A woman from the United Kingdom has sparked a debate online by calling out a medical worker's attempt to ask her out via Instagram after meeting her during treatment in hospital.
The woman in question shared a screenshot of the man's message to Twitter. The message she was sent reads, "Hey, this might seem a bit odd but I done (sic) your blood test the other day at hospital, and I thought you were good looking and seemed nice so here I am shooting my shot."
She captioned the screenshot: "Hello HR is that you".
While some Twitter users branded the man's behavior as inappropriate and unacceptable, others actually spoke out in defense of his actions.
"idk i see both sides like he should be put in his place about how this is wrong and whatever way you choose to do so id understand but also he’s quite nice about him “shooting his shot” he could of been a lot more rude which im glad he wasn’t so whatever you wanna do dude," one commenter wrote.
Another Twitter user took a more straightforward view of the situation, writing, "He got her name from her medical records. Her records that also have her address and her extremely personal details. All health care workers are told from the time they first start training that they cannot use patient data in this way. It is literally lesson number one."
Another went further, commenting, "If he cared about his job, maybe he shouldn’t have violated data protection laws? Patient confidentiality is drilled into the brains of people in healthcare. He knew what he was doing, probably done it before. Report the creep."
However, another Twitter user took a decidedly different view, writing, "It is not wrong for someone you met, even randomly, to compliment you and ask you out, as long as it is done respectfully. With the Internet, your public profiles can be easily found. This isn’t the same as being ogled, catcalled, or stalked. If you’re not into him just say no."
Another added, "I do not see an issue here, he was polite, not rude in any way, just reply an tell him your not interested, I presume this would have been okay if he was an attractive man??"
Another Twitter user was a little less emphatic, writing, "I don’t think it’s right but also don’t think it’s worth getting him sacked over. You need to put him straight tho and say you could report him for it and he needs to think about how much he values his job. Guy needs a reality check not complete destruction of his future."
The woman in question replied to some tweets saying that she was not trying to get the man fired, but wanted to highlight the "worrying" invasion of her privacy.
And in a follow-up tweet she added, "Disclaimer we’ve spoken he’s not getting fired, he knows what he done was wrong. The amount of abuse I’m getting id rather not report. If this was your sister or daughter or cousin in my position imagine how you’d feel if they got some of the messages I’ve received."
Do you think the guy crossed the line by sending the message, or is it just a modern and innocent attempt at sparking a relationship? Let us know in the comments section.
