Saw co-worker at my office watching porn. Now what? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am jobless 3L interning at a government agency this semester. I walked into the paralegal's office today to talk to him about something when I saw him watching porn on his iPhone. And I don't mean some titty pics, I mean some hardcore P in M and P in V action. In crystal clear quality. He had not disguised it well. He had propped his iPhone on the desk and I was able to see it clearly while he was looking at the material I brought him. I wasn't disgusted (I mean, I enjoy the occasional porn in the privacy of my apartment), but I was pretty weirded out. I mean, there's a time and a place for that kind of stuff.

This agency occasionally hires interns, and my supervisor is a fairly well known power broker who could be a good reference later on. I don't want to rock the boat too much, especially as an intern, but what happened weirded me out. I'll probably have to keep working with this guy.

What should I do, if anything?

[thegrayman]

so he didn't even stop while you were in there? if so that is pretty weird but I still wouldn't rat him out.

are you male or female?

[Ludo!]

Tell him to stop watching porn in his office. But I don't think you have anything to gain from telling somebody about it

[The Duck]

So this was in his office on his private phone? Tell him you think its inappropriate and you'd appreciate if he didn't watch that in the office. You have to ask yourself whether its worth his job without giving him the opportunity to quit voluntarily first.

Edit: One side note, no way this was involved in a case was it? Certain agencies deal with cases involving porn and have to watch it at work... In some instances, I've seen people do it on private phones/computers because the IT filters block access.

[Anonymous User]

I'm male. Seemed to be a private phone. In no way was this related to a case we could be working on.

[Anonymous User]

so he didn't even stop while you were in there? if so that is pretty weird but I still wouldn't rat him out.

are you male or female?

Did not stop it. Might not have noticed I saw it.

[DarrowDefense]

NEWS FLASH: There are a lot of weird people.

Let me take a wild guess; this is the first real job you've ever had, correct? It would be insanely misguided to bring this up with anyone. If I was your boss and you walked into my office saying you caught another employee looking at porn on their phone, I'd want to laugh you out of my office. Undoubtedly, this guy shouldn't be looking at porn while at work, but do you really want to possibly cost him his job because of a minor transgression of which you know no context? This is the only time you've witnessed this conduct, right? Perhaps he received a personal email from a stupid friend (I've got many) and he happened to open it right before you walked in. Point is, this was an anomalous event and you should keep your mouth shut! Take it easy on running to the bossman at the drop of a hat or you're never going to survive the workplace.

[Ludo!]

NEWS FLASH: There are a lot of weird people.

Let me take a wild guess; this is the first real job you've ever had, correct? It would be insanely misguided to bring this up with anyone. If I was your boss and you walked into my office saying you caught another employee looking at porn on their phone, I'd want to laugh you out of my office. Undoubtedly, this guy shouldn't be looking at porn while at work, but do you really want to possibly cost him his job because of a minor transgression of which you know no context? This is the only time you've witnessed this conduct, right? Perhaps he received a personal email from a stupid friend (I've got many) and he happened to open it right before you walked in. Point is, this was an anomalous event and you should keep your mouth shut! Take it easy on running to the bossman at the drop of a hat or you're never going to survive the workplace.

OP - looks like this dude found your thread

[DarrowDefense]

NEWS FLASH: There are a lot of weird people.

Let me take a wild guess; this is the first real job you've ever had, correct? It would be insanely misguided to bring this up with anyone. If I was your boss and you walked into my office saying you caught another employee looking at porn on their phone, I'd want to laugh you out of my office. Undoubtedly, this guy shouldn't be looking at porn while at work, but do you really want to possibly cost him his job because of a minor transgression of which you know no context? This is the only time you've witnessed this conduct, right? Perhaps he received a personal email from a stupid friend (I've got many) and he happened to open it right before you walked in. Point is, this was an anomalous event and you should keep your mouth shut! Take it easy on running to the bossman at the drop of a hat or you're never going to survive the workplace.

OP - looks like this dude found your thread

HAHA! And I'm pissed I had to turn off Jenna Jameson getting railed to write these comments.

[thegrayman]

Post subject: Saw co-worker at my office watching porn. Now what? Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:34 am

DarrowDefense: Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:41 am

lol

[Agent]

Based on what you've said here, I think you should just keep quiet about it for now.

[Anonymous User]

Based on what you've said here, I think you should just keep quiet about it for now.

Leaning toward discretion. I think this project is gonna end soon and I don't have to work with the guy.

[tedalbany]

Who cares? Do nothing.

[Anonymous User]

What should I do, if anything?

Watch along with him, then discuss favorite moments.

[shock259]

Real weird, but don't see much utility in bringing it up with anyone.

[3ThrowAway99]

NEWS FLASH: There are a lot of weird people.

Let me take a wild guess; this is the first real job you've ever had, correct? It would be insanely misguided to bring this up with anyone. If I was your boss and you walked into my office saying you caught another employee looking at porn on their phone, I'd want to laugh you out of my office. Undoubtedly, this guy shouldn't be looking at porn while at work, but do you really want to possibly cost him his job because of a minor transgression of which you know no context? This is the only time you've witnessed this conduct, right? Perhaps he received a personal email from a stupid friend (I've got many) and he happened to open it right before you walked in. Point is, this was an anomalous event and you should keep your mouth shut! Take it easy on running to the bossman at the drop of a hat or you're never going to survive the workplace.

OP - looks like this dude found your thread

[Tom Joad]

What if he texted his gf messages that are adult in nature? That would be even weirder.

[Fletcher Reed]

Mind your own business bro. Nobody respects a rat.

[NotMyRealName09]

Nobody is actually aroused by Jenna Jamison. Nobody, not even the guys banging her.

[LSATNightmares]

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? This guy is breaking the law, because he is stealing taxpayers' time, as any government employee knows. At the very least, this guy is not cultivating a safe work environment for even male employees like you. I wouldn't ignore it, because who knows what else is going on. (It was easy to look over what happened at Penn State, even if there were signs.) I'd maybe talk about it with HR rather than the supervisor. You might not even want to out him, but just bring up how you were uncomfortable and see if HR thinks it's something that needs further action. There are even anonymous hotlines for government employees in some states to talk about ethical issues that you spot and get advice on what to do about it.

[theavrock]

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? This guy is breaking the law, because he is stealing taxpayers' time, as any government employee knows. At the very least, this guy is not cultivating a safe work environment for even male employees like you. I wouldn't ignore it, because who knows what else is going on. (It was easy to look over what happened at Penn State, even if there were signs.) I'd maybe talk about it with HR rather than the supervisor. You might not even want to out him, but just bring up how you were uncomfortable and see if HR thinks it's something that needs further action. There are even anonymous hotlines for government employees in some states to talk about ethical issues that you spot and get advice on what to do about it.

--ImageRemoved--

[20121109]

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? This guy is breaking the law, because he is stealing taxpayers' time, as any government employee knows. At the very least, this guy is not cultivating a safe work environment for even male employees like you. I wouldn't ignore it, because who knows what else is going on. (It was easy to look over what happened at Penn State, even if there were signs.) I'd maybe talk about it with HR rather than the supervisor. You might not even want to out him, but just bring up how you were uncomfortable and see if HR thinks it's something that needs further action. There are even anonymous hotlines for government employees in some states to talk about ethical issues that you spot and get advice on what to do about it.

One is not like the other.

[LSATNightmares]

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? This guy is breaking the law, because he is stealing taxpayers' time, as any government employee knows. At the very least, this guy is not cultivating a safe work environment for even male employees like you. I wouldn't ignore it, because who knows what else is going on. (It was easy to look over what happened at Penn State, even if there were signs.) I'd maybe talk about it with HR rather than the supervisor. You might not even want to out him, but just bring up how you were uncomfortable and see if HR thinks it's something that needs further action. There are even anonymous hotlines for government employees in some states to talk about ethical issues that you spot and get advice on what to do about it.

One is not like the other.

I'm not saying the two are equivalent. I'm saying that if you see inappropriate sexual behavior at work, there's likely another problem going on. You really think this guy is ONLY watching porn at work if he has the audacity to let an intern watch along with him? It shows this guy really lacks good judgment and character. I'm not saying he's abusing people, but I bet he's doing something else that's a problem (maybe, for all we know, he's made a female colleague uncomfortable). As a female, I'm concerned about stuff like this going on in the workplace, and most of the responses seem very "male."

[paratactical]

Am I the only one who sees this as a problem? This guy is breaking the law, because he is stealing taxpayers' time, as any government employee knows. At the very least, this guy is not cultivating a safe work environment for even male employees like you. I wouldn't ignore it, because who knows what else is going on. (It was easy to look over what happened at Penn State, even if there were signs.) I'd maybe talk about it with HR rather than the supervisor. You might not even want to out him, but just bring up how you were uncomfortable and see if HR thinks it's something that needs further action. There are even anonymous hotlines for government employees in some states to talk about ethical issues that you spot and get advice on what to do about it.

One is not like the other.

I'm not saying the two are equivalent. I'm saying that if you see inappropriate sexual behavior at work, there's likely another problem going on. You really think this guy is ONLY watching porn at work if he has the audacity to let an intern watch along with him? It shows this guy really lacks good judgment and character. I'm not saying he's abusing people, but I bet he's doing something else that's a problem.

Um, these posts shouldn't be Anonymous. There is no revealing personal information that requires it.

EDIT: or are you the OP?

[Rhidan]

Not sure if this helps, but I had a friend who worked in an IG office for a federal agency. He said that people watching porn on their work computer was so common that the IG would only intervene when the porn reached some excessive level. As long as they kept their porn time under X minutes per day, they were fine.

Men are weird.