Offices may thrive on collaboration, but not every connection is a welcome one.
When one employee was forced to endure his co-worker’s unwelcome advances, the fallout led to explosive drama that reshaped the workplace for good.
You’ll want to read on for this one.
So I (29M) started a new job about three months ago.
It’s been super nice, and I love my work.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.
The only issue has been between a coworker (mid-20s F, Jenny) and me.
She was not shy in letting me know that she is interested in me.
He tries to get ahead of the problematic behavior.
I am, however, married.
I have done my best to shut it down and told her that I’m very happy in my relationship and that I’m not interested in her.
But other colleagues are beginning to enable Jenny.
However, some of her friends have started referring to her as my “work wife” and me as her “work husband.”
I have expressed my discomfort with this and have stopped responding when they say it.
One night, everything all came to a head.
A little while back, my coworkers and I went to a bar, and throughout the night, her friends kept trying to get us to hook up.
At one point, Jenny told me that my wife doesn’t have to know.
When he tells his wife, she has an idea of what to do next.
I was done at that point, went home, talked with my wife (she was very understandably hurt I didn’t tell her about this sooner, but I didn’t want to upset her— dumb reason, I know), and came to the conclusion that I needed to go to HR.
I told HR about the incident, told them I felt uncomfortable working with her in the future, and that my other coworkers were encouraging it.
I also gave them some correspondences I’ve had with her that were relevant.
When HR looked into the matter, it led to some major fallout.
Over the course of the investigation, HR found more evidence of misconduct and ended up firing her for harassment.
I didn’t expect that and just wanted her to be transferred or something.
Now things are tense around the office.
Now my coworkers are giving me the cold shoulder and walk on eggshells around me.
AITA?
Hopefully Jenny learned a valuable lesson that no potential office romance is worth losing your job over.
What did Reddit have to say?
In this commenter’s eyes, the employee did exactly the right thing to shut down the problematic behavior.
The situation is very cut-and-dry to this user: He’s not at fault.
It’s always nice to see HR stepping up and doing the right thing for their employees.
Jenny probably isn’t the only person who should be punished here.
Respecting your colleagues’ limits isn’t just courteous — it’s crucial, and Jenny’s many missteps proved costly.
There are just some lines you should never cross.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
