So this dude is basically a 46 year old man child and I don’t wanna armchair diagnose people, but he’s probably on the spectrum.
He’ll say a pun or a “funny” phrase, stare at you till you acknowledge it, then when you do, he’ll just keep saying it over and over. Even if you don’t acknowledge it he’ll say it a bunch then switch to a new one.
He’s obsessed with making fart noises then pretending it’s someone else he’ll even do it while we’re eating lunch. I’ve tried the politely asking him to stop he just says “oh you know I’m just joking” then when I tell him its genuinely annoying he goes full kicked puppy and acts super sad for a few hours and gets all woe is me saying stuff like “oh well I guess everyone hates me I’ll just shut up forever”. Sometimes he even goes full non verbal and literally just tries to communicate by pointing and or writing notes.
It’s not like he’s an asshole he a genuinely good guy he’s good at his job and he’s got your back when you need it.
I guess I just have a hard time finding the balance between not being an ass to a guy with zero social skills and losing my sanity because he can’t be quiet for 5 minutes.
This is very relatable to me. A supervisor in my team has Asperger’s. She has zero social skills. Says very unprofessional things, interrupts conversations and completely changes the topic to something nobody cares about. She is a hoarder and has way too many dogs/cats, her hygiene isn’t the best.
Most of us have worked together for 5+ years and have learned to ignore it as much as possible. It’s clear that she’s not doing this on purpose and doesn’t realize how annoying/rude she can be. I don’t really have a solution for you. This is just something you learn to live with. It’s still very annoying and frustrating to deal with but I don’t think there’s any solution that wouldn’t negatively impact her.
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And where will that get me? She is not like the person the OP described. She brushes off that kind of feedback, it’s not something she even realises she’s doing wrong. It’s her personality.
She’s had complaints brought up against her and was passed up for promotions many times. It’s never changed the way she acts. The thought doesn’t even cross her mind that she is being passed up for promotions because of her social skills. We can’t have a manager saying the kinds of things she does, bad enough she’s a supervisor.