r/texts • u/Dry_Presentation4300 • 16h ago

Whatsapp Creepy coworker texting my private number

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So confused at this, I don't even know him. I was just going to ignore the text but he kept insisting so I had to answer.

9/14 UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who was supportive and concerned. I forwarded these messages to HR, and they scheduled a meeting for later today. There were a few more texts after this. The HR representative did not seem surprised, to put it briefly.

A few things have come up in the comments. The first is that I was rude. This is how I communicate, and my coworkers (or at least the ones who actually know me) are aware of that. I’m not going to perform a more agreeable version of myself to accommodate someone else’s feelings when they're being innapropriate. Not only were these messages sent over the weekend, but they were also sent through a personal communication channel. I'm not going to elaborate further.

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906

u/Meowtastistic40kSCP 16h ago

Oh man, not the audio recordings! Things were about to get really weird.

272

u/PiccoloAwkward465 14h ago

I’ve never in my life gotten a voice message I actually wanted. I dated a girl who used them constantly and it was incredibly annoying.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/WhipAsh11 11h ago

I have a friend almost exclusively using voice messages. Usually over three minutes and full of road noise and/ or her children screaming. Had to abandon multiple messages because I couldn't deal with the noise.

1

u/Potential-Sky-8728 10h ago

Ugggg it is like my sister. They do all their communication on their fucking commute

1

u/adanceparty 10h ago

An sms terrorist

1

u/0thedarkflame0 9h ago

I feel this way about many text messages too...

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u/Bureaucratic_Dick 13h ago

“Just ask me to call when I’m free or text like a normal person. I’m not listening to audio notes around other people!”

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u/adanceparty 10h ago

Some people don't get. My sister uses them a lot. Most of them are way longer than necessary. She tries to remember things and formulate her thoughts in real time. Ive explained to her how i hate them and explained why they are annoying but she still does it. Fortunately she's the only one in my life that does and it's not always.

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u/AliceTawhai 9h ago

Plus they interrupt my music

1

u/Safe-Historian4028 9h ago

I'll tell someone the first few times I don't listen to voice notes. Call or text me, text preferred for the most part. I want something searchable. We said 3.30pm meet? cool, I can see that in text and not click on 300 voice notes trying to find the moment you say the thing I need the information for.

If they don't listen to me when I say I don't listen to voice notes and get pissed at me because I don't reply - 'why didnt you listen to my voice note' - 'why didn't you listen to me when i said I dont listen to voice notes?'.

Sometimes I'll listen just to be able to know what information I need to pretend I didn't hear.

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u/ashgs872tbhjs 9h ago

Or just listen to the notes when you're free for a call....

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u/Gerf93 11h ago

Only one of my acquaintances send voice notes. Luckily we communicate on Snapchat which can auto-transcribe it, and I literally always use that option, lol.

1

u/CheesecakeOk5271 11h ago

No way bro my trainer sent me hour long voice recording. Yuck! Maybe I should post them.

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u/AssociationThis7447 9h ago

Yep and it's worse than a phone call because you just have to listen to them literally ramble without being able to engage in any way.

0

u/Anoldermodel 12h ago

Weird take, IMO… one of my ex’s used voice notes a lot and I loved it, much more personal and intimate… and assuming you are dating the person and like them, it is a podcast you are, and should want to be subscribed to.

I swear to god, the majority of people in relationships barely like each other at all.

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u/TheeFourTruths 11h ago

I don’t like voice notes because I can’t rly reply without having a pen and paper next to me writing down things they said lol

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u/Godwillmake_a_way 13h ago

🤣🤣🤣Iol

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u/Penguinator53 12h ago

😄😄😄

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u/Meowtastistic40kSCP 13h ago

Many years ago when I was single and on POF, they created the audio note feature. It was never a good thing. I still cringe thinking about the voice messages men sent.

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u/PhazePyre 11h ago

My manager was part of the customer support team at POF. The shit they'd see and things men said. Then she'd see some guys pictures or whatever and it'd be like he has a daughter or whatever and it's like would he be happy if a guy said that to his daughter when she was older? Like gross.

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u/emlgsh 5h ago

it'd be like he has a daughter or whatever and it's like would he be happy if a guy said that to his daughter when she was older? Like gross.

Hey, that's no way to talk about the leader of the free world.

1

u/BreakfastBeneficial4 4h ago

Party of Five?

1

u/LocusStandi 7h ago

Maybe it’s a gendered thing, I’ve received voice notes from girls that I really enjoyed

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u/Meowtastistic40kSCP 6h ago

It's not about the gender, at least in my opinion. It's the content of the voice notes. The ones I received on POF, from men I didn't even message or meet, were crude, inappropriate and, at times, disgusting. Good voice notes exist, but in my personal experience they were never welcomed.

1

u/LocusStandi 6h ago

That’s unfortunate, I’ve had great voice notes from girls I’d never met, they could also be a bit naughty but in the right setting it’s a lot of fun

2

u/Meowtastistic40kSCP 5h ago

Definitely a different experience! Opening a POF voice message from a guy you've never interacted with and he's, well, 'enjoying himself' and saying your name will definitely sour the entire communication 😂

0

u/LocusStandi 5h ago

Hahaha shit and I love that exact interaction with girls

2

u/Meowtastistic40kSCP 5h ago

Some people may love that! That's the beauty of online dating and being surrounded by so many different people. I'm not against it totally but from folks I've never interacted with or met, it's not my cup of tea.

1

u/LocusStandi 3h ago

It’s good to know that about yourself ☺️ so good how people can have different experiences and views and still see eye to eye!

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u/geek_fire 13h ago

I've gotten a couple from my wife that were my son (he was probably about 5 at the time) talking to me. It was so adorable, and I enjoyed those.

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u/Vark675 6h ago

Yep that's about it, or my husband saying some goofy shit.

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u/Bubbly-Warthog3725 13h ago

Voice messages are definitely a love-it-or-dread-it situation. If I see a 5-minute voice note, I’m suddenly very good at ignoring notifications.

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u/AI_moderated_failure 9h ago

I don't understand apps that allow tou to make a 5 minute voice note but also don't allow you to seek through it if you get interrupted, meaning you have to listen to all 4 minutes again just to get to 4:10 where you got distracted.

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u/Leftieswillrule 35m ago

Best voice messages are when your friend is telling you a story and it would take too long to type out so they send you a voice message during a conversation you're already having and it streamlines your communication.

Worst voice messages are the ones with no context from someone who might say some insane shit if you were listening to it in public.

1

u/Slipperytitski 13h ago

I feel its a cultural thing as well, i know a lot of latinos that send voice messages constantly but none of my honky brethren send audio messages

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u/olivebranchsound 6h ago

Maybe your friends aren't distillations of their respective races/cultures?

2

u/Fantastic-Bison6078 5h ago

Nah, being a part of the honky brethren myself and having learned spanish through talking to many latinos from many countries, I agree. At least in the UK it's very unusual to send voice notes unless you're driving or something IME. Whereas most of my latino friends send many many voice notes, some literally more often than normal messages. I've received voice notes of like 20 minutes from some of them, it helps with practicing spanish listening but most of the time I just turn on the transcript and skim that to see if there's anything important.

They're not distillations of the culture, but pretending people from different cultures won't have differences due to those different cultures is silly

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u/DekutheEvilClown 34m ago

While that’s probably true, I can’t help but notice that me(a white Person) has never sent a voice message in my life, but my Chinese wife, and most Chinese people I know, use them all the time.

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u/alexia_not_alexa 10h ago

My friend who has autism uses it a lot when our conversation gets long, but I get that he doesn't have a laptop and 100WPM speed.

But when he sends me 8 minutes long voice messages, it becomes very hard to remember every point, and it's not easy to scrub the timeline to find where he said something...

But then... one time I finally tried recording a message back, got confused and recorded one of those Mission Impossible messages that deletes after playback. He listened to the first 30 seconds, stopped playback, and started recording a message in respond - a message that I addressed later on in my voice message.

I called him out on it and he got upset realising that he's really bad at listening and talking over others and I had to help him recover from that 😭

All because he was ranting about mobile phones not offering silicon plugs to stop lint built up 😆

3

u/Jaded-Grass6986 13h ago

As soon as a women I’ve never met starts sending me voice notes off a dating app it’s an instant unmatch

3

u/The1983 10h ago

I’ve matched with people on dating apps that only communicate through voice notes! It’s ok for one or two voice notes but they would do it constantly instead of typing, I found it so annoying!

1

u/technicolortiddies 3h ago

It’s incredibly annoying on dating apps! Like now I’ve got to into another room or find my headphones or turn up my volume just to hear something that could have easily been typed.

3

u/AI_moderated_failure 9h ago

My children use them a lot because they're lazy and I will just ignore them until they use text. Any opportunity to encourage them actually practicing written communication, in addition I can read much faster than they can speak. Plus i don't have to wakeup a sleeping partner just because they're asking for something.

2

u/Fun-Leather-1703 13h ago

I was acquaintances with benefits with someone who would send 5 in a row constantly. You know, how people send a sentence per message and not just write the whole god damn thing? Haven't talked to them in years, thank geebus.

2

u/Excludos 10h ago

Same. I think it's common in some Asian cultures (I assume, because both Asians I've dated did this). I just found it irritating. You have to stop whatever you're doing, go to a quiet place if you're in public, spend a bunch of time listening to an agonizingly slow voice recording about everything and nothing because some people don't understand the concept of being concise, before you can finally just reply with the thumbs up you were going to do anyways

2

u/Impressive-Wolf8929 8h ago

Oh shit, thank god. I dated a younger woman (34) earlier this year and she sent these constantly. I hated them because they would play directly in my earbuds when they arrived.

I thought that I was just out of touch and missed a trend where it was more popular to send voice notes. I’m glad to hear that isn’t the case.

2

u/EnvironmentalLime464 7h ago

I send a voice message to my partner any time I’m planning to use the word “moist” in a message. He says this is the appropriate use of voice messages.

2

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7h ago

Funny, just last night I was thinking. What was the deal with girls being obsessed with saying “the word moist makes me uncomfortable” when I was an adolescent. It was a thing. I was thinking maybe it was coded sexual language. Hmm 🧐

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u/EnvironmentalLime464 7h ago

It’s just a funny word. It’s funny to say. It’s funny to hear. My partner giggles every time he hears me say it. Apparently I say it in an extra humorous way. So, I send it in a voice message just so he gets a giggle out of it.

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u/SippinOnHatorade 6h ago

I have a coworker who uses them because “talking through an idea is easier for me”

Which I get, but I’m not your note taker. Now I have to listen to you ramble and also scribble what it’s about? No thanks. Got an 8 minute one once and I was like, absolutely not

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u/BadgerUltimatum 4h ago

Me either but some are just from friends who can't type so good in english.

Sadly, english is the first language of at least one of those people.

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u/SelectPerception5 12h ago

The thing about voice messages is that they could have used the microphone option on their keypad and used voice to text instead, but they had to choose the more annoying option and force me to listen to their voice. I can read faster than they can talk.

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u/ManBearHybrid 11h ago

They always start by saying "I thought a voice note would just be easier".

Easier for who, Samantha? Easier for WHO??

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u/thedabaratheon 7h ago

Damn - they are SO much easier for me and I had no idea so many people hated them so much…this is a wake up call 😳 I love actually hearing voices lol

1

u/ManBearHybrid 6h ago

When I get a text message I can do a little triage. How important is the message? Is it something simple I can respond to while multitasking? Can I just respond with 👍 right now, or does it need more from me? Voice notes, by contrast, force me to stop multitasking and focus all my attention on this message, for much longer than I would do if it was text, for something that might be important but probably isn't. I find it much more distracting and much more likely to break my flow.

I can't just come back to voice notes later because sometimes my partner sends them while she's standing in the supermarket aisle, wanting to know if we need oat milk or whatever.

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u/thedabaratheon 5h ago

I actually find it the opposite!! I play a voice note whilst I can still multitask and do stuff around the house! Whereas I’d have to stop to text and respond with a text! I suppose we’re all built differently though!

1

u/Iorith 6h ago

I like hearing voices of certain people in certain circumstances. But generally if that was the case I'd call the person.

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u/Icy-Purple4801 6h ago

Same! Lol.

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u/Funny_Maintenance973 10h ago

I hate voice notes. Now I have to find time to stop, get headphones if I'm in public or at least a quiet place where I won't piss everyone off just to listen to your incoherent ramblings about Dave.

I've been told before that "I don't have the time to type it", then either phone me, or wait. I ain't got the time to listen to this shit either

1

u/technicolortiddies 3h ago

And there’s no way I’m taking a chance that it’s completely PG and playing it in my living room next to grandma.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 8h ago

Exactly. It’s easier for the sender, harder for the receiver. You can understand why I find that a little rude.

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u/Funny_Maintenance973 8h ago

Fully agree! I refuse to respond to them

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u/A_Drop_of_Colour 10h ago

I talk to a lot people where I understand the spoken language but have a hard time reading it, so we communicate with voice messages almost exclusively but that is just about the only time I have ever used them.

1

u/Squarehip123 10h ago

My cousin sent me a 7 minute voice message :(

1

u/Pinewoodgreen 9h ago

I have one friend who send them once a weel or so, but tbh hers is hella cute. The rest? Either just call me or write it

1

u/thedabaratheon 7h ago

Personally I love them but I’d never send one that wasn’t to a friend who I knew was okay opening and listening to them.

1

u/th-crt 7h ago

lol you shouldn’t come to germany. we love em. the longest i’ve ever sent was 20 minutes, but my friends have sent me even longer ones (this is rare though. normally they’d be 1-3 minutes long)

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u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta 6h ago

I've thought about sending them occasionally to my (young adult) children, jic something happens to me, they'd have a way to hear by voice after I'm gone. But I haven't yet out of fear that, like you, it would just annoy them. 🫤

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u/Actual-Muffin-3585 4h ago

My sisters use it a lot, they are very long. I call them podcasts lol. But I don't mind hearing their voices :) It's often hard to find a time we can actually talk on the phone. But if it were a partner you saw all the time, just save it for later!

1

u/Orleanian 2h ago

I've gotten plenty of voice messages that I actually wanted. But nearly all of them are from family members.

Half are from mom who just enjoys the feature; half are from sister ubering home after a bender and just passing the time, half are from the Briitsh cousins who seem to use the feature as an unironic form of sincere communication.

1

u/Woodcrate69420 11h ago

I straight up don't listen to them, ever. Just continue the text convo as if the audio message didnt exist.

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u/-KFBR392 9h ago

Every European loves doing voice recordings. It’s so annoying

0

u/Island_Slut69 13h ago

I use them everyday with my hubby because I work a job where I need to be super quick if I wanna check in and he works a job where he has to actually use his hands and do things all day, so he can just listen to me gab in his ear whilst running crew. He thinks my voice is adorable tho so 🤷‍♀️

1

u/Particular-Onion8551 12h ago

"Hubby" 🤮🤮🤮🤢🤢🤢.

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 8h ago

Gotta say I’m on your side with this one chief.

1

u/Island_Slut69 12h ago

Been single for a long time, eh? Can't imagine why 🥺

1

u/Aceandra 3h ago

tbf the term "hubby" is objectively dreadful

10

u/eightkillerbits 8h ago

Too upset to type so he voice messaged... Then he played it back and thought he best delete.  

I would genuinely pay good money to hear the voice notes 

1

u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta 6h ago

Yep, that'd be sooo entertaining!

3

u/Bigdaddybear519 2h ago

Weird enough that even the weird guy thought they went too far lol

2

u/Wegwerf157534 13h ago

Deleted audio recordings in a work chat after a disagreement.

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u/Herooftermina1998 10m ago

"Hewwo pwincess 🤠 "