What would cause a person to speak in different accents randomly?
There’s this woman I work with who seems to have her accent change randomly.
Some days she sounds like a typical American accent, then others she sounds like she has a Caribbean accent and others she sounds like she has a French accent, and others she sounds like she has an Arabic accent. Other days her voice is super messed up, like she’s been screaming.
Beyond her voice changing, she is an odd person to work with. She’s gotten into public, loud vocal spats with other coworkers even in meetings. She was very nice and sweet with me when I first had to interact with her but that all changed when I made an honest mistake one time and she went off on me and wouldn’t stop until I ignored her and now I just keep my distance unless I have to. Others have said similar things about her as well.
I’ve wondered if maybe she has a personality disorder, but I would think that would also cause her to not do her job correctly?
I don’t know, I’m just curious. This is something I’ve never experienced before and wondering what this could be.
For myself, I sometimes still slip into it when I'm in a place where my anxiety is heightened. I was told I have "borderline DID" (disassociative identity disorder) stemming from PTSD, and that causes these kinds of "defenses" to pop up. Stress can absolutely trigger something like that.
It could very well be a brain injury, an autism quirk, or something else. Sounds like it's nothing to be concerned about, but I agree that it can be confusing or jarring!
As for her aggressive behavior, definitely talk to your superior about it. Regardless of her issue(s), a coworker should not be so hostile towards anyone.