I am feeling very blaaah right now for adjusting the strap of my supervisor’s bra strap while chatting with her; it was falling off her shoulder and she wore a sleeveless dress today probably for some meeting. It was in an office with quite a number of female admin staff and maybe a male or two. But somehow, I feel some tension between us… has anyone ever had this experience? How did you deal with facing her in your next meeting without feeling a tad awkward? I would appreciate any words. I am female by the way although much younger than her..

Perhaps she is questioning her sexuality, and your action unintentionally complicated things further for.

If I were you I'd try to act completely normal as if the bra strap incident never happened or was nothing out of the ordinary. I guess you just overstepped the boundary in a moment of absent mindedness and hopefully she'll realise that. If one of my students did it to me it wouldn't bother me that much as long it was a one off incident.

I knew that was totally wrong the moment it was done 😓😩. Thanks AislingB and Eds. I have just been replaying the incident in my head and its driving me crazy

Yeah, I mean its done. Just act normal. She will be fine:)

Cultural norms may vary but I would feel very uncomfortable if someone did this to me, particularly in a professional environment, unless they were a close friend. I suggest you just try to re-establish a normal and professional working relationship asap. Perhaps put a certain amount of physical distance between yourself and her when talking to her so that it is clear that you do not intend to cross boundaries again.

Hi Dab

I would definitely bring it up the next time I saw her. I'd make it the first thing we spoke about. I'd even consider going to see her just to discuss if I wasn't due to see her very soon, just so I could get it out in the open. It's not something either of you are going to forget anytime soon, so at least by talking about it you can make your intentions clear - that it was an automatic response and there was no other intention behind it.

Thanks cloud,RLD and hazyjane. I will try both ways. I will probably see her today and if I still sense the tension,I will just talk about it and apologise. I really hope she doesn't hate me for this 🙍

She doesnt. Let us know what happened.

I think it's better not to mention and keep a physical distance when talking to her. At least, that's what I would do

Of course, if she has reconsidered her position, she may welcome another approach.

I'd be the same as HazyJane if this happened - it would make me very uncomfortable and not because of sexuality, but because of the breaching of a professional boundary. I echo what others have said about keeping a professional manner and distance to get things back on track.

Ok pheeew… she said its fine by her, she sees no problem with it and that I should not let such things bother me. Thanks everyone for being there for me. This will never happen again

Glad the meeting went well for you Dab.

Now you've cleared the air, you could probably ask her out properly?