4 updates from readers

Here are four more updates from readers who had their questions answered here this year.

1. My coworker self-published an X-rated book and won’t stop promoting it at work

I tried making mention of how racy the book was, but he honestly seemed to take it as a compliment. Gradually word spread through the office, but everyone sort of silently decided not to talk about it.

You nailed it in your assessment of his judgment though. My position changed, so I work with him more often. It’s become exceedingly obvious that he is painfully unaware of professional boundaries and social cues. Enough that it’s uncomfortable. He does good work, so people have let it slide in the past. Unfortunately his behavior has escalated to a level of creepiness that has us wondering if we should alert our manager, but we are at a wait-and-see phase right now.

2. My work computer breaks daily (#2 at the link)

I wrote to you about my work computer breaking a couple months ago. The computer problems were fixed, but I quickly learned that my company has a host of IT problems and it wasn’t just me. Fortunately, my productivity has not suffered and after only a couple months on the job, I have gotten promoted twice and I am on the track to become a manager.

3. Should I let a company know why I don’t want to interview with them? (#1 at the link)

I wrote in asking if I should withdraw from an interview and let the company know it was because of their bad reputation. I followed your advice and canceled the interview and moved on. The recruiter seemed quite miffed (which fit with their bad reputation), but the hiring manager wished me well and told me to stay in touch if I were interested in future openings.

But as I wrote to you, a different problem popped up. While mentioning the possible job interview to a colleague (this was for a job after my then-contract would have ended, so it wasn’t in any way secret), one of my direct reports chimed in that I shouldn’t ever work there, because they had treated him terribly. It turned out that he broke his contract, left mid-project, withheld it from his resume, and lied to me about his work experience when I interviewed him.

This put me in a bad situation because the new company and my company were working together on the same film, and I was their point of contact (which is how they came recruit me). I frequently refer to my team members by name, praising their work, when I collaborate with another vendor. If they’d drawn the conclusion that I convinced one of their workers to break his contract and come to my company, it would have made us look very bad. People move around in VFX all the time, and there are legitimately bad circumstances that can justify ending a contract early (they’re at-will). If he’d been honest about the working conditions, I would have understood why he left, and it would not have stopped my hiring him.

But the fact that he lied about it and put us at risk might stop my hiring him in the future. I spoke to him about this in hopes that he’d see the risk to his and our professional reputation, and he did apologize, but it did not seem genuine or remorseful. His contract ended soon after, and I see from his LinkedIn that he lied about his job title at our company and used that to get a job somewhere else. I suspect his career in VFX will be short if he burns every bridge he crosses.

4. Giving input for someone else’s evaluation (#1 at the link)

It was really helpful to see the commenters’ feedback, specifically around giving direct feedback to my coworkers. I’ve started to do that more, but it is often harder– because it means that I need to do it more in the moment. I’ve continued to be honest of my assessments of my coworkers when asked. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really resulted in improvement though.

I’ve also worked on dealing with my stress, so that work doesn’t stress me out as much. Getting back into exercising and filling my time off with things that I really enjoy has helped a bunch.

{ 79 comments… read them below }

  1. Kdg*

    @ 1, I’m shocked that there is actually a level of creepiness *above* promoting your “racy” novel at work. O_0 Good job ignoring it though; I’m not sure I’d have the strength.

    1. Josh S*

      NO! Not a good job ignoring it!

      I mean, sure, for the sake of Getting Things Done, sure, OP1 has done a good job of setting aside the icky and continuing to complete work.

      But there is NO REASON that the manager should not have been alerted by this point. They may be aware of other things that the OP is not aware of; this may fit a pattern of behavior that has been addressed in the past and has been requested to stop. And (I am not a lawyer, much less an employment lawyer), I’d be concerned that there are Sexual Harrassment laws at play here, and if it’s enough to make a person offended/uncomfortable, the management needs to be made aware of that so they can address it before it gets out of hand.

      1. neverjaunty*

        Yes. OP #1, you should not “wait and see” (for what, exactly?). You should speak to your manager now. Otherwise it is highly likely the next time you talk to your manager about this dude, it will be in the context of you being asked why you didn’t say something earlier.

        1. fposte*

          But also say something to the guy. I’d recommend that as an initial step in most cases, and I think it’s particularly relevant here because some of the OP’s co-workers really sounded like they were getting locked into a groove of making his weirdness a thing to bond over. That can be kind of creepy in its own right, and it’s really not good to avoid requesting your co-worker behave appropriately just because you’re getting social thrills from the fact he isn’t.

          1. neverjaunty*

            Somebody should speak to the guy, absolutely, but that somebody should be a manager at this point.

            1. fposte*

              Maybe, but if I were the manager I’d be displeased at the employees for the way they’ve handled it.

              1. Jessa*

                You may not know the history of the person, they may have done this in the past and had bad outcomes, they may be prior victims of assault/harassment/abuse/or anything else,) and the idea of talking to someone creepy is incredibly triggering to them. In my case I’d have gone directly at the racy book and called them on it, but the escallation of creep, I would have gone directly to the manager. If the manager then was all “why didn’t you talk to them,” I’d have a full on panic attack. You don’t talk to people like that except at the very beginning when you can possibly believe it’s just a mistake (they like you, they’re being stupid about it, you ask em to stop.) But if for some reason in the moment (too many people around not backing me up, customers/clients in the room and not speaking up,) the moment is gone and in a future moment there is NO way I’m going there.

                But yes I’d be displeased as well for them not coming in SOONER, not for them not confronting the problem person. There are just too many people I know who can’t do that.

                1. fposte*

                  It’s not a single person, it’s a whole crowd of people who’ve made this into their joke without ever dealing with it. And frankly, even if it is a single person who finds it difficult to speak directly to somebody, that doesn’t automatically mean the manager will do it for them; the existence of a manager doesn’t relieve somebody of the obligation to say “Knock it off” themselves.

                2. neverjaunty*

                  What is the “it” to knock off here? This isn’t a complaint that the coworker did a thing one time; it’s an ongoing pattern of behavior. OP did apparently try to bring up the inappropriateness of the book and got shot down.

                  This isn’t about punishing the dude, it’s about there being a severe problem (inappropriate behavior, commucation failures) that a manager needs to address.

      2. Kdg*

        Sorry! :( I just meant I couldn’t even work with that person. I’m super shy and don’t think I’d have the strength to say anything to someone doing something like that; I’d probably quit. …last time I say anything. >.<

  2. Anonsie*

    #3 Now I’m curious. Did he outright lie, or did he just not mention being at the other company short term? I thought that’s kind of what you’re supposed to do if you go somewhere and bail out fast due to things that are typically Not Discussed in an interview. Or at least, you can do it without it being considered deceitful.

      1. Judy*

        Right, but that’s ok to not put everything on a resume. I think the question is did the OP specifically ask if this guy had worked at X?

        1. Jax*

          It sounds like it’s important to know if an employee worked with a specific lists of clients. If that wasn’t a question during an interview (or maybe a question to be checked on the application) than it might be a good idea to add it after this experience.

        2. fposte*

          It sounds like there was a two-step–he withheld it from his resume (a valid action but one the OP is understandably interested in) and also lied about his experience in the interview, possibly denying the connection or claiming an alternative route.

          I don’t get how people are simultaneously under contract and at will, though. I don’t think that’s possible.

          1. PEBCAK*

            Isn’t that pretty common in academia? Non-tenured faculty typically have a contract, but they could be let go or quit early.

            1. Artemesia*

              Non tenured faculty have very strong contracts usually. If they are not told by X they are renewed automatically for the next year. They cannot be dismissed mid year or once the contract is in force for the next year. Notice is usually given by May 15 or thereabouts if they are not renewed. There are as contract workers who have 3 year or similar contracts and normal tenure contracts usually run 3 years with a spot or two where dismissal is possible generally with a year’s notice. E.g. the tenure run is normally 6 years with failed candidates getting a 7th and final year. But it is in 3 year increments, so someone who is seriously not measuring up can be dismissed at the two year review (with one year notice and so leaving after the third year.)

              Academia is one of the rare environments where most faculty work under contract and cannot be dismissed at will (although they can be dismissed by not having contracts renewed).

          2. Josh S*

            Contract is something like this:
            “The scope of this project lasts 26 weeks, with the majority of the work falling between weeks 14 and 22. Pay is $1k per week, for weeks 1-13, and 23-26, and $1.5k per week for weeks 14-22.
            Either party may cancel this contract at any time with 14 days notice, and all work performed will be paid at the daily rate, as indicated above.”

            It’s project work, really. It just formalizes that the scope of the project is limited and there’s no guarantee of work beyond that project. (Or, alternatively, that the employment might have ‘gaps’ between projects.) You can still up and quit, and the employer can still fire you, but you have to be paid for and/or work the “notice period”.

            1. OP #3*

              The second paragraph of what Josh said sums it up. It’s project work. There are no guarantees of work after a certain date. Our pay is hourly (with overtime) at a fixed rate that can be renegotiated for each project.

        3. Anonsie*

          That’s what I wondered. I guess she must have, since she said he lied, but I’m not really sure either.

        4. OP #3*

          I asked him what he’d been doing during the months following the last contract on his resume, and he said “looking for work”. Call it lying, call it withholding the truth, but it’s not good practice IMO. He knew during the interview who our fellow vendors were, so he had a chance to come clean.

          1. Lily in NYC*

            Huh. That doesn’t seem all that egregious to me. But faking his title on LinkedIn wasn’t cool.

            1. OP #3*

              Though the contracts are at-will, breaking one is a big deal. VFX profit margins are extremely thin, so losing a key player during crunch time can be disastrous. It’s something you Do Not Do unless you absolutely have to. The various studios respect each others’ contract dates so they can effectively manage their resources. Sometimes people have to leave early, and that’s just the way it is, but don’t you agree that it’d look bad if I spoke proudly about the work done by an employee that had just screwed that other company over?

  3. Snarkus Ariellius*

    #1> As you mentioned in your first letter and here again, literally NO ONE has talked to this guy about his behavior.  Are you really surprised he continues?  No one has ever told him that he shouldn’t.  (I wonder if part of that reason is because it’s more entertaining to to the masses to let the joke go on and on?  I exclude you, of course, in the masses reference.)

    I understand that someone with otherwise decent emotional intelligence and better judgment wouldn’t have let it get this far, but you and AAM have clearly established that he doesn’t have it.  It’s not your fault, but it’s not his either that he soldiers on with this behavior.

    I’m curious to know what you mean by his behavior escalating “to a level of creepiness.”  Can you expand on that a bit more?  Is it stuff you can’t quite articulate but it bugs you somehow?

    Even after all this, you all are still hesitant to take action.  Just know that the longer you don’t take action, the longer he’ll continue and the more he’ll escalate.

    At first I felt sorry for him, but now I’m just squicked out.

    1. VictoriaHR*

      As an autistic person, this really sounds like how people with Asperger’s might act: “painfully unaware of professional boundaries and social cues.” Yep. Have had that problem, although not to this extent of course. IMO the manager should be brought into it but not in a vindictive “this coworker sucks” way but as in “this person might have a disorder that’s undiagnosed or not disclosed to the workplace” sort of way.

      1. Helka*

        No, no, no no no no no. Speculating about someone else having a disorder is absolutely not the way to go about it.

        Going to the manager shouldn’t be vindictive, but it should be focused on the behavior he’s exhibiting, not on the potential cause for it. “Joe is doing X, Y, and Z inappropriate things, and that is having A, B, and C effects on us.” It is Joe’s decision whether to disclose a disorder (if he has one) privately to the manager.

        1. Katie the Fed*

          “Going to the manager shouldn’t be vindictive, but it should be focused on the behavior he’s exhibiting, not on the potential cause for it.”

          This.

        2. Zillah*

          Agreed. I also think that it’s really important to point out that while the pattern of behavior as described may be more common among people who are autistic, it’s also very common among men who like to harass or intimidate women without facing any repercussions.

        3. Formerly Bee*

          I agree. Also, it’s nobody’s responsibility to interpret a coworker showing you porn in the most charitable way possible.

        4. neverjaunty*

          Exactly. Regardless of whose “fault” it is, this is a situation that a manager needs to handle. I’m a little surprised how many people seem to think it’s the equivalent of snitching to the warden.

      2. Kiwi*

        Please don’t use autism as an excuse for sexual harassment.
        This isn’t the odd strange comment, or “close-talking”, it’s a pattern of highly creepy and inappropriate behaviour.

        I wish society would stop trying to find ways to excuse threatening behaviour. Most harassers do not have a developmental disorder. They’re just jerks.

    2. Arbynka*

      “Try telling him it’s non- optional social convention”.

      I agree with Snarkus. Yes, adults should know the boundaries but as a mother with a son and few friends that are on an autism spectrum, some people struggle with it more than others. And then there are jerks who are perfectly aware about what is appropriate but they simply enjoy messing with fellow mates. Either case, the way to deal with it is the same. Direct approach. In my experience, people struggling with human interactions do appreciate honest, polite feedback. If he is a jerk, as Snarkus said, things can only get worse if he sees there is absolutely no pushback regarding his innaproprite behavior.

    3. M-C*

      #1, it seems to me this has gotten quite out of control. I’ve had one of those at work myself in the past, which caused a lot of snickering (his writing as -atrocious-), but he also took the lack of open reaction to mean he could progress to harass likely looking prospects, including voyeurism off work premises.. Imagine how much worse this could get in the age of net diffusion of images. And you personally may not know how far he’s gone with other people already.

      Basically I think you need to involve management quickly. Because the injunction to stop this behavior should come from management. It’s more likely to work, as otherwise he’ll just play the outspoken among you against the more timid to pretend that the outspoken are prudes and the timid are consenting. On the other hand, management needs to know because what he’s doing is sexual harassment. So management could be getting themselves in the way of a lawsuit if they don’t handle it right, and also the company could lose some much more valuable employees if it doesn’t protect workers from this creep. They may not handle it well, and workers can then draw their own conclusions and act accordingly. But unless you have good reason to think that management doesn’t care and doesn’t want to know, they should be informed as soon as possible..

    4. Maggie*

      I love the word “squicked” I’m in the UK and haven’t heard it before. I will drop it into conversation now. Thank you!

      1. A Non*

        Be aware that ‘squick’ as a noun can refer to, um, things you shouldn’t be looking for on a work computer. In context, ‘squicked out’ is usually pretty mild, but it’s probably not something you want to say in front of your mother.

        1. Maggie*

          Thanks for the warning! Lucky I’m using my phone(!) and am on public transport. Ah, well. Making me smile though.

          1. fposte*

            I think that usage is pretty overshadowed now, since it doesn’t come up a whole lot in real life.

            1. Turtle Candle*

              Yeah, I’d actually use “squick” as a verb in front of my fairly conservative mother (like, “I don’t want to watch [horror movie], eye horror squicks me” or whatever). I’m aware that it has other meanings, but the one that I hear 95% of the time is the verb that means a particular flavor of “grossed out.”

              1. Jamie*

                This is the only context I’ve ever heard it used – it’s a totally SFW word for me.

                I knew an elderly person when I was a kid who was wildly offended by the word “dork” since to him referred to male genitalia. Thank god for Urban Dictionary so I can figure out if what my kids are saying is offensive before I criticize.

                1. HeyNonnyNonny*

                  Oh good– I’ve only ever heard it as meaning grossed/creeped out.

                  I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it as a noun. Like, I’m going to go watch a squick now? I’m off for a quick squick during lunch? Dear sir, please join me for some squicking this evening? It sounds wonderfully wrong!

                2. Zillah*

                  Yeah, I’ve never heard it in this other not safe for work context – I’ve always heard it in the “grossed out” sense.

            2. Lily in NYC*

              I agree. Kind of like the word scumbag. I had no idea about it’s other meaning until recently!

              1. fposte*

                I just saw it used in a middle-grade novel. I’m guessing the author didn’t know about the other meaning either.

        2. Sunshine*

          What?? I had no idea this was a real word outside of this site! I thought Alison made it up! :-)

        3. FD*

          Personally, I think its original meaning has become obscure enough that it’s safe to use. Some people may know the original context, but I don’t know that enough do for it to be inappropriate in conversation.

          Wouldn’t use it in work correspondence, but that’s just because I think it’s a little too net-speaky for professional stuff.

    5. OP1*

      So by an increase in creepiness, I mean returning from vacation with sex-themed shotglass souvenirs for the male co-workers and sending group e-mails to the “lovely ladies of the Tea Spout Team”. He has a habit of putting women on pedestals and tends to be sort of a nice-guy/white-knight type towards female co-workers. He (married) has also started exhibiting signs of a crush on another married co-worker (offering her his jacket when she’s cold, sending her over-the-top e-mails about how he appreciates her, offering to stay late to protect her from potential kidnappers “with his military training”, etc.). He’s a very soft-spoken guy who works hard and is otherwise a great co-worker, and I think we’ve been at a loss for how to explain in the moment how slightly too familiar behaviors are inappropriate.

      1. fposte*

        For the solicitousness: “Bob, your talk about personally protecting me is inappropriate, and it makes me uncomfortable. Please stop that.”

        The sex-themed shotglasses would probably have sent me to the manager. “I’m really uncomfortable that all the men are being given topless dancer glasses in the workplace.”

      2. Jamie*

        I worked with someone once who would preface everything he said to me with “hey beautiful lady…” when he had screwed something up I had to fix.

        He did it to my predecessor for years and she hated it…I broke him of his habit in less than a week by telling him not to do that. No trips to HR, no lectures on why it’s not okay, just “don’t say that to me” with a not kidding expression.

        I know it’s annoying when people do something they should absolutely already know is inappropriate but sometimes they need to be told. It sucks – but I’ve never had anyone continue stuff like this after being repeatedly told to knock it off in a firm non-ranty way.

        1. LauraRenee*

          Oh, man, it’s great when it works, but it doesn’t always in less professional environments with less rigorous hiring practices, like restaurants.

          I waited tables during the summer when I was in college, and there was a guy my dad’s age who regularly addressed me as “baby.” I was training him, and he’d already said it so often that when he asked me, “Is there anything else I can do, baby?” I said, “Yeah, don’t call me baby.”

          At first he was apologetic, but when he kept slipping up, he got defensive about it. “I call my daughter baby!” was not a great argument to make with me.

          He also had creepy behaviors, like making a show of reading his Bible on break and pushing tracts at our non-Christian OWNER of the restaurant. I nearly died of mortification.

      3. Diet Coke Addict*

        Some of that needs to stop, right now. You don’t need to explain why–if he turns up with a sexy shotglass, the response is “Bob, this is not appropriate for the workplace.” Lovely ladies? “Bob, don’t refer to your colleagues that way.” It sucks and is very difficult and can be very uncomfortable, but I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that office must be in general!

        He doesn’t really need to know why–I mean, I hope he’s not going to mount a defensive predicated on the idea that it’s not creepy or anything–but please, please, please be firm and straightforward and tell him to stop that.

      4. Katie the Fed*

        Yeah, I agree with the other posters above me. I think some of the problem is you’re approaching this like it needs to be A Big Deal. It doesn’t have to be. Just say in a neutral tone “Bob, please don’t address colleagues as lovely ladies.” If he asks why you can explain that it’s patronizing and unprofessional.

      5. Zillah*

        I agree with what everyone else has said, but wow – am I the only one who’d find someone offering to stay late with me to protect me from potential kidnappers with his military training kind of frightening? I’d see it as he’s trying to be alone with me in an inappropriately possessive way while drawing attention to his strength and ability to seriously hurt or kill other people. Which um NO.

        1. Melissa*

          No, I would too – I interpreted it exactly the same way you did. I would be seriously creeped out and scared of this guy should he have offered that, and wouldn’t want to be left alone with him in any context.

      6. Artemesia*

        The red flags are really waving on this one. Time to inform the management. The ‘protect you’ thing is scary — people like this are potentially dangerous. And even if not, are creepy.

      7. Melissa*

        In addition to what was already said (this needs to be addressed, now) I wanted to add that the nice guy/white knight/puts women on a pedestal thing can have a dark underside to it. Some (definitely not all, but some) men do it out of a sense of misplaced idealistic views about women that give us an impossible standard. When a woman inevitably breaks that standard (because it’s impossible), the Nice Guy can turn upset or hostile – towards her and towards other women. This is probably the least biased description of it that I can find.

      8. neverjaunty*

        You don’t have to. “Bob, I don’t want you to do that. Thanks for understanding.” If he tries to argue, don’t. “Because I don’t want you to.”

        You not owe Bob an explanation.

        And you should be going to management immediately. This is incredibly over the lone.

  4. Nivaneen*

    LW #1, I’m not sure how long you and your coworkers are willing to “wait and see” before speaking to your manager, but if the E.L. James Wannabe’s behavior is truly disturbing, it might be a good idea to start documenting all incidents of him being creepy or inappropriate. (And by documenting I just mean keeping a written list of dates, times and details for each incident).

    That way, if/when you do go to your manager, you’ll be able to establish that it’s a bona fide pattern of behavior and not just a general feeling among his coworkers that he’s creepy or weird.

      1. Nivaneen*

        Oh definitely. After reading OP’s comment describing the nature of the “escalated creepiness”, it seems likely that just pointing it out to him saying “Hey, this isn’t OK, you need to stop” might be enough.

    1. Mister Pickle*

      > E. L. James

      Actually, from the way his writing has been described, I can’t help but think of him as an aspiring Nicholson Baker.

      The publishing field is so weird today. Not that it matters re his behavior at work, but I’m curious: is the guy’s stuff actually starting to take off? Creepy though he may be – maybe he behaves this way because he honestly thinks of it as “his art”?

      1. Nivaneen*

        It’s possible, but the chances of something self-published becoming hugely successful are so very tiny that it just doesn’t seem likely. He might well think of it as “his art”, but I doubt his eagerness to show it off has anything to do with it having gained actual popularity.

        (Although then again, who knows? Maybe OP will reveal the title of his book, we’ll all Google it only to find it at the top of a list of self-published bestsellers and I’ll be forced to eat my words).

        1. Mister Pickle*

          Heh. It does seem doubtful :)

          Then again, when I first read about this situation, I was like ‘Is the problem with the “x-rated” or that it’s “self-published”?’

  5. Wehaf*

    #1 – like others, I am not sure why you are taking a wait and see approach. What exactly are you waiting to see – if his behavior spontaneously gets better? It’s not going to happen. He’s been getting worse, and creeping people out. Management needs to make clear what the workplace boundaries are, and enforce them. The longer you wait, the worse things will get.

  6. ZSD*

    #3 – Can you reach out to this ex-employee and ask him to correct his job title on LinkedIn? That might wake him up the idea that people check up on things and that word will get around.
    It would be tempting to reach out to his current employer, but I think that might be seen as petty.

      1. Zillah*

        I’d say no. It’s not really your business at this point unless someone calls you asking about him, and what do you think you’re likely to get out of telling him or his boss?

      2. Elizabeth*

        I know that a former colleague listed his title as one level above what he really was when he was with our organization. He was laid off and looking for a new job, and our mutual manager offered to serve as a reference for him. When she saw the discrepancy with the title, she sent him a message to the effect that as long as he misrepresented his work with our organization, she wasn’t able to serve as a reference. He fixed it immediately.

        So, it isn’t completely out of bounds, at least.

      3. Nivaneen*

        I think it’s a great idea – as long as your tone is matter-of-fact, or even friendly, and you leave room for him to save face (by claiming it was a mistake, the way liars who get caught out are wont to do!)

        e.g. “Hey Bruce, I’ve noticed that you listed yourself as Head Teapot Polisher on LinkedIn, rather than Junior Teapot Cleaner, and I figured I should give you a head’s up so you can change it to something more accurate. Thanks!”

      4. Melissa*

        I don’t think you should, but I’m curious – is the job title incorrect but functionally similar to what he does, or it is completely wrong and makes him look like he’s at a higher level or doing something different than he actually does?

        I ask because currently, my job title is “postdoctoral research fellow”. Academics and people who frequently hire PhDs know what that means, but I am also interested in non-academic jobs, and so sometimes I call myself a “postdoctoral research scientist” instead. The reason is because I have found that non-academics tend to perceive a research fellowship as still being “in school” – they think I’m in a didactic program. (I’ve told a few people what I do before I realized this, and I would always get the response “Wow, you must really love school!”) I use the terminology difference to convey what it is I am actually doing rather than confuse people with the idiosyncrasies of academia.

        So I was curious whether it’s possible that your ex-employee is doing the same thing – perhaps looking to transition out of your field?

        1. OP #3*

          To use the common teapot theme here, his job was equivalent to “Teapot Packager”, but he listed himself as “Teapot Maker”. It’s a substantial difference, though definitely in the same department, and the normal job path is to progress from Packager to Maker in a couple years. By listing himself as Maker, he implied that he had experience that he just did not have.

          Your example is very interesting! But I’m quite sure that’s not the case here.

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