A woman has sparked a debate online after refusing to finish work early so her coworker could take their child to the hospital, as many people backed the decision.
In a now viral Reddit post, user u/cheesecake_sw, whose name is Stephanie, explained that she and four coworkers carpool every day to save money on gas and tolls. This has been hugely beneficial as they all live around an hour away from work, but Stephanie told Newsweek that her “relationship is complicated” with one coworker, referred to as “S.”
Due to her young child recently becoming sick, the coworker known as S asked the others if they could take her car and all clock out at 4:45 p.m., instead of Stephanie’s usual time of 5:30.
The Reddit post explains that the coworker’s child has been “having constant nosebleeds” and was taken to hospital because it got so bad. Despite not taking time off work, the coworker said that if her son doesn’t get seen by a doctor soon, “he could die.”
However, Stephanie and her colleagues, in Phoenix, Arizona, weren’t too keen on the idea of finishing work 45 minutes early so she could go to a medical appointment. They said they’d “think about it and would need to clear it with our managers,” the post explains. They ultimately decided to find another ride home so that S could leave when she needed to go to hospital.
“She first said that it was fine, that she was willing to take her car, drive herself to work and drive back home by herself,” Stephanie said. “But then she completely backtracked and got angry at A and I. She said that she thought we were a team, accused us of not caring about her or her child and basically told us that ‘what goes around, comes around.'”
S also insisted that their managers would be fine about leaving early, but Stephanie tells Newsweek that the earliest she could possibly leave is at 5:20 p.m.
As a result, the coworker announced that she would just reschedule the appointment entirely.
“We never asked her to do that, and even though she had just told us an hour before that her son’s nosebleeds haven’t stopped and he could literally die,” the post reads.
Stephanie was left frustrated by the situation, especially knowing that her manager wouldn’t approve of her leaving 45 minutes early for another person’s child.
“I feel like she either just wanted us to leave early so she could have more free time after work, or she did truly want to take her son to the doctor but he isn’t as sick as she has led us to believe,” Stephanie said.
As it turned out, S didn’t leave work early on that specific day. To her knowledge, Stephanie says that S hasn’t taken her son to any medical appointments since rescheduling.
The atmosphere among the group is “very tense” and hasn’t been resolved. S has barely spoken to any of the others since slamming the car door shut during carpool. Although, Stephanie notes that this isn’t the first problem she’s had with this particular colleague.
She explained: “We’ve had a few problems with her since she started riding with us. Her schedule is from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and since A and I work from 8:30 until 5:30 we get up earlier just so she and her friend can get to work on time. She has been very pushy about trying to get our schedule changed so we can leave at 5, but our managers are unwilling to change our schedules.”
Stephanie took to social media to ask other Reddit users what they thought of the debacle and if they thought she was in the wrong for refusing to finish work early.
She wrote: “I don’t have children but honestly, if my kid was bleeding that much, I would have called out or left early the day before and taken him to the ER, not shown up to work and dropped the news casually on the commute home.
“I’m also confused and concerned at her saying that her kid ‘could die’ but yet she’s scheduling a doctor’s appointment instead of dropping everything and taking him straight to the ER.”
In the days since the post was shared online, it’s already amassed over 4,400 votes and more than 400 comments on Reddit at the time of writing.
Many social media users backed Stephanie’s stance and insisted that the coworker is in the wrong.
One comment reads: “This is ridiculous if everyone has their own car. She takes her car and takes care of her business, and someone else drives the carpool that day.”
Another Reddit user wrote: “She has her own car, she can take her own kid when needed. What do you guys(as coworkers) have anything to do with this?”
Another person replied: “Why can’t she just drive by herself if she has to leave early?”
While one commenter said the coworker is being “beyond unreasonable.”
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