update about the coworker moonlighting as a hooker

by Alison Green on February 24, 2010

Remember the person who wrote in last November to ask what do about her coworker who was working as a prostitute during business hours? Of course you do; everyone was clamoring for an update from her when I did those “where are they now” updates.

She just wrote in with an update, in a comment on a recent post:

I did follow your advice and I no longer do her work. I mean, she is still prostituting during working hours and in our restroom but I have nothing to do with it. Sooner or later she will get caught, but at least I won’t be involved in that. So once again, thank you very much!

I think we were all hoping for more details, preferably salacious ones, but hey, it’s something.

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{ 18 comments }

{ 18 comments… read them below }

  1. Anonymous*

    I still can't believe this one; I worked as an escort for a while (both as an actual strictly just escort and escort=call girl varieties) and I had an office job at the same time. I worked very, very hard to keep both businesses separate. I can't figure out what this woman is thinking. She really is just asking to get caught.

  2. Hank Hill*

    I believe it. It's likely that she's an addict of some kind, because people who have a normal working sense of self-preservation don't do this type of thing.

  3. Rebecca*

    Is it really unbelievable just because of the odds of getting caught? I can't think of a single place I've worked where no one was doing something illegal or otherwise incredibly stupid on company time.

    There are also some prostitutes who see the occasional arrest as something that just comes with the job.

  4. Anonymous*

    Back in the 80s or maybe even 70s there was a woman who did this exact same thing in DC at the Dept of Trans. She was later caught sleeping with a client in the DOT garage. The really sad thing is that she had played on the loneliness of other female coworkers and brought them into her mess.

    The police later found out that she was running a ring and saving the best (if you can call them that) well paying clients for herself. I wonder how the OP would feel if she found out that this woman was doing the same thing. Esp. since she won't tell the police or mgmt what is really going on.

    The problem here (besides the illegal activity and lack of work ethic) is that the OP was a victim of workplace bullying and didn't see it that way. She even on her original post talked about what a nice person (and Mom)this woman is.

    I'm so glad the OP woke up. Who needs this drama?!?

  5. Christine Witt*

    I'm not sure that the OP has really had an awakening.

    As I remember, this is a very small office. And now the woman is bringing her customers into the restroom at work.

    I'd feel … violated. As violated as I'd feel if a coworker and her husband were making it in the restroom at work. (But less safe since there is an apparent string of strangers engaging in illicit behavior going in and out of a small office.)

    The OP either needs to take definitive action or leave the job as soon as possible.

  7. Anonymous*

    I agree that this problem is still not solved. Like the person who wrote in about the masturbating co-worker, this is sexual harrassment. They are subjecting you to sexual behavior against your will at the office.

  8. Anonymous*

    The OP can choose not to report the coworker and still be acting with integrity. It's not the OP's job to police her coworkers, and if the coworker's no longer affecting how she does her job, then it's the manager's job to pay attention to how the coworker does hers. The coworker's not sneaking into the bathroom to flush kittens down the toilet; she's participating in consensual, if perhaps undesirable, behaviour.

    If the OP changes her mind about not reporting the coworker, she should discreetly advise that she's no longer able to stand by and let it go on without saying anything. This will give the coworker the opportunity to stop the behaviour, because she is operating now under the assumption that the OP is not going to report her. Perhaps the coworker doesn't "deserve" the courtesy. But hey, that's integrity for you!

  9. fposte*

    I can't see that the OP is being bullied (that's not really a term for anything negative at work, after all) or being sexually harassed. She's not actually that bothered by the activity, just by the covering of her colleague's work. I think she's entitled to be not bothered by it, even if other people might not feel the same, and to solve the problem *she* has, not the problem that other people might have in the same situation.

  10. Anonymous*

    I think Hank Hill nailed it: I suspect the woman is an addict of some sort. That does not necessarily mean that she's a SUBSTANCE abuser. It could mean that she is a sex addict.

    There is really nothing anyone else can do. This woman will get caught eventually, and when she is, she will either get help, or she won't.

    It's entirely up to her, and it has nothing to do with the OP. I'm glad the OP was able to extricate herself from the situation, and she absolutely should NOT cover for this woman any more.

  11. Anonymous*

    How did the OP approach the afternoon moonlighter? How did she relieve herself of the work?

    The problem is still far from solved. The OP still knows what is going on when her coworker disappears. If I was a third coworker there and found out where so-and-so was during lunchbreak, I would be very disgusted and would want to know if the OP knew about it. Yes? I would be very angry with her for knowing. She's enabled a bad work environment, and as people find out, it'll become hostile.

  14. Anonymous*

    I remember that this was a small office. You would think that somebody would've noticed a bunch of strangers arriving by now, or at least heard some activity going on?

  15. JoAnna*

    I personally think it's a breach of ethics if a person knows that another co-worker is conducting illegal activity on company property — during company time — and doesn't report said activity to the proper authorities. It doesn't matter what a good person the perpetrator allegedly is, if the illegal activity is "victimless," or whatever. If this situation ever comes out, it could really bite the OP in the ass, and s/he could be fired for said breach of ethics.

  16. The Gold Digger*

    I just want to know where the letter writer pees when hooker/co-worker has a customer in the restroom.

    And does H/CW clean the restroom after each job?

    And how soundproof is that restroom?

    And is H/CW declaring that income on her taxes?

    Yes. I know. I'm sick. But you guys are just as curious as I am. Admit it.

  17. fposte*

    Anon 8:45, my impression is that it's basically just her and the co-worker most of the time, since the boss and manager are largely absent, and that if her supervisors did their actual job, they might have cottoned onto this long ago. I also got the impression that their considerable absence may have resulted in the OP's having more sympathy for her co-worker than for her company. I think she knows that the company would prefer she had different priorities and might take it out on her, but I think a legitimate answer to "Why didn't you tell us?" is "Why didn't her supervisor notice?"

  18. Joanna Reichert*

    Hey – maybe she’s servicing the management, too.

    Just a thought on why something that’s obvious to the employees has been overlooked by the higher-ups . . . . ; )

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