I work for a small company with no HR department and one of my employees (24) has come to me and informed me that due to their social anxiety they need to be removed from the communal office, into an office of their own, and they also need Fridays to WFH.
I granted these requests in order to support the employee but it has since come to my attention that Thursday nights are their favorite club nights, which leads me to suspect this is a reason for them to request WFH on a Friday.
I was quite surprised to see the employee dressed in bondage gear for these nights out. Their style is gothic so maybe the body harnesses and dog collars are part of the goth style? I don't know too much about the goth scene. They have bright blue hair so they really stand out on the photographs posted on the clubs social media page (to which the employee is also tagged) I have to admit I did then look on their social media pages and they seem to have quite an active social life, all whilst being dressed in quite flamboyant clothes.
I don't know too much about social anxiety but my immediate reaction was "how can someone claim their social anxiety is so life limiting that they need these changes at work but also go out dressed in such a flamboyant clothes on such a regular basis? It feels like a contradiction to me.
Am I being unreasonable to think that they might have pulled the wool over my eyes to get their way at work?