Did you ever get weird vibes from someone and couldn’t explain why?

[Queequeck]

I probably sound totally insane, but I’m hoping that there are others like me so I don’t feel like a total freak.
I have one colleague in my team direct team who somehow gives me the creeps. He hasn’t done anything specific, or made crude comments, or anything but I just can’t help feeling that something is off. I know that this sounds mad because I can’t even explain why, and this is driving me nuts.
It really got to me today and it made me wonder if there is something wrong with me or if other people get these vibes too and if they ever found out what caused their reactions.
I passively commented on it today to someone and I feel like I’ve made a big mistake because I can’t even explain my reasoning and I should have kept my mouth shut but what’s done is done.

As I heard someone say once ‘you’re probably not wrong you’re just early’ . Meaning you’ve already sussed out what others take longer to realise. Trust your gut op.

Your gut doesn’t lie. Trust it.

Great analogy. I will use that!

I trust your gut

I don't think it means he has done anything necessarily, but I think it's wise to trust your instincts when you get that sort of feeling about someone. Especially men.

When someone is autistic, people can often tell immediately but label you a weirdo.

Great saying that

I absolutely know what you mean @Queequeck.

I work in a shop in a small town and there is a man that comes in every couple of weeks who has never been anything other than perfectly polite and friendly BUT…I just get this weird feeling when I see him and I can’t put my finger on it at all. He looks like a perfectly “normal” friendly middle aged guy. He’s done nothing at all to make me wary of him and none of my other colleagues get weird vibes from him at all. But something just doesn’t sit right at all.

Yes, a young colleague of mine. I can’t explain properly but it seems she is quite calculating and maybe a ‘collector’ of useful people. Something in my gut tells me to keep my distance, so I do!

Your mistake is talking about it, I always trust my gut when I think someone feels a bit “off” but saying it with no basis in the workplace opens you up to accusations of bullying, so be careful!

I was going to say this. I have heard people be very cruel about and wary of perfectly safe people who are autistic. I'm more baffled by the number of people who fawn over charismatic friends or colleagues who are blatant self-servers and bullies.

Yes.
An old high school teacher always made me feel very uneasy. It wasn't his behaviour, but I always felt inexplicably uncomfortable around him.

Years after I'd left, he was found guilty in a horrific case of child sexual abuse involving a toddler.

Another time, I was walking past a man in a world of my own, I didn't even look at him or see his face, but at the moment we passed each other (he was walking towards me) my whole body had an extreme physical reaction: I felt like my heart thumped in my chest, my skin crawled and I felt sick. He gave off an extremely evil aura. I couldn't have recognised him in a line up, but all my senses were telling me he was evil and dangerous. I stopped dead in my tracks and froze, then turned around, but he carried on walking and didn't look back.

It's never happened before or since.

That’s pretty much it. My other colleagues in the team (all male, not sure if it’s even relevant) don’t seem to mind him at all and like him, which is why I feel like I might be the odd one out and questioning myself.

Yes. I think it's our senses warning us of stranger danger. He may or may not be ok but your senses need to make sure you are never in a compromised situation with him.

I can’t see any indication that this
guy is autistic but I could of course be wrong

You made me shudder then. It wasn't an R.E. Teacher was it? Mr W?

@Queequeck I don’t think you should question yourself to be honest. Personally I wouldn’t mention it again to other colleagues since it’s about a colleague but I’d always be wary when around him.

My colleagues are all female and none feel what I feel around the customer we have. We have loads of guys in who are complete arses - making dirty comments or speaking down to staff/trying to be intimidating, but none of them give me the uneasy vibe that this man does.

Thank you. I didn’t talk about him directly.
We had graduates working with us for a few weeks and one seemed to latch on to him and I said to the two grads to be mindful of who you ask for help and how, as I wanted to make it sound like general advice. But I still feel like i overstepped a line.

I used to go to my Mum's office after school and she always told me to stay away from a particular man because he gave her the creeps. He was later arrested for historic child abuse over many years. Mum was utterly horrified and spent ages trying to work out if she'd missed something but they were on different teams so she couldn't have known.

An odd man used to come into a museum when I worked on the front desk. If we saw him coming the staff would make sure there was another person in the room, but he never did anything other than behave a bit oddly. A couple of years later he stabbed both his parents (they recovered) and ended up in a psychiatric hospital (saw it in the local paper).

I had a similar experience on a train. A man got on and sat opposite me, and my body just reacted as if he was a known serial killer - terrified and disgusted. Something about him was horrifying. He was smartly dressed in a suit but dead behind the eyes and seemed to exude aggression. Very odd.

Often. This is what our guts are for, to protect us. And mine is usually right.

So follow the vibes and take whatever measures are relevant - either keep an eye on his work if you think he’ll be fiddling the books, or make sure you aren’t left alone with him eg working late in the office alone if you think he’s sexually weird.

We had a neighbour once who on the surface was very friendly but I always felt uneasy about him. He had big muscles and tats. One time the police were at the house and he had beaten up his DP. They split up after that and the house was sold.

A few times in my life.......and sure enough.....further down the line they turn out exactly as I suspected. I'm v. good at reading a room. But if can feel lonely and you have to be careful.

ALWAYS go with your gut feeling. We didn’t follow it enough and now it’s horrific.

Years ago I was doing supply teaching and a boy came up to my desk and started talking to me. He was year 7 or 8 so not at the age where he might have done anything really awful, like rape or murder. He was making conversation to me in a perfectly pleasant way but I just got a really strong creepy vibe from him, like he was mixed up in something very evil. It was like I could imagine him murdering someone. I am a Christian and I do believe we can sense things in the spirit realm, but that was the only time I have sensed something so off when someone was just being pleasant and normal.

I have on a few occasions had very strong feelings based on little actual fact, but I always trust my gut. Some people seem to exude evil.