So this dude is basically a 46 year old man child and I don’t wanna armchair diagnose people, but he’s probably on the spectrum.
He’ll say a pun or a “funny” phrase, stare at you till you acknowledge it, then when you do, he’ll just keep saying it over and over. Even if you don’t acknowledge it he’ll say it a bunch then switch to a new one.
He’s obsessed with making fart noises then pretending it’s someone else he’ll even do it while we’re eating lunch. I’ve tried the politely asking him to stop he just says “oh you know I’m just joking” then when I tell him its genuinely annoying he goes full kicked puppy and acts super sad for a few hours and gets all woe is me saying stuff like “oh well I guess everyone hates me I’ll just shut up forever”. Sometimes he even goes full non verbal and literally just tries to communicate by pointing and or writing notes.
It’s not like he’s an asshole he a genuinely good guy he’s good at his job and he’s got your back when you need it.
I guess I just have a hard time finding the balance between not being an ass to a guy with zero social skills and losing my sanity because he can’t be quiet for 5 minutes.
Sorry mate this is just wrong all the way up and down.
Don’t try diagnosing a co-worker, don’t go running to HR asking about “equality” for someone you’ve diagnosed, and as a team leader just separating yourself from your team is not a solution.
Don’t recall diagnosing him anywhere, but you go ahead and read what you want to read so that you can create a straw man.
I said that it’s a possibility and therefore should be approached with the care that entails.
But your solution, reading your other response is to talk to the person. Which, if you had read the original post, you would have realised they have already tried to. And their response to that detailed.
So what do you propose? Because if the person who is annoyed by the co-worker shouldn’t take time separate from their team to be able to complete aspects of their work, then the alternative is to…? The idea that a TL/manager whatever cannot trust their team to be able to leave them to work without them is obscene in itself. I guess the entire place falls apart when they have to go into meetings or trips etc.
I’m sure you’ll decide to read whatever you want from the above as well, and you do that. I’ll leave you to it.
Your entire post is about managing a neurodivergent person. That’s a diagnosis.
It’s completely inappropriate to make assumptions about a co-worker’s mental faculties, and to act on those assumptions.
OP did try talking to the person but frankly, doesn’t seem very experienced in that regard.
OP needs to build a working relationship with this guy such that he doesn’t respond to feedback as though it’s a personal attack. The only way to do that is talking.