Colleague sneezing his head off

[sneezysunshine]

On my last job I used to sit close to this guy that frequently, a couple of times a week at least, used to have these crazy sneezing fits. It always started with a couple of strong and wet hhHAATCHHuuu's aimed at his computer and if it didn't stop there he used to, I kid you not, get up from his chair, walk past me and out to the break room whilst sneezing non-stop, hitching with the strongest itchiest little breaths in between. It was impossible to get any work done until he was finished.

During the summer months when we had the door to the outside break area open he just stuck his head outside and sneezed, and sneezed and sneezed completely uncovered. Sometimes for several minutes, before he headed back through the office and sat himself down at his desk again like nothing happened.

I think about that guy more often then I care to admit tbh. I hope he's still around somewhere, blessing people with those amazing fits. Perhaps I get more stuff done now, but I do miss that added excitement sometimes. 

What are your opinions about work sneezes? I thought he was quite cute, so I didn't mind it, but I think if I hadn't I might have found it disturbing instead. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by sneezysunshine

[Heathcliff]

Wow! That sounds very distracting. At work I used to sit near a guy who would sometimes have a couple of audible hitching breaths before sneezing, and he sneezed quite a bit - that did take my mind off my work.

I am usually only attracted to women's sneezes though, and I work mainly around men so luckily I don't get too distracted. It generally doesn't bother me - I've never worked with someone who sneezed as much as your colleague though.

[solitaire-au]

That sounds both incredibly attractive and extremely distracting!

I always found anyone sneezing at work to be distracting, especially if they sneezed multiple times and it was a man I found attractive. But I was never lucky enough to experience anything that compares to what you described!

I wonder if he was trying to use the sunlight to trigger photic sneezing or to increase his exposure to pollen to try and get his allergic reaction over and done with more quickly? Or maybe he was just trying to move away from the workspace to minimise his disturbance of others? (Though it doesn’t sound like he succeeded, fortunately for you!)

[sneezysunshine]

58 minutes ago, solitaire-au said:

That sounds both incredibly attractive and extremely distracting!

I always found anyone sneezing at work to be distracting, especially if they sneezed multiple times and it was a man I found attractive. But I was never lucky enough to experience anything that compares to what you described!

I wonder if he was trying to use the sunlight to trigger photic sneezing or to increase his exposure to pollen to try and get his allergic reaction over and done with more quickly? Or maybe he was just trying to move away from the workspace to minimise his disturbance of others? (Though it doesn’t sound like he succeeded, fortunately for you!)

Yes very distracting haha! But it was quite nice, and it was usually only a once a day or perhaps sometimes two or three thing that happened. And I don't think it boiled down to pollen allergies, I thought about it in my head and sort of tracked it (as one do lol) and it was about the same consistency throughout the year. I mainly think it was because they were just so forceful and he wanted to not disturb as much as possible, since people talked a lot on the phone on that job, so he just escaped to the break room to have his lil sneeze fest. It was definitely less disturbing for the others when he walked away, but I just listened harder haha

[PapaBear70]

A simply amazing observation. I'd love to be at a job where I could observe fits like this on a regular basis, lol. 

Unfortunately for me, there's no one I work around that I care to see or hear sneeze 😅

[colorado198219]

That is incredible.

That sounds like a vacation actually, in addition to being a job.

Was there is a season or time of day that he would sneeze more?

What was the number of sneezes he would sneeze and was there a big variance in the number of sneezes

When his sneezing fits would stop, would he have the sniffles afterwards?

I have worked with alot of men over the years and I actually have not worked with a guy who sneezed so much. I have worked with alot of guys who sneezed constantly singles and doubles or guys that have had a few sneezing fits during the pollen season, but never so much.

[sneezysunshine]

3 hours ago, colorado198219 said:

Was there is a season or time of day that he would sneeze more?

What was the number of sneezes he would sneeze and was there a big variance in the number of sneezes

When his sneezing fits would stop, would he have the sniffles afterwards?

I have worked with alot of men over the years and I actually have not worked with a guy who sneezed so much. I have worked with alot of guys who sneezed constantly singles and doubles or guys that have had a few sneezing fits during the pollen season, but never so much.

I don't remember it being consistent at one particular time of day, it could be whenever really. The amount of sneezes also differed, but I stopped counting one like "normal length fit" after about 15 sneezes and he kept going for a while after. So it definitely was a lot, it must have been pretty exhausting for him. Sometimes his sneezes came out almost double at once, you know the type atch-atccshhhoo sort of thing? And if you count that as 2 than I'd say over 20, if he really got going. Sometimes, when he didn't leave his desk, he could have like 7 or 8 in a row back to back. 

I don't think I've ever met anyone in real life that sneezed more than him that I know of, so he was definitely an extremely sneezy guy. Never once did I hear him complain about it or talk about having any allergies though, and I never asked either. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by sneezysunshine

[Hankysneeze]

He sounds amazing, thanks for sharing 

[obsexion]

Thanks for sharingggg, I would love to see this in person like you did 😭❤️

[solitaire-au]

In the 90s medical students Arthur Grant and Eric Roter published a paper after noticing a fellow student would sneeze at around every morning in class, often at around 8:20am. They think it may have been like a circadian rhythm for her. She didn’t have any allergies, and it didn’t appear to be photic sneezing:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8145900/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wnkgwz/why-do-i-sneeze-at-the-same-time-every-day

Research has shown the nose operates on a breathing cycle where airflow is greater on one side and then another, called the nasal cycle:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5053491/

So sneezysunshine’s colleague might experience circadian sneezing fits influenced by his particular nasal cycle that are really intense. (Or maybe he had allergies and just didn’t want to bring it up; pollen allergy symptoms are usually worst in the morning, but of course, open windows and doors or inadequate  ventilation can make it worse at any time.)

[rekztul]

Sounds amazing! I used to sit in front of a guy who sneezy at work. You'd hear them sniff and sniff followed by spraying ARRCHOOOO ARCHOOOOO aimed into the aisle. I miss those days. 

Did he ever cover or muffle his sneezes, or did he just let them out away from everyone else? 

[sneezysunshine]

36 minutes ago, rekztul said:

Sounds amazing! I used to sit in front of a guy who sneezy at work. You'd hear them sniff and sniff followed by spraying ARRCHOOOO ARCHOOOOO aimed into the aisle. I miss those days. 

Did he ever cover or muffle his sneezes, or did he just let them out away from everyone else? 

Oh that sounds nice too! He did cover them when he was around people, it was just when he stuck his head out the door in the break room that he didn't cover. He wasn't always very good at covering, like he held a hand or arm up one or two decimeters from his face haha, but he'd also go out to the break room and just take a bunch of paper and just hold it pressed against his face until he was done (which was super cute ngl)

[allergyboy2001]

I've only seen something like this once, I think. I was on a long-distance bus and two guys got on. One of them sneezed about 15 times in a row, and then blew his nose in his handkerchief. He commented to the other guy, I always sneeze this many times. But there were no more sneezes on that trip!

[Vipiyoh]

Oh my goodness that sounds like a dream

[Lady Blessington]

Swoon! 😁