How do I ditch a clingy coworker?
My co-worker is clingy. We were on a teambuilding group together. Our group went to lunch once after the team builder. She invited me (alone) to try a new restaurant and I gladly joined her. We had "water cooler chat". She then incessantly sought my approval on EVERYTHING. She began asking odd q's about my boyfriend and finances. She said stereo/racist things and I called her on them. She couldn't understand why I was offended b/c I'm not those races & I repeated my sentiment. I avoided her like the plague. This worked for a few weeks, but then she started having me paged at work so I would have to return to my office and pick up the phone. Yesterday, she sent another co-worker to ask if I had lunch plans. I said I'd be willing to go for lunch. When I showed up at the meeting place, the clingy co-worker was there instead. It was a "suprise" because cling-o-matic thought we needed to catch up. What am I supposed to do? I say no or cancel to everything. HELP.
Public Comments
- Speak up. You tell this co-worker that you do not want to have anything to do with her outside of job related functions and even then have contact with her ONLY as a last resort. You can stand up for yourself and cut this mess out.
- Tell her you have mono or herpes or since she's a racist, tell her you bf is a color she doesn't like, OR you could just tell her she's a parasite and she's driving you mad and ask her to leave you alone.
- Hahaha. This is so funny. LMAO.
- People like this you have to be blunt with. They are less likely to get the point if you are polite. Tell them "I really don't hang out with people I work with a lot, b/c I feel it affects my work" or words to that effect. Be prepared for a scene, as these people lean towards the dramatic part of life. She may cry or worse yet, start rumors. Be prepared for the worse, but after all the crap she will get the point. Hope this helps.
- If you want to be indirect, then start asking her to do you lots of favors for you. Make sure they aren't always too easy or fun to accomplish.
