My two male bosses wimped out of confronting him in his dark corner cubicle
And who can blame them? I can see how it might be awkward. 'Knock knock knock! WE'RE COMING INTO YOUR CUBICLE NOW. If there's anything you don't want us to see...put it away...for God's sake. Hi, Larry, we need to talk...no, I'd rather not shake hands...the thing is...there's something we need to discuss, a rather personal, er...George, would you like to handle this?' 'No.' 'Okay...it's like this...I'm quite a broadminded person, but...let me put it this way, the reference from your last employers described you as 'an enthusiastic self-starter who keeps his hand to the tiller', and, er, we think we know what they meant now...George, would you like to step in at this point?' 'No.' 'Okay. The thing is, Larry, we've had complaints from the adjoining cubicles, complaints about...noises, and the cleaning staff are not happy about certain...certain things they've found, and, er...I see you have a box of Kleenex on your desk...oh God...I was wondering, Larry...do you think you may be...blowing your nose too much? I'm a man of the world, we all have certain urges...and, er, when I was a young man, I used to, er...blow my nose, sometimes, too. But never at work. We were thinking, perhaps you could...blow your nose...at home, in future?' 'I don't think I follow.' 'Great! Super! That's cleared up, then, unless you have anything to add, George?' 'Nope.' 'All right then, we're going to leave you now, Larry, and...I'm just going to leave this pamphlet, "Your Body Is A Wonderful Machine, Don't Mess With The Levers Or You'll Go Blind." Bye now. Keep it up, Larry. The work.'
How can I tactfully address the problem?
Actually, this one's easy for you as a woman. Don a pair of thigh-boots and a leather corset, march into his cubicle and say, 'You've been a bad, bad boy, haven't you? But you're going to be good now, aren't you?' Not only will he stop wasting his time on the computer, but you'll be able to make him work overtime unpaid, run out and fetch you sandwiches, wash your car, etc. It would work for me, anyway.
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