update: my breastfeeding coworker won’t stop talking about her boobs

Remember the letter-writer whose breastfeeding coworker wouldn’t stop talking about her boobs? Here’s the update.

It has been about a year since I wrote in. While the talk about breastfeeding specifically decreased about eight months in, my coworker’s seemingly endless need for attention and validation was unceasing. It got to the point where only about three people in the office were engaging with her at all unless they absolutely had to. She then shifted tactics, approaching people with questions that were superficially work related, then immediately re-centering the conversation to either boast about her chosen path to martyrdom, garner excessive praise for her child’s very age-appropriate activities, or lament about her man-child spouse whose homophobia apparently keeps him from changing diapers or allowing his child to play with toys that have rainbow colors.

Management never actively addressed the behavior, but did approve her recent request to transfer to an offshoot of our team located in another building 95% of the time (with a whole new and much larger audience to alienate). The good part of that is that our office vibe is noticeably more relaxed. The downside is that now she has an inflated sense of importance being the only one from our team in the other area. She is a walking display of the idea that when someone doesn’t feel wanted, they work desperately to feel needed. The antics and anecdotes in just that past month could fill pages of the recent AAM post asking, “What’s the smallest amount of power you’ve seen someone abuse?”

So overall some improvement, by virtue of now limited contact, but the few interactions we do have to endure remain shockingly over the top.

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