4 ms·

Agreed. His language tells a lot. From the beginning he is distancing himself from this person by saying "this coworker" and "that coworker" but then later on g

Agreed. His language tells a lot. From the beginning he is distancing himself from this person by saying "this coworker" and "that coworker" but then later on gives a weak implication of friendship. So what is it, friend or co-worker? If they were actually friends outside of work situations, you would expect less distancing language to that person from the beginning. First sentence mentioning 'coworker', emphasis mine: > The first meeting involved being asked a series of questions about me and another co-worker. You would expect "about me and a friend who also works at google" or even "about me and a co-worker". I think "another" places greater distance between the two. > If this co-worker wasn’t my friend at the time [...]. You would expect a less convoluted sentence, something along the lines of "If [him|her] and I weren't friends" or "If my coworker and I weren't friends". > and wasn’t friends with my other friends, this could have been simple to follow This sounds redundant, and kind of shows the need to convince the reader that there was a healthy social relationship prior to the HR incident. I'm not saying the person had or has any malicious intent, but is probably — as others have commented — not aware of his own impropriety. Disclaimer: I am not a linguist or anything, take with a grain a salt.

ghaff 11y ago
The whole post is filled with convoluted language and vague words like "interactions." I suppose it's possible that a co-worker who is just part of a group of drinking buddies or whatever heard some (purportedly false) story about the author one day and promptly headed over to HR. But that seems... unlikely.
Johnny555 11y ago
Based on the photo of him draped in a rainbow colored cape at what appears to be a Pride parade, I suspect that this involves a case of a homosexual advance on a straight coworker, which, depending on the person, could make it more sensitive. Despite huge progress in gay rights and public acceptance, not everyone is so accepting. I'll admit that I have nothing to base this on other than pure speculation, but the lack of detail in the post makes wild speculation possible. As a manager, I once had a similar situation between two coworkers - too much alcohol at a Holiday party led to an unwanted advance that was not accepted well at all, there was almost a physical altercation. Though in this case, both parties wanted nothing more than to stay away from each other so a reassignment to a team that was based in a building across town was an "easy" solution (keeping them socially separated was self-fulfilling), though one party left the company within a year ostensibly for unrelated reasons.
- stordoff 11y ago
  The way it is written made me think that the author was deliberately avoiding (gendered) pronouns, either to be as vague as possible as to who the other person was, or to avoid the implication that homophobia played a role in this. Regardless of the actual reason, the style just made me distrust the author to some extent - it felt deliberately vague, leading to the (possibly unfair) conclusion that certain facts/events don't fit the narrative presented.

ghaff 11y ago

The whole post is filled with convoluted language and vague words like "interactions." I suppose it's possible that a co-worker who is just part of a group of drinking buddies or whatever heard some (purportedly false) story about the author one day and promptly headed over to HR. But that seems... unlikely.

Johnny555 11y ago

Based on the photo of him draped in a rainbow colored cape at what appears to be a Pride parade, I suspect that this involves a case of a homosexual advance on a straight coworker, which, depending on the person, could make it more sensitive. Despite huge progress in gay rights and public acceptance, not everyone is so accepting. I'll admit that I have nothing to base this on other than pure speculation, but the lack of detail in the post makes wild speculation possible. As a manager, I once had a similar situation between two coworkers - too much alcohol at a Holiday party led to an unwanted advance that was not accepted well at all, there was almost a physical altercation. Though in this case, both parties wanted nothing more than to stay away from each other so a reassignment to a team that was based in a building across town was an "easy" solution (keeping them socially separated was self-fulfilling), though one party left the company within a year ostensibly for unrelated reasons.

stordoff 11y ago
The way it is written made me think that the author was deliberately avoiding (gendered) pronouns, either to be as vague as possible as to who the other person was, or to avoid the implication that homophobia played a role in this. Regardless of the actual reason, the style just made me distrust the author to some extent - it felt deliberately vague, leading to the (possibly unfair) conclusion that certain facts/events don't fit the narrative presented.