We have all heard stories about some people getting tangled in work-wife or work-husband relationships. Yet, not everyone gets into them voluntarily. Sometimes, a person tries so hard to become their coworker's work spouse that it gets disturbing how set on this goal they are.
Today's story is the perfect example of this. A man had a coworker who his wife dubbed "wannabe work-wife." This woman constantly pestered the man's pregnant wife. The harassment reached a pinnacle when the woman insisted that the wife should have aborted her baby.
More info: Reddit
How should you act around a coworker who so desperately wants to be your work spouse?
Image credits: Gary Barnes (not the actual photo)
The author's husband has a coworker who desperately tries to be his work-wife despite him not showing any appreciation for this idea
Image credits: Leah Newhouse (not the actual photo)
She also keeps pestering his wife, complaining about everything she does -- regarding work, pregnancy, and so on
Image credits: Kerim Eveyik (not the actual photo)
One time, during a party, the pregnant wife sipped a little bit of alcohol, which caused this wannabe work-wife to freak out and imply she was trying to end her baby's life
Image credits: u/EasyLobster5150
The couple tried to explain that one sip won't do anything bad, but this pushed the coworker over the edge, and she said that the woman should've aborted her baby
The OP’s husband has a wannabe work-wife. Typically, a work spouse is a coworker a person engages with the most at work. The concept itself isn’t cheating per se, as long as the spouses don’t engage in romantic or physical relationships. Yet, in some cases, it becomes quite problematic when work spouses become too close and this closeness breaks actual relationships.
In the case of today’s story, interestingly, the husband’s coworker is not officially dubbed his work-wife. The author calls her a wannabe since she desperately tries to get the title even though he doesn’t plan to call her this.
Yet, she still manages to cause harm in their relationship. Well, maybe more to their mental well-being instead of the relationship itself, but harm is still harm.
For example, back in the day, when the wife was working, she used to earn more than her husband. And so, many times, this coworker used to complain about how much she was working. She also used to imply that her making more money than her hubby was emasculating to him. Nevertheless, he never agreed with her complaints.
The OP has been pregnant for 8 and a half months, so she is no longer working. Still, the wannabe work-wife doesn’t like this either. For instance, she implies that the wife is too thin for a pregnant lady, even though the author herself has said she’s a healthy weight.
The woman guesses that the real reason why the coworker even brought this up is because she hoped that the woman would gain way more weight. And since she’s a bigger lady herself, this would have made her feel better. But it didn’t happen.
So she picked on the pregnant woman’s age. Well, with modern medicine and technology, the age at which a woman can carry a child has significantly increased. Now, getting pregnant after turning 35 is categorized as “advanced maternal age” (AMA). Yet, it shouldn’t sound too scary, as pregnancy is still very much on the table at this age.
The thing is that the OP clarified she is 30 years old. This means she isn’t even in the AMA category. So, it makes the comments about her being too old kind of disturbing. After all, 30 isn’t an old age, no matter how you look at it.
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Yet, these comments can’t compare to the drama this wannabe work-wife caused at their boss's garden party. During it, the original poster’s husband was having a glass of gin and tonic. Since it is one of the woman’s favorite drinks, she asked him for a small sip. Typically, in this drink, the gin is mixed with tonic water and ice, so it isn’t straight alcohol. And so, a tiny sip isn’t that threatening to a pregnant woman.
However, the “work-wife” didn’t think so. She rushed to the couple and started blabbing about fetal alcohol syndrome. Basically, it’s a condition that a child can have if they were exposed to alcohol while in the womb. It can cause them to have lifelong behavior, cognitive, physical, and learning disabilities.
As we know, the OP wasn’t drinking heavily – she just sipped diluted alcohol. When this fact was told to the woman by her work crush, she lost her cool. She turned to the pregnant woman and told her that if she wanted to get rid of her baby – she should have gotten an abortion.
These harsh words stunned everyone. The OP told her off, and when she left, the couple thought it was the end. But no. The “work-wife” started harassing them – leaving many emails, calls, and voicemails.
So, the man went to HR and reported her. After all, he had plenty of evidence of the harassment, as it wasn’t just some harsh words said during a party. Shortly after, she resigned. As the author later clarified, she was asked to leave the job, which is basically being fired.
But the harassment didn’t stop. So, as it was written in the update, the couple will be changing their numbers, and a report to the relevant authorities will be filed.
The woman’s persistence made the OP worried about her mental well-being, making her feel kind of guilty that she pushed a disturbed woman over the edge by telling her off. So, she came to Reddit to ask if she was wrong for saying the things she did.
The people there reassured her that she wasn’t a jerk. In fact, some of them were surprised how she could even think she was wrong here. This woman was always pestering her with unasked opinions and said very nasty stuff to her. And then, even after all this, she still worried about her mental health. Well, that doesn’t sound like the actions of a jerk, does it?
Let's just hope that the ex-coworker will get the help she needs. After all, her actions not only hurt people around her but herself, too.
The pregnant woman told this wannabe work-wife off, but when she kept harassing the couple on the phone and over email, she wondered if she should've stayed quiet
