Exposed

I would never say that my job is fraught with emotional stress.  It's pretty cush in that department as I'm in a comfy office whenever I'm not on the road.  My co-workers are cool and we all get along, never mind the occasional squabble over who left their nasty Lean Cuisine in the microwave to explode and not clean it up for the LOVE, but I digress.  We have fun and joke around, and it's all good.

But I made a grave mistake last week.  In the aforementioned period of joking around, I opened up myself to show a weakness that could easily be exploited and one co-worker went for the jugular.  Now I seriously find myself looking over my shoulder (or email as it were) every minute of the day over something that truly TRULY scares the eff out of me.

I'm scared of ghosts.

Like pee-my-pants-won't-sleep-for-a-week scared, and this co-worker has an actual picture of THREE ghosts standing in the doorway of his house.  (I KNOW, RIGHT?!?)  It's real, and multiple co-workers have confirmed that yes, there are in fact faces there of the paranormal variety.  His goal in life is to get me to look at it by whatever means necessary, and he finds my terror hilarious.

So I receive random emails from him with innocent subject headings only to open it up to face a blown up picture of his house.  Luckily I'm quick like cat and once I see the roof I exit out before I make it down to the doorway.  I am now on a mission to delete every email he will ever send me, regardless of it's importance.  Flagged?  Red exclamation marked?  Sorry dude.  Call me on the phone.

There's another co-worker on staff who is afraid of balloons.  She's terrified that one will pop and the sound makes her cry.  Yes, she's that scared.  Having an event that requires balloons is a bit iffy with her around but no one would think to go out of their way to pop one in her presence because hey, that's mean.  GHOSTS on the other hand are fair game apparently, what with their vapor-like and floaty qualities.  So everyone thinks this house picture avoidance on my part is funny, and are siding with co-worker.  It's now six of them against one of me.

Sigh.

Am I the only person ever in the history of working that has had to deal with something like this?  Any tips?  Please don't tell me to suck it up or just look at it and move on.  I want to be able to sleep at night, thanks.

Comments

[Ariel]

Buy one of these: http://www.aghostinabottle.com/default.php
And keep it on your desk, and then they'll think you are "over" the fear. (Shh. don't tell! I won't!)
I don't like them either:(

[Clarabella]

Oh my gosh, what would happen if he INVITED you TO HIS HOUSE? Awkward...
Two things: if you can bear it out, I would just recommend that. The good thing about jokesters is that they bore quickly. If you wait it out & can act like it doesn't bother you, he'll move on soon enough. OR if you don't want to wait it out, you could have a earnest conversation asking him to stop...
I don't suppose you could just tell him you looked at it & it didn't scare you?
Good luck.

[Angella]

I think I need to leave a flaming bag of poo at his house on your behalf. That's just MEAN.

[kristin c.]

AHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Taryn]

My suggestions:

1. Have your hubby call and threaten your co-worker.

2. Call your co-worker's wife/parents/girlfriend/close friend to find out what freaks him out or annoys him. Then bring it in.

But I agree with Clarabella: you probably just have to not respond. Like boys in grade school: any attention (even negative attention) is what they want.

He's yucky and has cooties.

[Nicole]

Guy's a douche.

And men being men, you need to tell him directly that you don't appreciate him doing that, and that he's making it an uncomfortable place for you to work.

And yes, use the phrase, "What you're doing makes this an extremely uncomfortable place for me to work."

If he has a couple of braincells to rub together to generate a thought (and it seems he may not), he'll know to back down - you're basically calling it harassment without saying it's harassment.

If he doesn't lay off, use the word - e.g. "I'm feeling a harassed by these emails. Could you please stop sending them?"

And if he doesn't stop then, have a panic attack when you open the email (even if you have to fake it). That should do it. :)

[Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks]

Yeah, I wish I could be of more help. But, I don't have those kinds of fears. Though, my husband is also very afraid of ghosts and squirms when merely talking about them. Needless to say, he wouldn't let us look at a condo building overlooking a cemetery.

[Andrea (@shutterbitch)]

I'm a ghost hobbyist but even my curiosity is not big enough to keep talking about it when others are uncomfortable. That's just a dick move.

I say that when you receive an email from him, you should reply to the email with a picture of some kind of sick p-oh-rn thing like a goatse or whatever. Then, if he gets aggravated, tell him you feel the same way about the ghost thing.

Though actually the comment about ignoring him until he goes away or seriously telling him to knock it off is probably the best way to go.