The Abominable Snowman
Member
So I work for a medium-large Enterprise IT firm, and occasionally bounce from office to office, location to location to tackle projects and make sure things are how they are supposed to be. My name is attached to many projects, but unfortunately due to the type of work I really don't get 'close' with my coworkers.
So this past couple of weeks, I am put into a new office where I don't know anyone minus one older lady I worked with on a previous project (Serah). There are a few people on the team as well, but the only person who really talks to me besides Serah is an older fellow, Arnold. I don't mind too much, he's a funny guy and likes to laugh. It's funny seeing him excited about something because his accent (I believe he grew up in Austria? German and Russian roots?) comes out. He has this annoying habit of invading space, though. If we are having a conversation, he will slide up next to me like hes whispering a dark secret but continue to talk out loud. When he comes up to greet you, its always a slight 'massage' to the shoulder or back of the neck. Very weird but I guess he's just very extroverted and comfortable or something.
So today, I'm sitting in my little cubicle. The cubes are about 6' high and 7'x7' wide. Right outside the 'door' to my cube theres a big water tank. I come in with my glorious honey chicken from a chicken shack next door. The aroma is just as golden as the crispy skin and honey sauce, just emanating and beautiful. Arnold walks over to my desk after smelling and says "Oh my god what do you have? It smells so good!" and I tell him where and what I got. At the time I was refilling my water bottle with water, where I can clearly see Arnold pick up my food container, flip up the lid, and SNIFF my food. My food was so close to his face, I swear I could see the front part of the lid brush up against his top lip.
So as he tells me how good it looks/smells I go "Did you just sniff my food?" He says yes, and I immediately go "Well you can have that one and get me another one. I don't want your nose hair and breath and boogers in my food." We do a little back and forth about how he already ate and I wasn't going to eat that so he can just have it and he leaves my cube. I wait for a minute and put the container of food on his desk and go back to buy another container for myself. Needless to say, he went off to Serah and started complaining about how I was trying to 'get over' on him and I was rude (I said it in a very nice manner, IMO). Later, Serah comes over and explains how I was being crass and unprofessional etc etc. I explain to her that I think that it's gross, I barely know him and he's breathing on my food. I ask her point blank if she would have eaten the food afterwards and she says "No, but I wouldn't have made a scene about it or told him" and I make my point that if he didn't know, he would not change.
So in the end everyone leaves for the day and this is the first day Arnold didn't stop by to say "Have a good night". I expect many days of Arnold not stopping by in the future, but I'm only here for a few more weeks and who knows if I'll see him the next time I am here.
GAF, am I wrong for 'causing a scene'? Am I overreacting to someone breathing all on my food?
So this past couple of weeks, I am put into a new office where I don't know anyone minus one older lady I worked with on a previous project (Serah). There are a few people on the team as well, but the only person who really talks to me besides Serah is an older fellow, Arnold. I don't mind too much, he's a funny guy and likes to laugh. It's funny seeing him excited about something because his accent (I believe he grew up in Austria? German and Russian roots?) comes out. He has this annoying habit of invading space, though. If we are having a conversation, he will slide up next to me like hes whispering a dark secret but continue to talk out loud. When he comes up to greet you, its always a slight 'massage' to the shoulder or back of the neck. Very weird but I guess he's just very extroverted and comfortable or something.
So today, I'm sitting in my little cubicle. The cubes are about 6' high and 7'x7' wide. Right outside the 'door' to my cube theres a big water tank. I come in with my glorious honey chicken from a chicken shack next door. The aroma is just as golden as the crispy skin and honey sauce, just emanating and beautiful. Arnold walks over to my desk after smelling and says "Oh my god what do you have? It smells so good!" and I tell him where and what I got. At the time I was refilling my water bottle with water, where I can clearly see Arnold pick up my food container, flip up the lid, and SNIFF my food. My food was so close to his face, I swear I could see the front part of the lid brush up against his top lip.
So as he tells me how good it looks/smells I go "Did you just sniff my food?" He says yes, and I immediately go "Well you can have that one and get me another one. I don't want your nose hair and breath and boogers in my food." We do a little back and forth about how he already ate and I wasn't going to eat that so he can just have it and he leaves my cube. I wait for a minute and put the container of food on his desk and go back to buy another container for myself. Needless to say, he went off to Serah and started complaining about how I was trying to 'get over' on him and I was rude (I said it in a very nice manner, IMO). Later, Serah comes over and explains how I was being crass and unprofessional etc etc. I explain to her that I think that it's gross, I barely know him and he's breathing on my food. I ask her point blank if she would have eaten the food afterwards and she says "No, but I wouldn't have made a scene about it or told him" and I make my point that if he didn't know, he would not change.
So in the end everyone leaves for the day and this is the first day Arnold didn't stop by to say "Have a good night". I expect many days of Arnold not stopping by in the future, but I'm only here for a few more weeks and who knows if I'll see him the next time I am here.
GAF, am I wrong for 'causing a scene'? Am I overreacting to someone breathing all on my food?
