Worker Says She 'Felt Like Throwing Up' After She Exposed Work Chat to Porn

Commenters lost it after a woman said she accidentally joined her work group chat with a graphic pornographic image set as her profile picture.

The anonymous woman, known as u/chumbucketbaby, posted about the incident on Reddit's "TIFU" forum where it received more than 40,000 upvotes and 2,200 comments from users.

According to Gergo Vari, CEO and Founder of an employment search service called Lensa, companies and organizations that focus on having a strong culture of friendly interactions see less turnover with new employees.

But, it is important to sustain work and social life balance in order to avoid lowered productivity and ensure coworkers respect each other's boundaries.

Woman's embarrassing picture in work group chat
A woman said she forgot about a pornographic image that was set as her profile picture and changed it to a professional headshot immediately after she was informed by a coworker. Many commenters said it... Fizkes/iStock

In the post titled "TIFU by joining my work groupchat and now I feel like throwing up" the woman, 25, said she was recently added to a work group chat on WhatsApp with her coworkers that are between the ages of 40-50.

The same day, one of her coworkers approached and asked if she was aware of her WhatsApp profile picture.

"I had to check as I had not been on whatsapp in a while. So I open whatsapp to check my picture and felt like throwing up," the post read. "The picture is a very detailed and pornographic image of Iron Man and Captain America having sex."

She explained that she originally saw the image on Twitter and showed it to her friends because she thought it was funny. One of her friends made a bet that she wouldn't set it as her profile picture and she decided to set it on WhatsApp because she never uses the app but then forgot about it.

Once she saw the image, she immediately changed her profile picture to the "most professional" one she could find. She said that as she was panicking, a coworker who is normally friendly walked past and avoided making eye contact.

"My boss saw this picture, all my co-workers saw this picture, I feel like I have scarred these older people for life," the post read. "Tomorrow I have to go back to work and I don't know what to expect or what to do."

More than 2,200 users commented on the post, many cracking jokes about the situation and others offering support.

"I'm sorry but that's hilarious. I dunno, just tell them that you set it your picture to that as a joke a long time ago and completely forgot, and that you're sure they've seen worse images on the internet before."

"Trust me, you have not scarred any of us," one user said. "Pornography has been around since the beginning of time; we've all seen it before."

"Bet you won't set that as your linkedin profile!" one user joked, receiving more than 26,000 upvotes.

"Go to work dressed as Captain America," another user suggested.

Newsweek reached out to u/chumbucketbaby for comment.

One woman went viral after revealing in a popular Reddit thread that her coworker sent her an unsolicited nude photo.

In the same thread, an engineer was criticized after it was revealed that he told an employee he was mentoring that people were intimidated by her "exotic" beauty. Many users agreed that the man crossed a line with his comments.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more

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