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HAVING a colleague who's convinced she influences the hormones of everyone around her is sure to raise some eyebrows in any office.
But one woman who was home sick from work was floored by the message her coworker sent to the whole company — CEO included — about the impact she claimed to have had on her cycle.
In a now-viral video, TikToker Makenna Jensen (@kennnatalk) shared her tale of workplace drama that she dared others to top.
"If you thought your co-workers were obnoxious, let me ease your mind," she said.
After waking up with cold-like symptoms, including aches and congestion, she called out sick from work.
She was floored that her absence led to her being the focus of a rather embarrassing missive.
"A coworker of mine took it upon herself to send this message to the owners, CEO, [and] my direct reports," she said.
Rather than relive the experience all over again, she showed a screenshot of the message, as DMed to her by another coworker.
"Makenna will even out within 14 days," the offending colleague began.
"My progesterone levels cause other women to cycle with me and as I'm menopausal, poor Makenna gets affected every time I stand close to her."
In addition to claiming she impacted the hormones of all the women around her, the colleague had some specific thoughts about Makenna's periods.
She claimed that Makenna went through "multiple cycles" in one month, leaving her feeling very "disrupted."
"I see that she's out — she'll feel much better after I'm gone. You shouldn't see as many sick days from her," the message continued.
Makenna's stunned facial expressions said it all as she still couldn't fathom the correspondence.
She attempted to make a comment but was still reeling from the exchange.
"I'm speechless," she finally said.
Jensen couldn't hide her feelings of horror, but she was still able to poke fun at the surprising situation.
"Is there somewhere I can take legal action — mama needs a new Range Rover. Or something from Nordstrom," she joked.
Others were equally shocked by the messaging mayhem.
"I beg all your pardons because what?" wrote one bemused viewer.
"My jaw droppeth," Makenna replied.
"I am also speechless," another viewer commented.
It's a persistently held myth that women's menstrual cycles sync up when they spend a lot of time together.
But in fact, science says otherwise. So why do so many people believe it?
The idea, called the McClintock Effect, dates to a 1971 study of 135 women who attended Wellesley College.
Researchers observed that the monthly cycles of many of the women, who lived in the same dorm, changed to sync up with one another.
However, the effect has been debunked several times, including in a 2006 study and another by a tracking app in 2017.
“For healthy people living together, proximity doesn’t change cycle timing or frequency,” said Stacie Jhaveri, MD, according to The Cleveland Clinic.
“Periods just don’t work that way.”
According to Dr. Jen Gunter, the idea seems to have stuck around due to confirmation bias — and statistics.
"Menstrual cycle length can vary from woman to woman, as well as be affected by a variety of factors, such as sleep, stress and fluctuations in weight," she wrote for the New York Times.
"So the chances are two women who spend time together will have an occasional menstrual cycle that starts within one or two days of the other."
"Say what? I don’t want this to go viral, but I do. You know this isn’t the end," yet another chimed in.
"Still collecting my thoughts," Jensen admitted.
Another TikToker with a background in HR for two decades shared her insight into how she could only take legal action if the worker who sent the message was in a managerial position.
She would also have a case if she faced retaliation from the recipients of the message.
Either way, it seemed there was one course of action she could take.
"I would make a formal complaint to HR so it’s documented," she said.
