Is my managers behaviour toxic or am I overthinking it?
I’m looking for an outside perspective because I genuinely can’t tell if I’m overreacting or if my workplace is as strange as it feels.
I’m autistic and currently working in a Civil Service AO role. I’m normally very grounded, but my manager’s behaviour has been making me feel constantly on edge and even weirdly huge in my own body, despite being fit and healthy. I can’t tell if this is a me‑problem or an environment problem.
Here are the things that are throwing me:
- she regularly scans my body up and down silently when I walk in. Focuses on my stomach hips and my thighs. I’ve seen her do this multiple times to me in 3 days now. It’s got that bad that I’m starting to see myself as bigger than I am. I’ve always been told I’m sporty/athletic but I’m starting to question myself now.
- Questions my lunch (What are you having for lunch today?) and goes silent/judging when I answer and then tells me she’s eating a salad. Obsessively talks about her diet but then goes out to Tesco to buy crisps/cakes. Slags off female celebrities appearances all the time and says “the only reason she’s got a good body is because she can afford to go to the gym and has the time”
- Verbalises a desire to be 'stick thin' and projects body insecurity onto me. Says she used to be a size 4 and wants to be thin again. Comes into the office first thing in the morning and brags about how many calories she burnt in the gym and how sore her arms are.
- Threatened to slap a colleague across the face. When I intervened and questioned her she said “you’re mad”
- She oscillates between forced friendliness and completely ignoring me for days while chatting normally to others especially other men.
- On my very first day of work she said “you’ve got beautiful eyes” and asked “do you have a boyfriend?”
- A legal advisor said to me “I think you’d make a good court assistant” and she interrupted him and said “I could do that job what does it pay and how do I apply?”
I’ve worked in a lot of places and never experienced anything like this. The lack of boundaries is exhausting, and I’m starting to question my own perception. I’m planning to leave in a month, but I’d like to understand whether this behaviour is actually inappropriate or if I’m somehow misreading it.
Is this normal management behaviour in the civil service, or is this as unprofessional as it feels?
Posted Jun 2, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC