Post #2824488

2026-02-27 19:40 UTC

"He put you in an uncomfortable situation by telling you he’s romantically interested in a coworker who’s been hitting on you. You probably shouldn’t know he’s a furry either." I was aware he was a furry on his first day with me, he does not hide it whatsoever. It is an open part of his personality that I have just come to accept as it is harmless if not a bit odd. He tends to overshare things so you might be right. He has taken a strong liking to me for reasons I don't fully follow other than some of our interests align. I wouldn't say I discourage it though as I have a discord channel just for our team where people also post memes and things on our off days. I am MUCH friendlier to my staff than your average boss, but I have a strict rule that I will not hang out with any of my coworkers where they cannot all be involved if they wish and I cannot show favoritism. I have only been taken up on that once. I won't blame him for wanting to trust me with that information, I have been told I look trustworthy or something. As far as I have seen, she and him are perfectly friendly with each other, now recently working as a team to cause harmless, minor havoc in my life for fun. lol I don't know the full extent. I do know that they have known each other for a while too and they like to send memes to each other. I just don't know if the romantic interest is there though. Kind of like having a good friend that is also into you but you don't share it. I don't know.

Replies (1)

@captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2026-02-27 20:53

I should clarify, it's not your fault you know these things, but he needs to learn that enough bosses won't be understanding that he should learn to curate the aspects of himself that he professionally displays. Having good and amicable professional relationships is awesome. My coworkers know that I'm into bicycles, they don't know that the bike shop I volunteered at was explicitly anarchist. They know I'm married, they don't know I'm polyamorous. He needs to learn to find a level of sharing that can keep him safe, because elsewhere in the thread you mention he's on the verge of disciplinary action. You seem to have professional boundaries as well, and I think that yours are totally reasonable. A friend of mine is a manager of software developers and she has similar boundaries to you with her subordinates (she describes her job as basically being a kindergarten teacher for adults), but if you have to discipline John, that closeness will bite back. And it's good that they seem to actually be on good terms with each other, though she still may have given him the old pocket veto. Have a conversation with John, make it clear you aren't disciplining him, but attempting to help him in his career, because this oversharing is going to fuck him hard someday if he doesn't get it under control. It'll be a lot easier of a pill to swallow from a boss he likes and respects than from one who brings in HR on his first week. He should know you're doing this specifically because you think he's a good guy and you want what's best for your subordinates. For what it's worth it sounds like you quite like this lady and like nothing you do is going to avoid a mess, so yeah have fun with that. I don't think John is going to avoid pain here. Both from what you described of that crush and from what you've described of him possibly needing a PIP. It sucks, and it really sucks for you. But fr, act like he didn't tell you about Jane and pretend you forgot. It's probably the only winning move here even if it sucks. Well, that and posting follow ups. Posting follow ups as things continue is the ultimate winning move.

Open ##2824489