits: Kindel Media / Pexels (not the actual photo)

    The poster’s coworker’s (Susan) desk is right next to her, and she loves to share everything with her, making things uncomfortable

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Image credits: etlifereview

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Susan also has the habit of crying over the smallest things for hours, which is quite disturbing to the poster, so she complained to HR

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Image credits: etlifereview

    Image credits: Kaboompics.com / Pexels (not the actual photo)

    However, management ignored the poster’s complaint and asked her to “show some passion”

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    The poster has had enough of Susan’s crying 2-3 times every week, as it disturbs her, so she vented online

    In today’s story, Reddit user etlifereview tells us about the dilemma that she is in, all because of her coworker (Susan), who is rather too emotional and loves to overshare everything. In fact, she bombards OP so much with her personal life that the poster even knows the medical issues her son is facing in his private parts!

    ADVERTISEMENT

    While OP finds this uncomfortable, there’s still something worse than this, which is just how emotional Susan is. She cries over the smallest of things, like inconveniences, someone correcting her mistake, or even when she gets more work. The surprising thing is that her huffing and puffing like a toddler happens almost 2-3 times every week. 

    Susan even works while she is crying and takes calls as well, but the poster’s desk is right next to hers, and all this is too much for her to bear. OP finds Susan’s behavior quite unprofessional and must even be disturbed by her constant tantrums. Frustrated by all this, the poster complained about it, but unfortunately, nothing has worked so far.

    She has seen HR and management have meetings about it, but they never really take any action. In fact, they even asked the poster to “show some compassion”, however, since it’s disturbing her so much, OP is all out of compassion. She vented online to seek advice on whether she is being a jerk about the situation, but netizens didn’t think so.

    Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Many claimed that she should ask her manager to sit next to Susan and then see how “compassionate” they feel towards her. To see if there are any updates, Bored Panda reached out to the poster, but she told us that nothing has been done yet by the management, as Susan still cries regularly and irritates her. 

    When we asked OP about how she’s handling Susan so far, she said, “I ignore her like you do a toddler. You know when a toddler hurts themselves, and if you make eye contact, they cry, but if you avoid it, they don’t? I do exactly that. But honestly, the most challenging part is that I don’t know what to do when people cry.”

    OP explained that in a 40-hour workweek, Susan spends a solid 2-3 hours with tears in her eyes. It makes her uncomfortable, as she has to walk on eggshells, when usually she’s the upbeat and happy coworker. “It’s really difficult to change my whole personality for her,” added the annoyed poster.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    While narrating what motivated her to share her story online, OP expressed that when her manager told her to have compassion, she couldn’t tell if she was being mean or not. The poster is someone who doesn’t display emotion much, and she thought that other people within an office setting also had a grip on their emotions. 

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “However, when I started working with Susan, it became very apparent that that’s not true. I thought I was being a bit heartless until I realized that it’s not normal to cry at work,” she concluded. Many Redditors also jumped in in support of the poster, considering that Susan’s behavior is impacting her so much.

    What about you? How would you handle a similar situation? Let us know in the comments!

    Folks were quite baffled by Susan and suggested that the poster’s manager should sit in her seat to see how disturbing it is

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    Ic_polls

    Poll Question

    Thanks! Check out the results:

    Share on Facebook
    Rutuja Dumbre

    Rutuja Dumbre

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    Hey, am Rutuja! A storyteller at heart and a writer at Bored Panda. I have a strange love for words, and I mostly survive on coffee which is the driving force behind my writing. I enjoy working on articles that purely entertain our readers. When am not writing or trekking, you can find me staying up late and watching all the matches of Football Club Barcelona!

    Read less »
    Rutuja Dumbre

    Rutuja Dumbre

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Hey, am Rutuja! A storyteller at heart and a writer at Bored Panda. I have a strange love for words, and I mostly survive on coffee which is the driving force behind my writing. I enjoy working on articles that purely entertain our readers. When am not writing or trekking, you can find me staying up late and watching all the matches of Football Club Barcelona!

    Rūta Zumbrickaitė

    Rūta Zumbrickaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    Hi! Nice to meet you~ I'm very passionate about animals, especially cats, photography, small DIY projects, music and so much more! Could say I am the TV show The Office connoisseur since I have seen it at least a dozen times~

    Read less »

    Rūta Zumbrickaitė

    Rūta Zumbrickaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Hi! Nice to meet you~ I'm very passionate about animals, especially cats, photography, small DIY projects, music and so much more! Could say I am the TV show The Office connoisseur since I have seen it at least a dozen times~

    What do you think ?
    User avatar
    Add photo comments
    POST
    sweet emotion
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The buzz words that light a fire under HR are ""hostile work environment" and the words that most worry management are "disrupts my production". These words become even more effective in an email to your manager with HR and multiple higher managers CCed.

    Tabitha
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Or Bcc’d, so the manager can’t bury the fact they haven’t done f**k all and lie through her teeth if one of the big bosses asks her about it.

    Load More Replies...
    Earonn -
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not to that extent, but yeah, there was a time in my life when I would cry at work a lot. Quietly, though. I'm not sure my colleagues noticed. It ended when I ended in hospital with a stress-induced depression and s******l tendencies. So, yes, she deserves help - but that has to come from management, not OP.

    Tabitha
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    OK, exactly which higher up in the company is Susan either related to or f*****g, that she gets to act like a toddler, throw tantrums, cry on the phone with customers, and disrupt the entire office every damned day BUT it’s everyone ELSE who has a problem “show[ing] some compassion” to her? That is what I would like to know because, at 64, I have had to try to work around way too many untouchable Susans in my working life, where my coworkers and I were also considered the bad guys for complaining about their daily drama and disruptions. I found out many of them were either some kind of relative or the main squeeze of one of the big guys, so couldn’t be disciplined or fired for ANYTHING.

    Kristen Woehlke
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    exactly! How is OP ESH and heartless? I'd be like "yo, Susan, you gotta quit this BS! I can't work like this!" Now that would be heartless (but I can get worse!)

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    sweet emotion
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The buzz words that light a fire under HR are ""hostile work environment" and the words that most worry management are "disrupts my production". These words become even more effective in an email to your manager with HR and multiple higher managers CCed.

    Tabitha
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Or Bcc’d, so the manager can’t bury the fact they haven’t done f**k all and lie through her teeth if one of the big bosses asks her about it.

    Load More Replies...
    Earonn -
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not to that extent, but yeah, there was a time in my life when I would cry at work a lot. Quietly, though. I'm not sure my colleagues noticed. It ended when I ended in hospital with a stress-induced depression and s******l tendencies. So, yes, she deserves help - but that has to come from management, not OP.

    Tabitha
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    OK, exactly which higher up in the company is Susan either related to or f*****g, that she gets to act like a toddler, throw tantrums, cry on the phone with customers, and disrupt the entire office every damned day BUT it’s everyone ELSE who has a problem “show[ing] some compassion” to her? That is what I would like to know because, at 64, I have had to try to work around way too many untouchable Susans in my working life, where my coworkers and I were also considered the bad guys for complaining about their daily drama and disruptions. I found out many of them were either some kind of relative or the main squeeze of one of the big guys, so couldn’t be disciplined or fired for ANYTHING.

    Kristen Woehlke
    Community Member
    1 week ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    exactly! How is OP ESH and heartless? I'd be like "yo, Susan, you gotta quit this BS! I can't work like this!" Now that would be heartless (but I can get worse!)

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    You May Like
    Related on Bored Panda
    Popular on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda
    ADVERTISEMENT