to not want to listen to my collegue recording wierd shit for LARPing purposes?!

[HannahHack]

Some background, I have a very irritating colleague who is ok but generally gets on my tits.

He does live action role play most weekends, and fits the bill as one of those types (go on flame me but you know what I mean).

First of all he keeps on asking to borrow my dictophone to record sound bites to use for his LARPing and asks to record my voice. For example he asked if I would whisper a nursery rhyme and then scream that I was going to kill all the babies for a recording. He thought it would be funny but was being serious ifyswim?

Then when I refused he started to record himself telling "elves" to turn right at the enchanted fucking bridge etc for about half an hour, 45 mins. All of this on a bloody deadline day.

I know it looks funny on paper, but this is quite normal behaviour from him and we work on desks facing each other.

He generally gets on my tits too.

How the fuck do I deal with this?

[AgentZigzag]

Him doing it in work time is pretty much his manager/equivalents problem isn't it?

Why's nobody noticed?

All you can do is just try to ignore him and say no when he asks you I suppose.

Having to work with idiots is just about the worst thing about doing paid work so I do sympathise.

[LittlePickleHead]

Geez that would do my nut in as well. Has management noticed and said anything to him? Surely if he is spending 45 minutes on deadline day wittering on about elves he's dropping everyone else in the shit having to pick up his workload?

Not sure about practical advice - quite word with his superior? It's hard, I know I'd feel a bit mean, but surely there is only so much of this that you can take...

[AgentZigzag]

What about jumping up in a really quite period in the office and start ranting loudly about how much it/he fucks you off, if you've got the murderous glint in your eye right, he'll never bother you again

[LineRunner]

I once had a bloke like this sit opposite me and he would spend huge parts of the day asking me wildly inappropriate personal questions. In the end I just snapped at him, said I had work to do, and so did he, if he didn't let me get on I'd ask the boss to move me to another desk. Twat Boy just kept on bothering me and so I asked to be moved, and I was. Twat Boy left shortly after.

I don't think it matters that he's crapping on about elves; it matters that he's disturbing you, interfering with your work performance, and not doing what he's paid to do.

Just tell the useless wanker that you've had enough of his childish, time-wasting behaviour. And if he doesn't stop, tell the boss you need to be positioned in a more productive environment. Should do the trick.

[HannahHack]

Thanks for not just laughing at me! I wondered if I was over-reacting as this bloke generally annoys me massively, and it has a sort of cumulative effect.

For example just after this I was on the phone to someone and he corrected my prounounciation of a person's name and did some braying laughing at me as I tried to have a serious conversation. I couldn't help but snap at him afterwards that in fact he was wrong, and I am sure it just came accross as petty.

@LineRunner Good advice I will keep in mind!

[SarfEasticated]

If your office is anything like mine during press week, stand up rows and loads of swearing are pretty typical, I wouldn't worry about looking petty. Can you not just mercilessly take the piss out of him? Maybe hand out elf ears to the rest of the office and keep jumping out at him?
I'm amazed he has survived this long tbh...

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

Crikey.

He asked you to record yourself screaming about killing babies? While you were at work with him?

He sounds, frankly, slightly disturbed. I will put my hand in the air and admit my geeky DH occasionally does LARP, and he would think this guy is bloody weird. It's good you're able to dismiss it as just being strange stuff, but he could have seriously upset you. Totally inappropriate imo.

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

... just got DH to read the OP. FWIW, maybe he and I are humourless as you seem to be able to laugh at him (and good for you), but DH's immediate reaction was that this guy sounds disturbed and not normal. Playing games as an adult = geeky. Playing games about dead babies and asking your colleague (a mum?) to help you with it = person to avoid.

[HannahHack]

@LRD Thanks for that.

I think he thought it would be some sort of sick joke to play it loudly at people as they passed in this LARPing thing to freak them out.

He does have a history of mental health problems. He is an ex-alcoholic and has told me he suspects he may be mildly bipolar. I just keep out of all that stuff as I wonder whether it may just be a bit of an excuse... (sorry if that makes me seem insensitive)

[LRDTheFeministDragon]

That sounds really nasty, actually.

I don't think bipolar/alcoholism are excuses for anything, personally - it may well be he doesn't realize how offensive his behaviour is, but that shouldn't mean you have to put up with it in your workplace. Are you going to speak to someone about it, do you think? It does strike me as really unpleasant behaviour (imagine if you or a workmate had lost a baby - he would probably not know and that's why it's not on to say these things to people you don't know).