Nudity and the boss

[side_show]

Would you want your boss to see you naked?

Would you want to see your boss naked?

Would you want to shower with your boss every day before work?

This is a problem I have run into.  I run 5 days a week in the morning before work.  It is an important part of my self care routine.  My boss has recently started walking on the track or swimming at around the exact same time at the same gym.  In spite of my attempts to time things differently, it seems to be constantly working out that she and I are arriving at the showers at the same time.  The shower is public, with little opportunity for any sort of privacy.  Pervious to this situation, I have had no issue with strangers seeing me nude, but there is something about the power balance of her being my boss that makes me uncomfortable.  I strongly desire not to see her nude, or her to see me nude.
 

[CortJstr]

I certainly would not want to see my boss naked. That would be worse than the 65-year-old guy we see every day in his bike shorts

[Nabubrush]

I can understand this. I'd like to see my boss nude, but not in any situation that it would be likely to occur in the real world.

Also, solid topic!

[Asherdan]

Yeah, I'm in that spot.

With the other upper-division types, it doesn't give me a hitch and I don't care if it bugs any of my reports. The predominate culture here is along the lines of people working like hell so health/exercise routines get fit in around the day and...it's just not a thing. The company culture sets the expectation that it is encouraged to do healthy things around your work schedule. We use facilities provided on campus for us, so who you run into is not a surprise, really.

The dark side of me says this is because they want everyone happier and more productive as they work our life out of us.

As for you, Smells. I'm sure you know that acting any differently than you already do would only make things weird. You have to exercise, let her adapt if it bugs her and you carry on.

[jaydub]

I'm not moved one way or another by the thought.  Ive known my boss for a long time - if we were to cross paths at the gym I'm sure it would be standard locker room behavior.

Grownups don't snap each other's butts with towels.  At least, that's not our corporate culture

[Choop]

nosireebobski. i'd be changing gyms and if my boss followed me with a gym switch i'd be lawyering up and talking to HR.

[wombat]

I would actually prefer not to see anyone that I work with naked, not just the boss.

[AugustWest]

I would actually prefer not to see anyone that I work with naked, not just the boss.

I thought you were self-employed!

I would like to see my boss naked.

[Asherdan]

I would like to see my boss naked.

I had one of those kinds of a couple years ago. Hell, I like those kinds.

[wombat]

I thought you were self-employed!

Actually I also have a part-time job at the moment, but I'm not so crazy about how my self-employed boss looks naked, now that you mention it.

I was also thinking back on previous situations. I have had a few jobs where there were showers on the premises and have seen a couple of co-workers sort of half naked and, really, if you don't like them it's awkward and if you do like them it's possibly even more awkward.

[wombat]

Speaking of the self-employed part - I have done work for quite a number of people who I have never seen either naked or clothed.  I don't think it's necessary to go to that extreme, though.

[side_show]

Yeah, actually wombat is right - I would rather not see anyone I work with naked, boss included. 

My boss is a wonderful lady.  She's about 20 yrs older than me.  She would probably laugh at me if I told her this was a problem.  She's got a pretty positive attitude about almost everything.

In the reverse, I have about 20 people who I manage, and I would definitely not want to see them nude every day, or have them see me nude. 

Why is this a thing?  I think it has to do with power - everyone's equal in a room of wet, naked strangers, but throw someone you know in, and it's all about measuring up in some way for me I guess.

The interesting thing is that I changed to this gym from my YMCA membership because it was about $350 a year cheaper, but the thing is, people were generally more relaxed about nudity at the YMCA - almost all the ladies were walking around naked, where as at the new gym, most people work pretty hard to stay covered up.  I thought that was just silliness or unnecessary shame, and until I came across my boss, I was one of the maverick few who let it all hang out at the new gym.  I was all "who care's, this is a locker room, and I'm gonna be nude.  I am in the shower, people are naked in the shower."

I'm thinking I need to adjust to what is "normal" for the gander, and start bringing towels the size of bed sheets and "hiding my shame" as they say. 

The thing is, being that I am attracted to woman and men (though happily monogamous with my husband) there is a part of me that wants to check some of the ladies out.  There is an extra layer of appropriate boundaries there for me to confront that is not there for all ladies.  It is vaguely okay to look at a naked stranger and think "is she hot" because it is an anonymous situation with someone I have no personal investment with, where as, I don't even want to go there with women I interact with on a day-to-day basis. 

Nudity.  It's a thing.

[jaydub]

I was talking to a friend at work today, and he was describing how his girlfriend is being psychotic about gym memberships.  She's a student at Stanford, and hence has full access to those (excellent) facilities, but at the risk of "running into someone she knows", she won't go there.  At the same time, she's very stressed out from being in grad school and needs to do something to let off the steam, so she's considering joining some club or another with fancy group exercise classes for $300 a month.  Apparently it isn't even the thought of seeing someone/being seen naked - she doesn't want to be seen sweating, or less than dressed to the nines. Its apparently a thing.

[wombat]

Grad school can make a person irrational.

[pmcd9]

I worked for my Dad for 15 years and I have seen him naked many many times and vice versa.  When I worked in a chemical plant I found my boss very attractive.  I frequently hated her guts, but I wouldn't  have minded seeing her naked.

Beyond that, I want to see everybody naked all the time.