My coworker thinks she has my period under control and has messaged my entire company about it
If you have a coworker who is convinced that she is influencing the hormones of everyone around her, that is sure to raise some eyebrows in any office.
But one woman who came home sick from work was overwhelmed by the message her colleague sent to the entire company, including the CEO, about the impact she said had on her cycle.
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In a now viral video, TikToker Makenna Jensen (@kennnatalk) shared her story about workplace dramas and challenged others to surpass it.
“If you think your coworkers are annoying, let me reassure you,” she said.
After waking up with cold symptoms, including aches and a stuffy nose, she called in sick to work.
She was dismayed that her absence led to her becoming the focus of a rather embarrassing letter.
“A colleague of mine took it upon himself to forward this message to the owners, the CEO and my direct reports,” she said.
Instead of reliving the experience, she showed a screenshot of the message another colleague had sent her.
“Makenna will equalize within 14 days,” the insulting colleague began.
“My progesterone levels make other women want to ride with me and because I’m in menopause, poor Makenna suffers when I go near her.”
In addition to her claim that she had an influence on the hormones of all the women around her, the colleague also had some specific thoughts about Makenna’s menstruation.
She claimed that Makenna went through multiple cycles in one month, which left her feeling very ‘disturbed’.
“I see she’s gone — she’ll feel much better when I’m gone. You shouldn’t be seeing so many sick days from her,” the post continued.
Makenna’s bewildered expression spoke volumes, as she still couldn’t understand the correspondence.
She tried to respond, but was still reeling from the altercation.
“I’m speechless,” she finally said.
Jensen couldn’t hide her feelings of disgust, but she still managed to joke about the surprising situation.
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“Is there anywhere I can take legal action — Mom needs a new Range Rover. Or something from Nordstrom,” she joked.
Others were equally shocked by the chaos in the messages.
“I ask your forgiveness because what?” wrote one surprised viewer.
“My jaw drops,” Makenna replied.
“I’m speechless too,” said another viewer.
Are women’s menstrual cycles really synchronized?
It is a persistent misconception that women’s menstrual cycles become synchronized if they spend a lot of time together.
But in fact science says otherwise. Why do so many people believe it then?
The idea, called the McClintock effect, originated in a 1971 study of 135 women attending Wellesley College.
Researchers found that the monthly cycles of many women living in the same dormitory were synchronized with each other.
However, the effect has been disproven several times, including in a Study from 2006 and another one by a tracking app in 2017.
“For healthy people living together, proximity does not change the timing or frequency of the cycle,” says Stacie Jhaveri, MD, according to The Cleveland Clinic.
“Menstruations just don’t work that way.”
According to Dr. Jen Gunter, the idea seems to have stuck because of confirmation bias and statistics.
“Menstrual cycle length can vary from woman to woman and is affected by several factors, including sleep, stress and weight fluctuations,” she wrote for the New York Times.
“So chances are that two women who spend time together will occasionally have menstrual cycles that start within a day or two of each other.”
“What are you saying? I don’t want this to go viral, but I will. You know this isn’t the end,” another chimed in.
“I’m still thinking about it,” Jensen admitted.
Another TikToker with twenty years of experience in HR shared her perspective on how she can only take legal action if the employee who sent the message is in a managerial position.
Even if the recipients of the message punished her, she would have a case.
Anyway, it seemed like she could take one action.
“I would file a formal complaint with HR so it’s documented,” she said.
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