This guy kept coming up to my face till I asked him to respect my personal space, now I wonder if it was creepy or just me being paranoid.

So I(29F) have an issue with people coming too close to my face and personal space. From now on let's call it "the issue". I have since childhood and for the most part people have respected that but when the pandemic has been around it has become more obvious how many people have problems with respecting other people's space in general.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I have this coworker and I have worked with them for about an year and a half now. He is a nice person who usually keeps to himself and he is not loud or anything. He is also not aggressive in any way and very polite to everyone and never intrudes on anyone's private conversations. He is not pushy at all in his approaching which is why I am starting to think if this was just me being paranoid. Or maybe I overreacted. *nervous laughter* I don't think I did though, but I will let you be the judge of that.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>So, about a year and a half ago I got a new coworker. He's very polite and only has talked with me a few times but we found out we both like the same stuff so we talk sometimes but not much. He is pretty quiet so I thought he was just shy. But after a while I noticed he has problems with respecting people's personal space which for me is like 2 meters. There was this one woman coworker of mine who always came way too close to my face and she stood like that for long periods of time. She stood so close I could see hairs in her nostrils. Also she always stood next to me touching me with her elbow and stuff and I don't like it.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>So, this new coworker of mine has this bad habit of coming up to your face which for me is like nope. I didn't want to say anything since I don't want to be rude or make them feel bad or think I am creeped out by them but they kept doing this stupid thing all the time and I just didn't feel comfortable. It was like they have no concept of personal space and I was like, I don't want to be rude. But I didn't know how to react. He didn't do this to everyone but he did it sometimes also with others. Sometimes he has like normal personal space but sometimes he will just stand there right on your face and talk. I saw a woman next to me literally step back when he was already standing in her face.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I don't know if this has anything to do with anything but my country has been in a partial lockdown for about a year and we have social distancing at work. In addition I have been wearing a mask at work since the beginning of 2020. I didn't want to risk getting anything. I have worked from home several times when I have had a cold or a flu and my coworkers have told me they appreciate it. It's better to be safe than sorry. I have an immune system of a turtle.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>So, one time when this coworker of mine came up to my face I told him I have the issue. Then he also had a mask on and he literally had his face like an inch away from mine and I told him he needs to have more space between us. He didn't seem to acknowledge it and keep on talking and soon he was back to where he was. In my face. He was not yelling and he didn't seem hostile at all. He looked confused and worried but not angry. I asked him again to keep more space between us since I have the issue and usually people respond to this by giving more space. Now he looked worried and like he didn't know what to say. He didn't say anything to me after that but he left. The whole incident didn't take more than a few minutes. After that he has somehow started to work more in the afternoons. He came to work earlier than I did and left later than I did. Then he has started to work from home. He didn't tell me he was going to work from home but I noticed since usually when I was leaving he was still there. The day before his first day from home he was there. So it can't have been planned. I don't know what he has told other people why he is working from home but to me he has said he is ill which I have also noticed. He has a cough and a cold, so he definitely doesn't lie about being ill. I asked him if he is ok since he has been off and on sick for months and he told me he is sick and he only works from home because he was sick.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I have eventually asked him if he doesn't like me or something since he seems to be avoiding me. He has told me he likes me and he is also one of the most polite persons to me and he is interested in what I have to say. I don't think he would change his whole attitude just because of one incident. I eventually confronted him about the issue and what happened. He told me he didn't know. He told me he didn't know about me having the issue and he didn't want to hurt my feelings or offend me. He said he didn't know how to react and he doesn't want to lose me as a coworker. The whole conversation was very weird since he has been so polite all this time and apologized profusely. He seemed to be genuine and regretful and also worried. I feel bad because I usually know how to read people better.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>We have since talked more and we are nice to each other and I don't think this was about me specifically and I just happened to notice it more which doesn't help with the fact that I have the issue. I have talked with other coworkers and they have told me they also think he has no concept of personal space. One guy was super creeped out by him. He has also started to work more in the afternoons and somehow managed to get a job where we can only have one person at a time so he has been mostly alone. I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing. He has also told me he has the issue but I don't think that's true. I have seen him interact with a lot of people and he never cared about personal space. I think he just said he has the issue so I leave him be. I don't know. I feel like there's something I am missing. Maybe he is just socially illiterate. Or autistic, I don't know. I just wish I knew what to do or how to handle it. It's so weird.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>TL;DR: Coworker kept coming up to my face and standing in my personal space and I only finally said something when I was uncomfortable and now they are avoiding me and somehow got a private job where they are alone. I am confused.