To think that manager and a colleague texting each other accross desks is odd and unprofessional?

[inabubble3]

So sat on a pod today - 4 people then one leaves. Just me, a colleague and the manager.

Very much seems like colleague and manager are texting each other on personal phones and having little chuckles to themselves.

This isn’t normal and professional behaviour is it?

YANBU- it’s odd and not normal
YABU- you’re imagining it/ if you weren’t it’s perfectly fine for them to text each other anyway

How long were you watching them for? Are they both in same dept as you?

You sound like a kid in the playground whining because they've been left out of a game. It's probably not ultra professional but is it really worth headspace or a thread?

Probably not

yup my manager and my colleague

You didn't have any work to do?

It's unprofessional. Were they working on lunch break? Still inappropriate though

This sums it up

My Manager was my colleague before she was daft enough to step up to the Manager role. We were pals then - similar sense of humour, similar age dc, etc and I am not going to stop being pals with her because she chose to apply when the manager role became vacant.
If I thought of something she'd think funny, I wouldn't not send it to her because she was now the manager.
Of course, if your work is so full on / intense / customer facing (doesn't sound like it) that no-one is ever supposed to look at their phones, that is different, but it doesn't sound like that is your issue ? More that someone said something to a friend that you weren't party to.

Nah it’s annoying OP and I would be annoyed as well.

That’s not the dynamics here but thank you for your input

Nope work time but very desk based so you do take little screen breaks and there is opportunity for downtime so personal phones aren’t banned. Just seems strange that a manager would to and fro with one of their team members and chuckle away privately about it. Yup I was just carrying on doi mg my work tbh but couldn’t help but notice it.

I don't think the OP sounds like a kid at all. Firstly its a work environment - supposedly professional - and having 'in jokes' with a colleague while another colleague looks on is frankly nothing less than rude.

ETA It would make me feel very uncomfortable. It would be like sitting with two people whispering to each other.

You said "it seemed like they were"
So you don't actually know?

Do you think something is going on between them?

Isn't anyone allowed to have a modicum of enjoyment anymore without the po-faced fun police turning up? Good grief life is serious enough. Make sure you report any and all non-work conversations and activities to the authorities.

Is anyone reporting it? Just seems odd

I’ll be honest probably nothing too much but they do seem to book desks together apart from the team, contact each other a lot out of work, be pretty tactile and playful with each other. I obviously need to just watch it all unfold.

I’ve got the impression that the guys not the best manager. He seems to have favourites and quite enjoys buttering people up, being the centre of attention so think his ego needs a fair bit of massaging.

I don’t know. I didn’t read the texts over their shoulders or ask them. It just seemed pretty obvious.

This is exactly what it feels like tbh :)

YANBU! If they were sitting next to each other why are they texting and not talking? Obviously discussing something that they don't want anyone else to hear. That is very unprofessional.

'Watch it all unfold' so spying and stalking till you gather enough gossip to report?
Are you paying attention to your work or just them?

I actually think it's really rude, like modern day whispering 😂

I wonder if their messages are along the lines of "look at inabubble watching us... Why is she doing that that's weird"

Some of these responses are very strange. It's clearly ostracisation and you couldn't be blamed for wondering whether they were talking about you. They could just talk if they wanted to but instead they are texting which is essentially secret.