AITA to cut my boss out as a friend
Ok. So I (45f) work with my boss (44m) for 6 years now and i considered him a friend for many years. There is no sexual tension between us. He is in a serious relationship with another coworker but they keep it a secret, so far, only i know (because I thought I am friends with both of them). He always was weird about people not touching him after he got his gf, so I avoid it at all cost. Qe huged and three-kissed (greeting) before. He always was a cool guy and we could talk about a lot of personal stuff. many months back, it happened that i accidentally hugged him too tight when we were both drunk (according to him, to me it was a simple hug, but he clearly has stricter boundaries than I have,, so I appologised - I talked with my partner about it, after my boss mentionned it) It was in the present of his partner (my friend) and my then long term partner who both had no reactions to our hug. No jealous reactions of any involved party either because there was no reason. My partner saw it and thought nothing about it, none of us did, but him, this is why i apologised. Anyway, today, after more than half a year passed since the hug incident and I considered the matter settled a long time ago since we talked about it like adults and i distanced myself from him, I tapped him on the shoulder and he freaked out and told me "no touching". I was taken aback, it was less than a seccond of a touch and he had such an extreme reaction. I am not a "touchy" person either, and the weird thing is, we touched more than that in the past (before he was with his partner and before I separated from mine) and he never reacted this way. Does he think I want something from him? That would be ridicoulous. Now I think, this is not much of a friendship anymore. I clearly have to walk on eggshells near him snd I don't want to be friends with these kind of people. It is sad but i think I have to distant myself from him, and also my friend (she defended him, which is ok, since she is his partner) because I don't need this level of drama in my life.
Posted Nov 5, 2025, 11:47 PM UTC