Apologies for how rambling this is
Ashley and I are coworkers and good friends. We go out to dinner with our other colleagues regularly after work, have gone clubbing together, and have contracts to collab on the same project in late fall.
I’m a single lesbian. Ashley is bisexual but in an open marriage with her husband. I know Ashley is attracted to me, as she’s mentioned it many times, is very touchy and flirty with me, and has said if I ever wanted to mess around, she’d be down. Personally, it seems exorbitantly messy to dip pens in the company ink, so I wouldn’t and have told her as much. However, many of our coworkers are also poly/swingers and at least two have taken her up on it, so the suggestion itself isn’t wild.
For our mutual friend Sami’s birthday, Ashley, myself, and about ten acquaintances of Sami’s went to a karaoke bar and later a discotheque. At the karaoke bar, the conversation drifted to work uniforms, costumes, and a hilariously unfortunate incident where Sami’s dress ripped before an important presentation and our old boss found them changing in a closet. I made a comment that at least no one at our company had seen me naked. Ashley snorted and waved away my confusion when I looked over at her. I let it rest, as I assumed she was just giggly because she’s a lightweight and already had two cocktails. At the discotheque, Ashley kept dancing up against me, and seemed put out whenever I twirled Sami or had conversations with others in the group. Since Ashley only knew Sami and I, I thought she just didn’t want to dance with strangers. After a while, I excused myself to get some fresh air and a drink on the rooftop patio and Ashley joined me.
Out of nowhere, Ashley admitted that she had seen me naked before. I attended a holiday pool party at her house a few months ago. I needed to change out of my swimsuit, and her husband told me there were three bathrooms available: the master bath, the bathroom next to the garage, and the bathroom in the guesthouse. Only the latter was empty, so I just popped into the guesthouse and changed inside. I didn’t bother to go to the bathroom since the blinds were closed and the guesthouse was a studio that I knew it was private/empty. Ashley told me that they have cameras in the guesthouse because that’s where they “play with friends” and “make movies”. Ashley said she knew I had changed in there and saw the footage.
At this point, I realized Ashley was absolutely wasted. She dropped her glass, and I had to basically lift her off the floor. She was super handsy and kept flirting with me while I helped her to a chair. Ashley just continued to flirt and try to twirl my hair when I brought up the cameras. I got annoyed and asked if she deleted it, and she was like, “Yeah, oh course!” but her delivery sounded very fake. Soon after, her husband arrived to collect her extremely drunk self, and I returned to the rest of the group.
I didn’t say anything to our mutual friends, but I’m feeling extremely odd. In our event group chat, Sami asked if everyone survived their hangovers, and Ashley said she couldn’t remember anything so she hoped she wasn’t “too embarrassing!!” She then texted me about how she thinks she’ll try sober July, and I didn’t respond. Later that day, she reposted a meme about loving to lie when drunk to her story. (I have never known her to not be brutally honest while drunk.) It’s been a few days, and I’ve been ignoring most of my messages, so my lack of response isn’t super out of character.
From all of Ashley’s past physical flirting, and her strangeness, I don’t think she has actually deleted the footage. It felt very clear that Ashley didn’t intend to let me know about the cameras; she’s offered to let me sleep in the guesthouse whenever we go out or after a late shift. In her flirting at the booth, she also seemed to imply she’s watched the recording of me changing multiple times, and didn’t say she deleted it until after I pressed the issue.
I am feeling really unaccustomed to handle this. I can’t tell if Ashley actually remembers telling me about the cameras. I just feel like she enjoyed the invasion of privacy, and it’s really making me rethink our interactions and dynamic. I also am reluctant to rock the boat, as gossip spreads like wildfire here and I know I’ll be working closely with Ashley in the future. Any advice deeply appreciated.
Edit: Company doesn’t have HR. I won’t be seeing Ashley at work until the autumn contract, however, she’ll likely be at some social events I was invited to.
Comments
That’s incredibly messy and it sounds like she doesn’t regret the invasion of privacy. If you want to pursue speaking to HR I’d suggest it but honestly from what you’ve described the climate at your workplace sounds kinda toxic
Ashley sounds like a swinger trying to get you to join her and her husband
I would confront her (preferably in person but if not comfortable than in text) about it. I know a lot of ppl have hidden cameras in their home nowadays but I think that’s creepy and is setting a dangerous precedent for where our society is going. However, regardless if she can legally have recordings in her house, I think it’s a violation of your privacy and trust for her to watch that video multiple times. It’s great that she’s very sexually adventurous but it’s clear she doesn’t respect boundaries.
I think a direct conversation regarding boundaries and more importantly your intention not to cross lines with coworkers that can help realign things better. If she refuses to take things seriously or agrees to but reverts to her old ways, I think threatening her with HR could maybe help her see not everyone thinks this is fun.