Mr. Eric Woods [dot] com

You’re minding your own business at work and getting whatever work you need to do done. Its a normal workday in the office and everything is going accordingly. Just as you start to settle in you hear footsteps coming towards your office/cubicle…at this point you’re starting to get nervous. In your mind you hope  its not who you think it is and you try to stay calm. The sound of the footsteps get louder and you start to panic so you decide to get up and try to leave before its too late, but as you stand up BAM!! You’re face to face with………your workplace stalker!!!! 

Everybody has one or has had one in their time at any given workplace. Not sure if you have one or not? Well let me break it down for you. If there is a person that you really try to avoid speaking to at all cost. That’s probably you’re stalker. If this person you try to avoid is not even really cool with you and they just know you from a workplace event, yup correct again. Does this same person come to visit you at your office/cubicle all the time to talk about irrelevant crap you can care less about all the time? Also does this person just happen to always bump into you around the workplace and say things like “Oh wow, what are you doing over here? We just keep bumping into each other isn’t that funny?” Guess what? All of these things are some of the major signs of a workplace stalker lol.

These offenders  are all over the workplace but it seems like the severity to which they harass people at the job vary. Also most of the time your WPS (workplace stalker) may not even think there is a problem. As a matter of fact they probably think everything is cool and you two are good friends. So far from the truth, you’re probably just being cordial and nice to them because you know them from around the workplace. And while they are looking for you to tell you something  they think you’d find interesting, you’re telling your friends that if they see this person come near you and start speaking to you to CALL YOU QUICK to get you out lol.

Now how do you get out of this situation? How do you free yourself from your WPS? There is always the best method of telling the person outright that you’d appreciate it if they didnt come around all the time to talk to you while you’re trying to WORK!! It is a workplace after all, you get paid to work not talk all day. If you actually have a heart and care if people get their feelings hurt (unlike myself) then I guess you will never get rid of your WPS. So here are some tips so you can at least make the lovely times spent together as short as possible

• Always try to make yourself look busy even if you are not. 
  This will not always work but it is a deterrent most of the time. When the WPS comes around and they try to sneak you like they usually do but see that you are deep into your work then they might just turn around and leave. Warning this is only a deterrent. They more than likely will try to get you later!!
• Don’t make any eye contact.
  Yea, yea. I know it sounds real disrespectful and rude, but think about it. If you came to speak to someone and  they never even took their eyes off their work nor turned their head to you, more than likely you would think “ok its clear I am wasting this persons time, they don’t even care about what I have to say.” Just remember turning your head and making  eye contact is like a invite in!! Once you do that they will think its ok to stay and chit chat.
• Try to never get caught alone – Keep yourself around other co-workers
  Now this I think is self explanatory. The WPS catches you but this time you’re with other co-workers and now all of a sudden the WPS doesn’t have as much to say because they aren’t as comfortable as when they have you cornered alone. This will keep the encounter very short, hopefully a HI and BYE lol. 
• Set up what I like to call a RECON buddy system
  Simple idea. You give a close friend at the workplace the heads up to either..
  A. alert you when they are coming so you can make your move
  or
  B. Have them call your cell/extension or even just come over to your desk to pull you out of the situation with a very convenient excuse!  

Ok those are just some tips I’m sure there are  plenty more but you get the point. Having a WPS can be very stressful for some and even start to affect your workplace performance, which can lead to a whole downward spiral of bad things. Hope this helps all of those people out there that are dealing with the WPS and think they are stuck and doomed to suffer for the rest of their days employed at their current job lol. Don’t give up hope. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!” lol 

Anybody have any other tips please feel free to share! And if you are one of these WPS then please explain to me why do you put people through this torment!

You’re in luck. YES! Another crazy Vlog entry from way back when. As I can recall at the time this was a serious issue in the economy with the whole noodle snack crisis of the summer of ‘07 going on at the time.

Enjoy

Just a quick step back to the past to revisit one of my first Vlog entries lol. If you have yet to see this vid already then please do enjoy lol. 

With that said I leave you this…..

(please excuse the quality as this was recorded on a crappy web cam lol)