M’sian Asks Female Colleague If He Can Follow Her Home, But Should We Normalise This ‘Joke’?

To have good colleagues at work is certainly a blessing in disguise but boundaries, especially in communication are still necessary.

Recently, food vlogger, Ceddy shared a couple of screenshots on his Twitter account that shows a conversation between an anonymous woman and him. The woman reached out to Ceddy to rant about the harassment she had to endure at work.

She said that a male colleague asked if she hasn’t gone home and where does she stay. The questions may be common among colleagues but the question that followed may not be appropriate.

“He asked if he could follow me home,” the woman said.

The question shocked her and sent her into silence as she wondered if the question was considered sexual harassment.

Not really, but leading to sexual harassment

Ceddy then told the woman, ‘It’s not really sexual harassment, but it has the potential to become one.’

“Why would he want to follow you home? To clean your toilet?” Ceddy rhetorically asked.

The woman added that her female colleague was also shocked by the question that was posed to her.  Some of us may think that it’s a common occurrence in the office among colleagues.

But should this be normalised?

Ceddy told the anonymous woman that this is actually not normal, especially in the workplace where boundaries should be enforced.

“Enforce a boundary with him. Tell him the next time he says that again, you’ll take action. Intimidate him a little!’

The woman later thanked him for the suggestions and said she felt much better after speaking to Ceddy about it.

Maybe it’s a joke?

Ceddy’s tweet received a lot of responses from the netizens. While most of them have shown support for Ceddy’s suggestions, some simply thought that the guy who wanted to ‘follow’ the woman home was simply joking.

The food vlogger has a perfect response to that. 

‘No need for jokes! Just do your job and go home. Are you a comedian?’

He also responded to some tweets which questioned the outcome if the joke was posed to a man instead. To Ceddy, it is still NOT RIGHT.

‘It’s still a harassment. What part of boundaries do you not understand? Tell her off if you’re not comfortable.”

Last but not least, is the possibility of the guy who just wanted to be nice.

‘Oh shut up. If you’re being nice, you’ll offer her a ride home because it’s getting late, and not follow her home!’

Ladies, have you ever encountered such ‘jokes’ in your workplace and do you think it’s okay? Gentlemen, do you see yourself posing such questions as a joke?

Also read: “If you don’t have a bf, sit with me” – M’sian Harassed While Eating Alone in PJ Restaurant