God plan, Hil. This interpersonal shit is hard--and I say that as an HR person who does this sort of stuff for living.

We used to have a toucher at work. I told him I don't like being touched (at work, natch) and he didn't decrease the amount of touching but followed up each instance with, "oh yeah, you hate that. Sorry." Lucky for him he got tranferred before I summoned the motivation to escalate the issue to HR.

Which is not to say you shouldn't protect your boundaries, Hil. Just because you can't predict how the clueless will react is no reason to fail to assert your needs. I support your plan to try to icy stare for a week and I hope that works because the next step is a bitch... but if you gotta go there we'll talk you through it.

I read these posts before I read Press, so my first reaction to the discussion of Drew's blog is it must be about sound engineering. I was only slightly disappointed to see its subject matter, because I'm sure Drew would have many interesting things to say about designing sound.

Oh yeah, I'm subscribing too....

I've thought about doing a blog about sound design as well, and that may turn up on my personal site eventually, but the blog about atheism is something that I'm doing as a way for me to have a space that's apart from my work.

Sprng in Colordo. I took that picture about an hour ago and there is MORE snow. And more due in overnight.

Ahhhh, spring.

If Hil isn't going to let him know that this kind of talk bothers her, she can't blame him for not knowing that.

I disagree - anyone old enough to have a job should not have to be told not to ask prying questions about a co-worker's religion. It's simply rude.

Not saying Hil shouldn't confront him (because obviously he was sick the day this was covered in kindergarten), but the fact that she hasn't so far is in no way an excuse for his behavior.

I took that picture about an hour ago and there is MORE snow. And more due in overnight.

That was Utah on Tuesday. We lost a lot of tree branches.

re: Hil's co-worker. I've discovered that one person's rude is another person's "But I'm interested in your life! I'd tell you anything you want to know." A courteous "You know, your questions are rather intrusive, please stop," is a small thing to do before bringing the big guns of harassment.

I disagree - anyone old enough to have a job should not have to be told not to ask prying questions about a co-worker's religion. It's simply rude.

Exactly. And saying anyone's mom sounds like a stereotypical anything is a little beyond the pale, if you ask me.

And saying anyone's mom sounds like a stereotypical anything is a little beyond the pale.

I dunno. I have heard comments like that about people being stereotypically a farm dad (in our Midwestern office) or saying someone had a stereotypic Catholic background. Maybe it's because I work in post-production, but people talk about EVERYTHING and ask questions about the same. I hear incredible conversations coming out of the breakroom all the time.

Once again, I think this guy is awkward and highly inappropriate and needs to be told how to behave, but he doesn't sound malicious. Also, women especially often have trouble laying down firm limits for friends or coworkers, so it's good practice for all of us (Hil included). So she can use this dork as a practice for this skill she will need for her future life.

I am interested in how old he is. I was assuming he was in his early 20s, where he doesn't have much work experience--if he's 35, it's a MUCH higher level of cluelessness.