A woman has shared her shock online after her colleague made a complaint about her when she "politely" asked him to not call her "darling".
A Reddit user recalled the incident yesterday and explained how she had told her male co-worker to not call her "darling or love" as she barely knew him.
The British woman added that she only allows those closest to her to call her those pet names and insisted she kindly asked her fellow staff member to use her first name when talking to her.
However, the kind request appeared to be ignored as her colleague complained to her manager over the interaction and branded her "rude".
I know, you couldn't make this up.
Taking to the r/TwoXChromosomes thread on Reddit, she began: "A manager pulled me aside today to say that one of my colleagues had complained I was rude to him.
"I barely know this guy and every time we speak, he calls me darling or love, so I politely said, 'I only feel comfortable with people I'm very close to calling me that and could he please just use my name instead?'
"He complained that it was rude of me to say that (edit to add I'm referring to my colleague not my manager here) but conceded that maybe I was just having a bad day!"
After sharing her experience, the Reddit user updated her post to add that her manager asked her to flag any time her co-worker referred to her as "darling" or "love".
"Edit to add - my manager was good about it and asked me to raise it to her if he calls me love or darling again," she finished the post.
The woman's experience had many sharing their own stories - and even some suggesting how to push back on the male co-worker's comments.
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A commenter shared: "Some people really have no filter, no self awareness, no sense on what's appropriate with strangers. They speak like everyone is friends. That's fine.
"All you have to do is say it ONCE tho. I can excuse too much uninvited 'friendliness' but not if you keep repeating after you've been told it's bad. If you continue, you're an idiot and you're harassing."
A second posted: "I agree; 'darling' at best implies a very close personal relationship and pet names should fall under consent, at worst it tries to force a power structure without agreement. You were right to stand up for yourself..."
"I have a male supervisor and work primarily with men at the moment (most of the other women are working from home)," a third wrote. "At least once a week something misogynist comes out of someone's mouth.
"I had to tell the supervisor more than once not to say "rawr" with cat claws when I was mad about something. I like these guys most of the time, but this s**t is exhausting."
One user suggested: "OP start calling him gramps. Tell him how he reminds you of grandpa."
To which the original poster explained: "Do you know what's mad? He's probably younger than me. I expect that kind of thing from old men."
Another suggested: "I would immediately speak with HR, if there is one at that company. It's not ok to call a co-worker by terms of endearment.
"If they were asked to stop that should be the end of it. Complaining about you?? Where does this person get off?"
Interestingly the post highlighted a difference of opinion with some explaining that they didn't find being called a term of endearment offensive in the workplace.
However, those that didn't have an issue acknowledged that those that did had every right to address it to the person first before going to HR if it continued.
Consider this food for thought...
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