'She's recording me': Employee suspects gossiping coworker is recording their phone conversations

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 1, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

Every office has that one coworker who thrives on gossip, but what if that coworker has an even more worrisome ulterior motive? It's one thing to form a friendship with your other coworker and to engage in mild and meaningless gossip about office dynamics. After all, when you're spending eight hours a day and five days a week working with the same people, it's inevitable that cliques will form, tensions will occasionally arise, and rumors will spread. Even if you have no desire to engage in that kind of talk, it's kind of inevitable, isn't it?

Still, you have to be careful and ensure that the coworkers who become your trusted friends in and out of the office are exactly who they say they are. The people who smile and encourage you to talk smack about others may not be doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. In fact, they may wind up using that information against you down the road. So be careful, folks! 

That being said, some people are a bit too cautious and many folks in the comments section of this Reddit thread seem to think that OP is overreacting and making mountains out of molehills. What do you all think? For more stories like this, here is one about a guy who got some petty revenge on an entitled lady at a networking event.

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    Font - r/r/coworkerstories. Posted by u/Beginning-Emu-4647 15 hours ago I work remotely and one of my coworkers calls me non stop just to talk. But she's recording me I think. I echo loudly every time I speak with her and its only her. Why would she do this?
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    Font - I work remotely for a call center. I'm in one state and I have an older married coworker who lives in another state. She's near 60 and lives with her husband and she has grown kids and several grands. She seems friendly but she calls several times a day just to talk. She doesn't just call me she hounds every single person at the job. She's in Alabama and comes across as a friendly God fearing talking woman who engages in the occasional gossip but every time I speak with her for months now
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    Font - It's strange. We've never met in person. We only see each other through teams. But why would she record me? And why does she call so much? What is her problem?
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    Font - PsychologicalBit5422. 19 hr. ago Maybe she just has you on phone speaker, or her phone us attached to some sort of speaker so she can do other stuff while talking. 115 Reply Share
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    Font - bluebook21 16 hr. ago That's my assumption. My father always puts people on speaker bc he has trouble hearing
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    Product - bfjt4yt877rjrh4yry. 19 hr. ago Stop answering
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    Font - stargal81 15 hr. ago It's always amazing when someone comes to Reddit to ask for strangers' advice on something that should be painfully obvious. OP just stop taking her calls!
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    Human body - horrifyingthought She's old. You are on speaker. That's the echo. 18 hr. ago
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    Font - SrslyPissed Off 19 hr. ago You don't have to take non-work related calls, do you? Tell her you're too busy to chit chat then don't (converse).
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    Font - Theoriginalensetsu. 18 hr. ago I wouldn't pick up her call.
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    Font - chaingun_samurai 17 hr. ago Speaker phone, that's all. "Hi, what do you need? I'm busy, can't talk."
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    Font - MeatofKings 17 hr. ago "Sorry can't talk now unless it's business related as I'm working." You may also use your smartphone to record her calls is she's gossiping.
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    Font - IrreverantBard - 17 hr. ago I have a co-worker who steals my time like this. I told her to stop and that I will now be enforcing stricter boundaries. She's hurt. I have peace and can do my job. It is what it is.
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    Font - Background-Roof-112. 16 hr. ago You're on speaker and she's possibly even using a landline, which would make the echo even worse A 60 yo super-Jesusy Alabaman grandmother is not recording anything. She probably just learned how to use speaker. She's probably excited about it. Also, what on earth do you think she could catch you saying?
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    Font - nonamenancy2 · 15 hr. ago You're lucky you have time to chat. I would let her know it disrupts your work and don't answer her calls.
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    Font - iwillcorrectyou9 . 7 hr. ago Honestly you sound really paranoid. she may be having issues with her phone lol? or sometimes it sounds off if you are on speaker. or if you guys are calling through teams or something on the computer, sometimes computer microphones have issues. don't you have work to do? just tell her you don't have time to talk because you're working.
    via u/Beginning-Emu-4647

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terrible coworkers workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work coworkers reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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