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Woman Called ‘B*tch’ For Not Lying When Boss Asks Why Habitually Late Coworker Isn’t At Work Yet

Andersen Ross Photography Inc/Getty Images

The very least anyone can do at work, is their best.

This doesn’t mean only submitting flawless work, and never making any kind of mistake.

But rather showing that you are giving it your all, while always performing at least the most basic of expectations, such as always responding quickly to calls and emails, and always showing up to work on time.

Redditor WorkDramaCollective always did just that, but her colleague did not.

And when the original poster (OP) somewhat accidentally let this be known to their boss, her colleague didn’t even try to hold back her anger.

Wondering if she actually did anything wrong, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:

“AITA for making my coworker look bad for being late?”

The OP first explained that while her colleague’s consistent tardiness didn’t really bother her, her own proactive work ethic did not sit well with her colleague.

“So there have been a couple of incidents lately that have led my coworker, Jen, to become very angry with me.”

“For background, we are both scheduled to start work at 8:00 every day.”

“I usually get there between 7:30-7:45.”

“Jen typically gets in at 8:30 or later.”

“I have never complained about her getting in late or tried to draw attention to it.”

“It doesn’t affect my job, it’s not my business, and I don’t care.”

“The first incident was on a day that I was running late.”

“I was only running five minutes or so late, but I texted my coworkers to let them know because the last time I was five minutes late, I received 6 phone calls asking where I was before I got to work because people are used to be getting there early.”

“Throughout the day, Jen made several jokes about how lazy I was for being late.”

“Then, when we were in the elevator together leaving for work, she said in a rather sharp tone, ‘you know, when you make a big show of telling everyone you’re going to be late when it’s only five minutes, it’s pretty obvious that you’re just trying to show everyone else up’.”

“‘You’re not going to make any friends with that teacher’s pet act, FYI’.”

“I just kind of brushed it off and hadn’t thought of it again until today.”

When Jen was caught somewhat red-handed by their boss, the OP found herself at the receiving end of Jen’s anger.

“Today is the third day since the secure access cards we use to get into our office have been on the fritz.”

“I got to work at 7:30 only to find that my secure access card wouldn’t work.”

“One co-worker who gets in at 7:00 every day was already there, but when I called his line was busy.”

“So I just waited for for whoever came in next.”

“That turned out to be my and Jen’s boss, at 8:30.”

“He asked why I was in the parking lot and I explained about my card and the other coworker’s line being busy.”

“He asked why Jen hadn’t let me in and I just said I hadn’t seen her that morning.”

“He let me in and I thought that was the end of it.”

“Nope.”

“At 9:30 Jen comes into my office crying and closes the door before tearing into me about how I embarrassed her and got her written up by telling our boss she was late.”

“I didn’t see anything I did as wrong, but Jen’s position is that I am a ‘brown nosing little suck-up bitch’ who orchestrated both of these situations to make her look bad for being late.”

“Should I have handled one or both of these differently?”

Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:

  • NTA – Not The A**hole
  • YTA – You’re The A**hole
  • NAH – No A**holes Here
  • ESH – Everyone Sucks Here

The Reddit community agreed that the OP was in no way the a**hole for her conduct.

Everyone agreed that Jen dug her own grave in this situation, particularly as the OP didn’t even tell their boss that she was late, and if Jen didn’t want to look bad to her boss, all she needed to do was show up on time.

“NTA.”

“If Jen could show up on time there wouldn’t be a problem?”

“If anything I’d take this AITA post to your manager/HR.”- Ok_Research_8379

“NTA.”

“If she doesn’t want to be reprimanded for being late then maybe she should try.”

“Not being late.”

“You didn’t even directly tell your boss she was late.”

“All you said was that you hadn’t seen her that morning.”

“Presumably she could have been there and you just didn’t see her.”

“Your boss knew something was up.”- Special_Respond7372

“I don’t see how you could have handled either situation differently.”

“In the first incident, you did what any responsible employee does.”

“When you’re late, people don’t know if you are late or sick or a no show.”

“I always call when I’m going to be late.”

“In the second incident, you were asked to explain yourself.”

“You couldn’t get in.”

“Your boss asked you.”

“You were truthful.”

“It’s not you making Jen look bad.”

“Jen is making Jen look bad.”

“NTA.”- PrivateEyes2020

“She needs to take accountability for her tardiness.”

“Her being late is a fact, not something you especially pointed out until your boss particularly asked.”

“NTA.”- sherlocked27

“NTA.”

“Although I’m surprised no one’s checking the log-in records for people 15+ minutes late on a regular basis.”- TemptingPenguin369

“Jen is late every single f*cking day.”

“Jen is shocked when her boss catches her coming in late.”

“Jen tries to figure out how boss found out.”

“Jen does not think it’s because she’s late every f*cking day.”

“No, Jen is sure that cannot be the cause.”

“Jen’s future is not promising.”

“Her shocking inability to link cause and effect will catch up with her sooner rather than later.”-Literally_Taken

“NTA.”

“You don’t make her look bad, she makes herself look bad.”

“Just don’t be late.”

“Problem solved.”- coreysnaps

“NTA.”

“If the events happened as you said you just spoke about your issues as they came up and didn’t do anything to throw anyone under.”

“I fully expected you to say someone complained about you being late and then you said ‘well she’ but that is not how it went so, you’re fully NTA.”- deathfromace1

“NTA.”

“You didn’t tell him she was late, you just said you hadn’t seen her, for all you knew she had called in sick!”

“She has nobody to blame but herself.”-JBB2002902

“Heavy sigh, gets on soap box BEHOLD MY OLDEST ENEMY, THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY OWN ACTIONS!”

“NTA.”

“You didn’t even say she was late, just that you hadn’t seen her.”

“She wants to not be in trouble for being late?”

“Has she tried not being late?”- Badger-of-Horrors

“Absolutely NTA.”

“Her lateness is no one else’s fault but her own.”

“Hold up a mirror to her and tell her to leave you alone.”

“Honestly, her in ability to take responsibility for her own actions is hilarious.”- SarielvonLith

“I had the same kind of thing happen to me once and the person who said I tattled, she was 2 hours late for a 6 am start, went off on me in front of a group of coworkers.”

“I didn’t tattle, the boss pulled in behind her in the parking lot.”

“Someone complained about what she did to me, so she got written up twice in one day.”

“One for late and one for harassment.”

“NTA.”- Rude-Dog2559

“NTA obviously.”

“Her repeated lateness was bound to bite her on the ass sooner or later.”

“Her fault.”- heatherlincoln

“No, you never intentionally got her in trouble.”

“The trouble she got into was deserved, it’s the consequences of her own actions, she chose to say incredibly rude things and to be late.”

“That’s not your fault in the slightest.”- SnooObjections6726

“NTA.”

“Unless you are slashing her tires every morning, I fail to see how you are responsible for her consistently being late.”

“If you are running late vs. your normal time of arriving, it’s not making a big deal of things to let your team know.”

“Some of our shifts only have one team member on, so even if you are going to be a few minutes late, given the nature of our job, which is rapid response to critical systems outages, it’s worth letting the team know so someone can cover the gap.”

“She finally got caught, and is looking for someone to blame.”

“Hell you even said “I haven’t seen her” instead of “She’s not here yet’.”

“You handled things fine.”- twifferTheGnu

People very often look for others to blame when they know they are the one responsible.

Which seems to most definitely be the case with Jen.

Hopefully being written up by her boss will be all it takes for Jen to start showing up to work on time.

Otherwise, she might find herself looking for a new job, and likely won’t have. a great reference to help her out.

Written by John Curtis

A novelist, picture book writer and native New Yorker, John is a graduate of Syracuse University and the children's media graduate program at Centennial College. When not staring at his computer monitor, you'll most likely find John sipping tea watching British comedies, or in the kitchen, taking a stab at the technical challenge on the most recent episode of 'The Great British Baking Show'.