Anyone who has worked in a toxic work environment can attest to how demeaning it is to put up with unfair expectations, entitled behavior, and other terrible traits in exchange for a paycheck.
But an entitled boss demanding one of his employees care for his dog might be a new item to add to the Toxic Work Environment BINGO Card, side-eyed the members of the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit.
Redditor ShowComprehensive296 was the administrative assistant at her workplace, and she was well aware of her boss’s mantra of running a “friendly workplace” and “treating everyone like family.”
But when he began to demand that she take his dog home and dog-sit him every night because the dog liked her and he didn’t have a place to keep him, the Original Poster (OP) knew it was time to draw a line.
She asked the sub:
“AITAH for refusing to take my boss’s dog home every night, even though ‘it’s just a temporary arrangement’?”
The OP’s boss recently brought a new “employee” into the workplace.
“I (29 Female) work as an administrative assistant at a small company, and my boss, Greg (40 Male), is the type of guy who thinks ‘running things like a family’ means he can do whatever he wants.”
“A few months ago, Greg adopted a Golden Retriever named Buddy. Buddy is great. Greg is not.”
“Instead of, you know, adjusting his own life to accommodate his dog, he just started bringing Buddy to the office every day, which would be fine, except Greg does not actually watch him.”
“Buddy is now a full-time employee. He roams around, eats people’s lunches, barks during client calls, and once peed on the office printer.”
“Greg’s response? ‘Haha, classic Buddy.'”
To make matters worse, Buddy’s needs start to trickle outside of standard office hours.
“Last week, Greg sent out a company-wide email, saying he was looking for a volunteer to take Buddy home at night.”
“Why, you ask? Because, get this, Greg’s apartment does not allow pets.”
“Apparently, for the past two weeks, my coworker Jessica has been taking Buddy home. Jessica is now moving out of state. Instead of figuring out a normal solution, Greg just assumed someone else would take over, or we could do a rotation.”
“I ignored the email, assuming someone higher up would shut this down.”
“Nope. Instead, Greg called me into his office and hit me with, ‘So when do you want to start taking Buddy home?’ Not would I like to. Not is this something I’d be willing to do. Just ‘when.'”
“I laughed because I thought he was joking. He was not.”
“When I said no, Greg sighed dramatically and pointed out, ‘You have a house, right?'”
“Yes, Greg. I have a house. A house with two cats who would rather commit arson than share their space with a Golden Retriever. I told him that, and this man actually rolled his eyes and said, ‘Can’t you just keep them separate?'”
“At this point, I was done. I told him, ‘Greg, I am not taking home your dog.'”
“He looked at me like I had personally murdered Buddy in front of him. He said he was ‘really disappointed’ in my lack of teamwork and then started making vague comments about my ‘attitude’ and how it ‘might affect my future here.'”
The OP began to feel like her workplace was losing its mind.
“And guess what? Some of my coworkers are actually on his side. One of them, who I assume wants to be promoted to Assistant to the Regional Dog-Sitter, said, ‘It wouldn’t be that hard,’ and, ‘Jessica never complained.'”
“Meanwhile, Greg has started bringing Buddy over to my desk multiple times a day and saying things like, ‘He really likes you. You sure you won’t reconsider?'”
“Buddy is now actively staring at me while I type this.”
“My fiancé thinks this is the dumbest thing he has ever heard and told me to start looking for a new job.”
“In the meantime, my coworkers are acting like I kicked Buddy into oncoming traffic, and Greg is giving me Disappointed Dad Vibes every time I walk into the breakroom.”
“Am I really such an a**hole for not playing slumber party with this dog? Or has my workplace completely lost its mind?”
“AITAH?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some had been cringing since the OP said the company was run “like a family.”
“Three tips: One, don’t work for ‘family’ companies. Crap like this is why.”
“Two, don’t work for anyone who has this level of s**t not squared away. Ever.”
“Three, if something like this happens to you, nine times out of ten, it’s because the group thinks you’re a victim. Of COURSE, your id**t coworkers don’t think it’s a big deal. They’re hoping the eye of Sauron won’t fall on them.”
“The problem is, he (and they!) have ALREADY decided this will negatively affect your future. You’re giving off doormat signals. You can’t fix them there. You can only fix them somewhere else.”
“Do like Jordan Peele and Get Out.” – TheGrolar
“As someone with three large dogs (Boerboel) and always having owned dogs, I’d still say f**k no to that requirement. I love my dogs and have the space for them. But if one of my employees asked me, I’d smile and tell them to get their s**t together.”
“NTA, OP. Even family can’t always house or pet-sit their family’s pets.” – AnnaRPsub
“NTA. When he brings Buddy over to your desk, just redirect him toward one of the colleagues who thinks you should be taking him. Surely, if they say you should do it, they don’t have a reason not to do it.”
“Now, personally, I’d love my boss to lend me a Golden Retriever (my dog wouldn’t), so somewhere out there, there is someone who would consider it a perk. Just not you.” – Gin_n_Tonic_with_Dog
“Is that Greg’s company? Does Greg have a boss? It’s time to escalate this higher up.”
“Greg is an a**, and someone needs to call animal control and let them know about Greg and Buddy.”
“He has no business having a dog with no place to keep the dog, and an office is no place for a dog like retriever to spend his days.” – Mother_Search_3350
“NTA. It’s not your responsibility to take care of your boss’s dog, especially when it’s against your apartment’s rules and you have your own pets to consider.”
“Your boss needs to find a proper solution, not just pawn off his responsibilities onto his employees.” – Lovely_Brooke
“When his boss hinted that not taking the dog home might affect their future in the company. The dog or your job? Sounds like extortion to me.”
“If there’s a Human Resources department, this needs to be brought up. The whole thing with Buddy: bringing him in to run around, disrupt work, eat and pee on everything, and now threatening jobs of those who don’t paste on a smile and say, ‘Yes, sir’ when he demands they take home his dog.”
“It’s just a wild abuse of power.” – Bice_thePrecious
Others agreed and theorized how Jessica’s moving out-of-state spoke volumes.
“‘Jessica never complained’… No, she just moved out of state to escape the situation.”
“NTA. I’m a dog lover, but your boss is ridiculous.” – Visible-Lobster-6625
“I bet Jessica didn’t really move out of state. She just changed jobs. Like, ‘Oh! I TOTALLY would, but I’m… moving… to Ohio!'” – teen33
“Jessica’s situation reads like that thing that people do when bosses push boundaries or they’ve caught on that folks who change jobs with notice get treated like s**t for their remaining time unless it’s out of the person’s hands.”
“Like their significant other leaving the area or a family emergency makes them quit. Then weirdly they never seem to leave the area but still don’t come back to the workplace they quit to move.” – b0w3n
“You should start looking around for a new job like Jessica did.”
“She didn’t move, she just didn’t want him randomly dropping the dog off because her address was in her personnel file. She just got a new number, new job, and possibly dyed her hair.” – RitaFaye88
Some felt terrible for Buddy, an innocent bystander in all of this.
“That poor dog.”
“Want a dog to develop separation anxiety, possibly misdirected aggressive behaviors, and resource guarding? This is a great way to do that. I’m sure Buddy is well-loved, but stability and consistency is important! Especially for a high energy dog.” – monty624
“It’s time to look for a new job. Greg is an irresponsible pet owner and a terrible boss. Someone should call animal control… Buddy deserves better than this nonsense.” – YourCatsRedd
“Greg is such a piece of s**t for how he’s treating that poor animal.”
“The golden retriever rescuers around here would be livid if they knew about a placement like that. My coworker was rejected because she has kids. I think if you found out which rescue, they’d do the dirty work for you.” – Suspicious_Holidaz94
“I’m a dog lover… which is why I would never do this. It’s insane, obviously, but also, anyone that loves dogs and agrees to basically keep a dog with no legal ownership to it would just be setting themselves up for a world of hurt.”
“You get attached to them, train them, and then one day, the douchebag decides to give them away, treats them wrong, etc., and expects you to just ‘deal with it because it wasn’t your dog anyway.’ It would be rage-inducing.” – 9makenzie
“Please do Buddy a favor and call your local animal control department. Report your boss for animal cruelty. Buddy is the victim here, not you.”
“ESH. You and your coworkers suck for allowing this s**tshow to continue.”
“Do something to help the DOG! Let Greg fire you and then sue for wrongful termination.”
“Make up a log of all the times Greg asked you to dogsit Buddy, plus Buddy’s actions and behaviours in the office. Make a copy and hand this to relevant authorities to further add to the animal cruelty case.”
“If you still have contact with Jessica, see if she’ll add to it, as well.” – Sea-Operation-6128
As terrible as the subReddit felt for the OP and how their job’s future was being compromised, most felt the worst for Buddy, who was being improperly housed and cared for.
The best thing the OP could do was find a new job and also report the treatment of Buddy.
The OP deserved to get out of a toxic workplace where there was no future, and Buddy deserved to get out of a place where there was no real life.