Com- [clap] mu- [clap] ni- [clap] ca- [clap] tion [clap] is [clap] key [clap].
Doesn’t matter where you are, doesn’t matter what you do, if you communicate with other people effectively, you will have solved nearly all of your problems in life.
And if you don’t communicate with others, then at least don’t expect them to read your mind, and even more so, don’t blame them if something doesn’t go the way you had hoped. Like hoping your coworker wakes you up from your afternoon nap at work.
More Info: Reddit
If you're gonna go for a nap and not set an alarm, be ready to face the potential consequences of sleeping through your work
Image credits: george ruiz (not the actual photo)
Reddit user Energetic_Hyena6965, a 24-year-old woman, works an office job with a bit of a strict work culture. For starters, lunch times are done in groups, so each employee has their lunch break at a different time, with groups having earlier or later times, and they seemingly overlap.
They also can’t bring any food or drink to snack on at their workstations because computers. Lastly, bad things might happen to good people if they happen to arrive late to their desks.
So, one fateful Friday, Anne, a 6-months pregnant coworker of OP’s, was on her lunch break together with OP. It has become a bit of a habit for her to take a short nap because the baby demands a somnial sacrifice.
Or, maybe decide to blame someone else for your lack of foresight and make them get massive support from folks online
Image credits: Energetic_Hyena6965
But, unlike most days, she did not wake up on time to get back to her desk. She always does, even if she usually doesn’t set an alarm for it, but she ended up sleeping a good 30 minutes into her work time.
OP spent her lunch break in the break room as well, scrolling, kinda sorta knowing her coworker was taking a nap on the couch, but mostly zoned out because of her ADHD. So, when she left the break room at the end of their designated lunch time, she did so while still in her zone.
After said 30-ish minutes, some of the other colleagues noticed that OP’s colleague Anne was not at her desk. One quick search later, they found her deep in her dreamy slumber on the break room couch.
OP approached the AITA community with a situation where she was being blamed for not waking up a colleague, despite her not asking to
Image credits: Energetic_Hyena6965
Given the strict work environment, the boss ended up finding out and giving her a warning about it. This warning immediately ricocheted at OP in the form of entitled accusations.
Apparently, Anne was of the impression that, since she and OP share a break time, OP was supposed to wake her up so she wouldn’t miss the remainder of her shift. On top of that, she told Energetic that she’s selfish and careless. And to make matters even worse, many colleagues started siding with Anne on the matter.
OP came back with the idea that if Anne can’t wake up for work, then maybe she shouldn’t even sleep at work in the first place. This made Anne even angrier, and kept saying that it’s the baby, not her.
The situation escalated when OP was accused of being careless and selfish, and other coworkers started siding with the "victim"
Image credits: Energetic_Hyena6965
Image credits: Travel Salem (not the actual photo)
Energetic did point out that if Anne had asked her, she would have woken her up. She claimed there was no evil intent whatsoever. But here we are on r/AITA.
OP did provide a little bit of context as to why and how it happened in the form of edits and responses in the comments. This was where she explained she has ADHD and hence she simply didn’t notice Anne for that whole time. Besides that, she also explained that Anne always wakes up on her own, so OP had never had to worry about it.
And folks thought OP was in the clear. Anne failed to set an alarm, and that alone makes it her fault, but the added entitlement and all of the colleagues rounding up around her made her an even bigger bad guy in this situation.
But folks online were having none of it, pointing out that OP is in the clear because people need to take responsibility for their own mistakes
Some elaborated that being pregnant doesn’t give people a “free pass” of sorts to shift responsibility to other people. In fact, she’s an adult, which makes her even more of a jerk in this case. And yet she has the audacity to call OP “selfish and careless”?
Bottom line, OP was not in any way obligated to do anything in that situation, according to people online, and the AITA community left it at that. NTA.
You can check out the post in context here, as well as check out some other similar posts that we’ve covered here, here, or here. Or here. Definitely not here, but also worth a read. But anyway, leave a comment with your thoughts, or share a story of you getting blamed for ridiculous reasons at work in the comment section below!
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