A restaurant employee is asking for the Internet’s reassurance after refusing to pick up the shift of a co-worker whom she claims previously lied to her about a “family emergency.”
Sharing her story on Reddit’s “Am I the Jerk” forum, the 26-year-old woman who works at a “busy restaurant” wrote that while swapping shifts in her industry is common, she also believes in “fairness.”
As the Reddit user explained, her 24-year-old co-worker Lisa “begged” her to pick up a shift for her the week before due to a “family emergency,” which she claims wasn’t necessarily the case. “She sounded really stressed, and since I had no big plans, I agreed. Well, Friday night comes, and guess who posts Instagram stories at a concert? Yep, Lisa,” the Reddit user wrote.
“Not just a casual dinner or some low-key event — she was front row at a sold-out show, dancing and having the time of her life.”
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While the original poster was “pissed,” she decided to “let it go” until Lisa asked her to cover a shift once again, just a week later. “This time, she gave some vague excuse about her grandma needing help, but after last time, I wasn’t buying it,” she wrote. “I told her, ‘Sorry, I can’t. Hope you figure it out.’ She got annoyed and said, ‘Wow, I thought you were cool about switching shifts. I covered for you once, remember?’ ”
Even though Lisa previously covered for her eight months before, the Reddit user was honest and said she “didn’t appreciate being lied to” in the past.
“Now she’s sulking and acting like I’m the bad guy. Some co-workers say I should just get over it and help out, but I feel like if she lied once, she’ll do it again,” she wrote. “So, [am I the jerk] for refusing to cover my co-worker’s shift after she lied to me?”
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Ultimately, those on Reddit agreed that the woman was “not the jerk” in the situation, and that her co-worker Lisa was misleading her. “If she brings up that she covered for you once, say, ‘And I covered for you the time you had a family emergency at a concert. We’re even,’ ” one user wrote.
Another user commented that the co-worker sounded “entitled and rather immature.”
“I would have a problem with her wanting to switch shifts on a regular basis AND giving s— excuses for doing so,” they wrote. “She’s got her snot in a knot over being found out, getting called out on her lying, and not getting her way.”
Other Reddit users reflected on their own experiences covering shifts and how they backfired on them, including one commenter who wrote that they once covered for a co-worker on the day their own aunt died — before realizing the co-worker wasn’t sick after all.
“When I worked in a restaurant I learned really quick that people are always happy to ask, but never willing to repay the favor,” another person wrote. “You have every right to say no. End of story.”
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