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.
I can’t emphasize how much this is the answer. Document your annoyances, document other peoples complaints, document the times you have tried discussing it it with him, and document how he responded. Document the fuck out of everything, because if you are his supervisor, this is going to blow up in your face no matter what you do and you need to be building yourself a blast shield asap. This guy is obviously very manipulative and portrays himself as the victim. When the shit finally hits the fan, he is going to sling it everywhere, and as your direct report, it’s going to pile in your lap.
When you take it up the chain, you don’t even have to take it up as a complaint. Ask for help and guidance in a situation that you fear is going to go bad. You have a guy who is a really good worker, but you fear his antics are going to run off other employees, or even worse, result in HR complaints.
True true, I’m going to start with a meeting with me him and the supervisor. I don’t think he is maliciously manipulative if that makes any sense. He just genuinely gets sad when when someone doesn’t find him funny or he annoyed someone and I don’t think he ever learned to how to properly handle being sad.