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Female colleague is touchy-feely with everyone in the office

I have a female colleague who is very touchy-feely with everyone at the office. I tried to not get bothered by it, but it has gone to the point where when I step into the office, it's almost like being in the middle of an adult movie. Recently I saw her sitting on the armrest of a chair a male colleague was sitting in. This annoys me a lot and I don't know what to do about it.

This is the whole content of the question. The core of the question is good, but perhaps too broad. It is essentially, "Is this something I can do anything about, and how do I go about doing that?"

I am not seeing a question that actually covers this specific scenario. But I also do not think this question is of high enough quality to keep around in its current form. And it is receiving reopen votes. So it would be nice to address this question before it gets reopened. I suspect this is a duplicate if not lets make it a question worth having on the site.

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  • it's just a bad question. it's going to invite debate on equality of the sexes, and just go downhill from there
    – bharal
    Feb 21, 2018 at 21:51

2 Answers 2

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  • The first thing which needs to be added is in which relation (superior, colleague) the person is to the colleague in question.

  • The second thing would be if he/she is just annoyed by it (well, sorry) or if he/she sees effects in the office.

  • And then it would be very interesting to hear about the general setting in the office.

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    Please explain how this makes the question better for The Workplace Stack Exchange, rather than just adding more juicy drama to make the question more interesting.
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Feb 18, 2018 at 0:20
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    @IDrinkandIKnowThings If the colleague reports to him/her, he/she should explain to her the professional code of conduct in the office. If he/she observes that the colleague gets into/causes friction between team members by this, he should report it to the superior. If he/she is directly affected (e.g. because he/she feels that the colleague gets undue attentention), he/she needs to adress the issue, but not the behavior. If it is a more conservative office, the colleague needs to be warned about the reputation (I did that with a younger female colleague-who was too open -but not touchy feely)
    – Sascha
    Feb 18, 2018 at 18:10
  • To me A good answer to the current question explains all of those. I think if you explain that in an answer it will be well recieved.
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Feb 22, 2018 at 2:26
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There is nothing we can do until the OP responds to clarify a few things. Most importantly is whether this colleague is being "touchy-feely" with the OP as well or if they have just witnessed it happening. The points Sascha asks about would also be useful.

If it is happening to the OP and they feel their space is invaded, then that could be considered harassment and needs to be brought up. If the OP is simply uncomfortable witnessing consensual flirting between colleagues, then the answers could range from "mind your own business" to having a boss talk to the pair about appropriate office behavior. There's a wide variety of possibilities, which we just can't address right now without making some large guesses.

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  • You should really look up Hostile Work Environment. It is not necessary to have someone to hostile directly too you.
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Feb 18, 2018 at 0:19
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    @IDrinkandIKnowThings You're right, but at this point we really have no idea if there's actually any hostility present. My point still stands that we really need the OP to clarify the situation and provide more information before we can provide any good answers.
    – David K
    Feb 18, 2018 at 1:12
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    Actual hostile work environment is not a requirement to complain. Just the appearance of the hostile work environment is enough to get action taken. And its quite clear that the OP perceives a hostile work environment. The problem is not the basic question IMO and that is why it is going to end up reopened. But can we improve the question to meet SE Standards before it does
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Feb 18, 2018 at 2:51

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