High school teacher. TLDR a coworker recently lost her husband. He was in his early 50s and had an "extremely aggressive cancer". Months within diagnosis, he was dead.
Caught her completely off guard, etc etc etc, nothing to do, "ultra-fast spreading cancer," "he was in perfect health before," etc etc etc.
So anyway, funeral has just concluded last week-end, and she's telling her sob stories in the teacher lounge.
I turn around and ask:
"Did he get vaccinated against Covid?"
She replies right away: "Yes, he had all his doses, plus the boosters..."
Then... I smirk. Not smile, just a tiny, tiny smile on the bottom of my right lip. In my mind, I thought "mystery solved."
So anyway, she... I don't know, she completely flips out, starts screaming, "why are you asking me this, what is your problem" typical pre-menopause hysteria, etc.
Well apparently she filed a complaint with HR against me, and now I have to meet HR to discuss "something." Union rep will be with me LOL okay.
Did I really go too far? I mean, I just asked ONE question...
If you want to keep your job just play dumb and act like you had no idea it was offensive.
Ask HR if they will protect you from her emotional outbursts. Maybe suggest she is still too emotional and in mourning to return to work.
Also turn the tables. Say you are concerned for your safety because of her angry emotional outbursts and unpredictability.
Also suggest that if women can't control their emotions in the workplace then maybe they aren't cut out for the job.
Yes.
It is completely unprofessional to allow personal matter to enter into a workplace environment. It is not OPs fault that this happened and he should not be required to hear about it while trying to take his break, of all places.
For everyone bitching about "muh time and place": get the tampon out of your ass and assert your right to keep your private and professional life separate. She brought up personal shit and tattled to HR when OP responded with his personal opinions.
We didn't used to need to mop up tears in addition to doing our jobs, and we sure aren't getting overtime or hazard pay for doing so. In fact, I have no doubt that OPs employer has free supports and benefits in place for just such an issue. That's who she should be speaking to, not the entire break room.
If women (or anyone else) can't maintain professionalism, they should not be in the professions.
Remember, when you are dealing with these people VICTIMHOOD it what they worship.
It's all about who the bigger fake victim is
So you have to play the part of the victim.
She's victimizing YOU.