oh the fun

It's been...interesting...to be me in the last week or so. Granted, little has happened since my last post (November, I think). We've had the holidays and all the fun that entails plus snow, lots of snow. January was pretty neat. A friend of mine had a baby girl and I was lucky enough to be present for her birth. It was beautiful. All-in-all life has been pretty decent.
Last week and the week before were the doozie of doozies. I've been working on various projects for my job (some mine, some not mine) and got really irritated with a repeated mention regarding the amount of time a particular project was taking. Due to the fact that I had been sick and still managed to do work on it, I was just ever so slightly enraged with the responsible party's lack of attention and action. I managed to bounce my retort off of other people before sending to help me ground myself and assure it was, in fact, appropriate. The response from that person was apologetic but still a bit clueless. At least I got to share my frustration and get it off my chest.
Last week was, well, interesting. Not only was one of my coworkers summarily fired (apparently warranted and I helped clean up afterward), I had one of my patients make one of the most inappropriate statements I've ever heard (and I've worked in a psych unit or three). This cognitively-intact, adult, married male (in my mind and others) knew better. Allow me to set up the scenario:
We are testing in my team's new space. It's in a relatively quiet area, as it needs to be for sound-booth testing. Looking back, I was my normal, polite but conversational self. I did not make any statements that would be misconstrued, I don't believe I used any passive body language, nor did openly invite any dialogue that could lead anywhere unprofessional. All-in-all, a normal testing situation for me. I'm witty, polite but to the point for testing purposes. Between some rather lengthy and not-too-exciting tests, I offered the option of taking a break. Usually this means conversing a bit about the test completed and the ones to come, offering a break for the bathroom, water or coffee, and the like. As I was standing in the administration side of a sound booth, making notes in his folder, this man says "I'm sorry, but you're really turning me on right now" followed by "shoo...shoo." To say this was creepy would be a drastic understatement as my internal dialogue was rolling, "What? What did he just say? Did he really say that? He's between me and the door. Everyone I know in this area is currently gone. Do I feel physically threatened?" So after an extremely awkward silence I informed him we would not be completing one of the tests and we proceeded to begin testing. In hind sight, there are many things I should have said and I think had I been in therapist mode, I would have been more prepared. But this was not a therapy session. This was testing. Music testing. Typically, the therapist in me does not have to be present for cognitively-intact adults.
Rather than let it go completely, I emailed my HR rep to ask what the appropriate response would be. She was just as floored as I was and couldn't really offer me anything. So it wasn't that great, but at least someone else knew something was up in case...well, just in case. After we finished his test, I decided to try to pretend as though nothing had happened. "Perhaps he's embarrassed by what he said" I kept telling myself. Even now, I don't believe it. I at least had some of my therapist hat on and could redirect questions that he asked in a way that had nothing to do with me. Now I'm left with the decision of sending a letter letting him know his behavior was unacceptable or waiting a year until his next appointment to see if he tries something like this again. Of course, if I choose the latter, he will be tested by two members of my team (not one). It was just creepy. Oh the fun...