update: I had a panic attack over a Halloween decoration at work (2024)

Perhaps you might consider preemptively requesting “no scary dolls” before your new workplace decorates for Halloween–or even just asking around to see if Halloween decorations are part of the office culture.

What a great update! I’m glad you were able to come back, address the tension and defuse it, and move on. Super glad that everyone there (including Doll Dude) were kind and supportive, without becoming weird or overly solicitous. Good work all around, team!

This was a fascinating letter – I learned something from it, as I had not ever heard of this particular phobia. Thanks for helping me learn something new!

I’m guessing that the reason the doll wasn’t immediately put away after the first bad reaction is that others – like me – didn’t understand right away that this was an actual phobia. Sometimes, in the spirit of fun, people will dramatically “act scared” of something, without actually being scared. That’s a whole different thing (as I now know).

Thanks for the great update, OP!!

The woman who thought you were laughing probably wasn’t lying. It might be a tic with me and others like me, but if I can’t see a person’s face, I have frequently mistaken sobbing for laughing. Especially when it’s very loud, probably because most people I know are quiet criers.

Once, a roommate’s boyfriend broke up with her and she was sobbing on the phone to her sister. For about 20 minutes, I thought they were laughing over a particularly hilarious joke.

Another time, at the vet’s office, I heard what I thought was hysterical laughter from another room. This time, I was only mistaken for a minute or two because of context clues.

But based on my experiences with this, I likely would have mistaken your noises for laughter. I’m probably way more likely to expect laughter on a festive day than sobbing.

And has this (event space) been swept for evil dolls?

Way to own it, OP, that’s a fantastic response! Glad your coworkers and especially Doll Guy had sympathetic reactions to your phobia and panic attack. It’s really nice to hear that, given how many terrible coworkers we hear about here on AAM. Congrats on the new job, too!

This is great! You handled this so professionally, OP, and I’m glad your coworkers were all good people and not jerks. Best of luck in your new job!

No dolls at all for me, please. I find them to be hideous little human effigies, every one. Growing up in the original Barbie era, my room was full of stuffed animals ONLY. Dolls just creep me out.

I can’t believe I missed the original posting in Oct. I too suffer from a fear of dolls – I always referred to it as pediophobia, but automatonophobia is also applicable. My uneasiness is related to dolls with eyes that open and close. I’m cringing thinking about those dolls as I’m typing this. I too would’ve lost it if I discovered a scary hidden doll. Fortunately most people in life have been accommodating of my irrational fear and many others have irrational fears (clowns seems to be a common one that is similar). I think fear of dolls is more common that we think, although folks suffer from it to varying degrees – most seem to be just mildly creeped out. It’s always comforting to meet others who share pediophobia / automatonophobia. Now I just have to keep scary dolls out of my young daughter’s hands.

Nice ending all around for the OP (colleagues understood and she even moved on to greener pastures).

Hooray for good updates!

I remember this letter and the comments, and am very glad everyone was so understanding. The thing about scary decorations, even during Halloween, is that context is paramount.

It’s one thing to go to a haunted house or other venue that’s designed to be scary–that’s the selling point, it’s up front, and the good ones describe the kind of scares that are likely to happen. It’s quite another to have that creature from The Ring suddenly appear in your workplace with no warning!

Oh you would hate me I have haunted dolls, creepy dolls, doll parts and antique dolls all over my house, I just love them!! I love to take the doll parts especially and photograph them with props.

I’m glad it worked out. I don’t have a phobia, but I have been seriously frightened/creeped out by movies with evil dolls.

Between this update and the update earlier this week about the zip-lining employee, there needs to be some serious intervention in this comments section.

In this original Halloween letter, LW’s coworkers were absolutely hammered in the comments for being malicious, juvenile jerks who don’t understand phobias, but oops! They were actually kind and understanding. In the zip lining letter, the original comments came for LW and the adventure center for being ableist and insensitive, but oops! They actually acted fine and did all they could in the moment to remedy the situation.

As funny as it is to read updates where the LW comes back to correct the massive speculation that happened in the comments section, it’s gotten so bad. There’s this weird impulse for commenters to totally martyr or demonize someone in every letter and not.back.down even when presented with information that contradicts their narratives. Most comment threads devolve into baseless what-ifs and tangents that add nothing to the conversation in which a real person is seeking real advice.

This was a lovely update to hear. It was an unfortunate incident but it seems like everyone concerned reacted just like you’d hope they would. As the parent of a child with phobias, I know how hard it can be to negotiate, especially when it’s something that other people consider fun or harmless (such as dogs, or toys) so I have great sympathy for the OP.

I went back and read the original and found out what the doll was and that is a big nope for me. For reasons I don’t understand, I have a phobia of that movie and its imagery to the point that I might have punched the doll as a reflex and probably damaged it. I feel so bad for the letter writer. No one needs jump scares at the office.