Restaurant manager realizes her trainee is strangely copying her every mannerism, calls her out: 'My gut says this is all too much and weird'

Workplaces can be strange social ecosystems. You spend hours every day around the same people, sharing routines, conversations, and sometimes even habits. Over time, it's not unusual for coworkers to influence each other in small ways: someone brings a new snack everyone starts buying, or a productivity trick spreads around the office. But one Reddit user began to wonder if their situation had crossed the line from coincidence into something a little bit odd.

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via Unsplash+ (and Ba Ba)

^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
^{Two female baristas working}
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via r/coworkerstories
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In a post shared on Reddit’s coworker stories community, a restaurant manager explained that her trainee seemed to be copying a surprising number of things they did. At first, it didn’t feel like a big deal, people take inspiration from others all the time, especially in a workplace where everyone sees each other every day. But slowly, the similarities started stacking up.
According to the poster, the coworker began adopting many of the same choices, from style details to daily habits, often shortly after the original poster mentioned or started doing them. What initially felt like a harmless overlap began to feel a bit strange, leaving the manager wondering if the pattern was real. That uncertainty encouraged them to turn to Reddit for perspective.
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Interestingly, many commenters pointed out that situations like this can happen more often than people realize. In social environments, people naturally mirror those around them. Sometimes it’s subconscious, an attempt to fit in or connect socially. Other times, it can simply mean someone admires another person’s taste or confidence.
However, that doesn’t mean it can’t feel a little awkward when it happens repeatedly, of course. Seeing someone echo your choices day after day can make anyone pause and wonder what’s going on, growing resentment.
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via Unsplash+ (Lian Xiao)

_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
_{Two female baristas interacting with customers}
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via r/coworkerstories
Still, a lot of readers suggested that imitation, while sometimes annoying, can also signal admiration. If someone repeatedly copies your style, your habits, or the way you approach things at work, it may simply mean they see something in you that they’d like to model after. And in a workplace, that can actually say a lot about the kind of presence you bring to the room.
So while the situation left the poster wondering if they were “going crazy,” many readers offered a simple perspective: if someone is copying you, it probably means you’re doing something right.
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