'AITA for telling my coworker to stop talking in a baby voice?' UPDATED
"AITA for telling my coworker to stop talking in a baby voice?"
I (22F) have an odd coworker (22F) and like the title says she does talk in a baby voice. When I first came to work at our company she was quiet and never talked to me and I understand I am new why would she want to talk to me but me being the person I am I wanted to try to have a relationship with my coworker...
Because we are going to be desk to desk so I would just start out by complimenting her on her clothes and got us to start talking from there. I finally had my foot in the door and now I don’t have to sit in a quiet awkward space with her.
Until one day she started speaking in a baby voice and at first I thought it was a joke but there was no joke that was made. It was just her speaking to me and I just awkwardly laugh and I just went back to what I was doing. I thought it was a one time thing maybe she was making a joke and it just didn’t land for me but I was wrong.
It was not a one time thing. Almost everyday now she at least speak in that baby voice once and it is starting to make me feel uncomfortable because now she will come over by me and talk to me in the baby voice and just start acting strange such as walking by my desk stopping staring at me and walking away...
Waiting for me when I go on my lunch and recently I was talking to another coworker and she comes over to grab a cup of coffee she turns to look at us stares and scoots over and says “Can I play?” in the baby voice laughs and walks away.
My other coworker was stunned but then we both laugh awkwardly and we tried to go back to our conversation. So, AITA if I tell her to stop talking in a baby voice because it is making me uncomfortable?
Here's what people had to say to OP:
supermassbass said:
NTA - As of right now, you’re definitely NTA. That’s very weird and even reading about it made me uncomfortable a little. It sounds like maybe a really bad joke gone wrong? I have no idea, but it is definitely odd.
mbw70 said:
NTA. Just say, "stop doing the baby voice. We are adults in a work environment. Be professional." If she stops talking to you altogether, that could be a good thing.
BlindBoxBird said:
NTA. You should tell her you don't like it, and if she continues then talk to your supervisor. Most likely she will not continue. I had a coworker who would tell me off-color jokes and I was really worried about confronting him about it.
Finally, I told him that I didn't like those kind of jokes, and he said oh, okay. And he never told those kind of jokes around me ever again. Give this woman the chance to do the right thing.
HeightNo4902 said:
NTA - I would find this annoying too. I would recommend telling her gently. Maybe asked why she started doing that first.
utriptmybtchswitch said:
Buy her a book about attention seeking pathologies, tell her you read it and that she might enjoy it. NTA.
HeightNo4902 said:
NTA - I would find this annoying too. I would recommend telling her gently. Maybe asked why she started doing that first.
UPDATE:
Hi, everyone. I talked to my coworker. I never thought this would’ve happened but here goes. I grabbed my coworker aside and said I needed to talk to her. She followed me to the break room and I asked her about why she sometimes spoke in a baby voice whenever she was around me.
She looked at me and began to laugh and I was caught way off guard. She was laughing so hard that she started snorting. She eventually stopped but it felt like she was laughing forever then she walked out of the break room and came back with our other coworker and they were laughing together. At this point you are probably as confused as I am.
Turns out it was a prank because I was new to the company and they were waiting to see how long until I “broke." I started working here in August. I beyond words and I am embarrassed because this was all just a “prank” but genuinely felt weird about this coworker and come to find out it was a prank because I was new.
I smiled awkwardly and laughed because I didn’t know what else to do. All I can say is that I am embarrassed that it took this long for me to realize it was a prank.
Here's what people had to say about the update:
notastraycat said:
That’s so very very weird. And very unprofessional. They should be embarrassed.
Glittering3594 said:
I would be going to HR with this. NTA.
NTA. This "prank" isn't funny. It was beyond unprofessional of your co workers to pull this. They enjoyed your confusion, stress and eventual embarrassment / humiliation. This is grounds for a formal complaint.
Just-Bison5511 said:
I don’t know what’s worse, having someone talking to you in a baby voice or basically invalidating your discomfort because "it was a prank." It’s still very weird and awkward to do that.
thoracicbunk said:
Is this a job with like, HR or something? Do you have a competent manager? Cuz if so I would definitely report this. Not as, a hey I need you to take action on this, kind of thing, but just a, hey this was super weird and I wanted you to be aware it was happening. As a manager, I would want to know. This shows a weird lack of judgment.
Well, now you know these people are super weird and you can't trust them to behave like normal human beings. Always be on the lookout and prepared to cover your tracks. This is seriously questionable behavior.
hubertburnette said:
What a weird thing for grownups to do.