AN office worker is taking time off work with stress after receiving a message from an older colleague that concluded with a full stop.

Josh, not his real name, 21, had been in good spirits before being ‘emotionally blindsided’ by the text and its ‘aggressive’ use of punctuation, which meant he had to be signed off sick.

He said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes at first, but there it was: that horrible little dot. I felt so overwhelmed with dread I had to have a lie down.

“Who does that to someone? Everyone knows that a full stop makes the most innocuous message seem sinister and terrifying. I’d honestly have preferred to receive a letter written in his blood.

“A colon would have left me feeling a bit confused. An ellipsis would have just proved his age. But a full stop is truly over the line. These millennials really need to think more about the damage caused by their violent grammar.”

The offending message was sent by Tom, not his real name, 41, who maintains he has ‘no f**king idea what’s going on’.

He said: “All I said was ‘see you tomorrow’ with a full stop at the end. I could have told him I thought he was a pathetic little wetwipe followed by an exclamation mark. That would have shit him up for life.”