A young woman recently took to Reddit to ask for opinions after she refused to help a coworker who had stiffed her earlier in the day. Was it pettiness or karma at work? Here is the full story so you can decide for yourself.
She’d Just Started a New Job Despite Being Heavily Pregnant
OP is a 23-year-old woman who is 38 weeks pregnant. She recently started a new job at a small optometry practice.
Because OP had lots of previous experience in the optometry field, it didn’t take her long at all to get comfortable at the new place. She understood their operations and could handle just about any task that came up.
But OP noticed pretty early on that her new coworkers all had their own areas of expertise, and they liked to stick with what was familiar to them.
For example, one woman who pre-tests patients refuses to answer the phone if no one else is available.
She Enjoyed Variety in Her Job
OP asked her bosses if they preferred this type of rigid job silos, but they said they’d rather everyone know how to do everything in the office. Because the staff was small, they wanted people to jump in when and where needed.
That suited OP fine since she liked to have some variety and also knew how to handle anything that might come up in the office. But it was a hard sell for her coworkers.
One day recently, OP was scheduled to do patient pre-testing, which involves a lot of standing. Her pregnancy was having its way with her, though, and she was particularly tired and sore that day.
At lunchtime, OP tried to strike up a deal with a 40-year-old coworker who was doing billing that day. OP offered to cross-train the woman on pre-testing if she’d be willing to let OP do billing for an hour or so.
Her Co-Worker Refused To Help Her Get off Her Tired Feet
That would give OP a chance to get off her feet and help her get through the day.
But OP’s coworker said she had no desire to learn how to do pre-testing because then other staff would expect her to help out in that area sometimes. She didn’t want be “shoe-horned” into new duties.
So OP went back to her pre-testing and just dealt with the pain and fatigue. By the end of the day, she was almost in tears, but she pushed through because she needed the money.
Toward the close of business, OP got the chance to sit down and work on charts after she finished with the last patient.
So She Got Her Own Back!
That’s when she saw that the coworker who was doing billing was drowning in phone calls and insurance questions.
Flustered, the 40-year-old who had refused to help OP earlier turned to her and asked if she’d take an angry patient off her hands and answer some questions.
OP answered with a straight face that she didn’t want any part of that because then other people would expect her to jump in and help with billing all the time. She didn’t want to be shoe-horned.
The coworker just glared at OP, then turned back to her work. She was completely overwhelmed, but OP decided not to help.
Her Bosses Said She Could Leave Early
Not long after that, one of OP’s bosses came to her and told her she could leave early for the day, and that he’d pay her anyway.
After some time to think about it and talk to her husband, OP admits she was being petty with her coworker.
But she still thinks it was reasonable for her to ask for some help in the first place. Now she’s concerned that she has started drama in an otherwise friendly work environment.
Was She Right To Turn the Tables?
Redditors mostly support OP’s decision to turn the tables on the coworker.
They, too, think OP was petty, but many of them say the woman had it coming. Some say being petty is the only way to get a point across sometimes.
So what do you think of this story? Was OP out of line for asking for help from her coworker?
And was she overly petty for refusing to help the woman later on?
What do you think OP should do now to make sure no hard feelings fester between them?
He Refused to Serve Entitled Tourists That Cut in Line, Much to the Delight of Onlookers
The post “Have a Taste of Your Own Medicine.” She Stood up to Her Lazy Co-Worker Who Didn’t Want To Help or Learn New Things. Do You Think She Was Being Petty? first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Kues. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit