Not only are women expected to do more work for less money in the workplace, but if they don’t have kids, they’re also expected to cover for women who DO have children?
The woman in question, u/ThrowawayAITA5391, took to Reddit’s r/AmITheAssh*le sub to ask if she’s the assh*le for not giving her coworker her time paid off.
She’s not, but let’s at least read the post…
My coworker (41F) has 3 kids and has worked at this company for 17 years. I (27F) am childless and have worked here 5 years. We get 18 paid vacation days per year and unlimited sick days if we provide proof. The vacation days are added to your balance on January 1st and accumulate if you don’t use them. We can give them to someone else.
OP explains the company’s sick and vacation leave policies, as well as lays out the two people in this story: herself and her coworker with 3 kids.
My coworker regularly takes a day or two every month or so. This year, she used 10 of her days in January when her brother dies and another 4 when her daughter got sick.
The coworker took off in January for ten days to mourn her brother when he died and another four to care for a sick child. Which means she only has four days left for the rest of this year (the post was made back in September).
As a result, she only has 4 days for the rest of this year. I have been saving my days for a long vacation and have 44 days, so about 2 months worth saved up. My coworker’s kids want her to take them on a two week vacation. The place they want to go is in our country but pretty far away so 4 days won’t be enough.
OP has about 2 months of vacation saved up and the coworker’s kids want to go on a 2 week vacation. And here we go:
She wants me to give her 6 of my days.
No.
Her justification is that I’m childless and don’t need that many days.
NO.
We do get a lot of PTO.
THAT YOU USED, COWORKER.
I really want to go on a trip around Europe after the pandemic. She says she needs a break more than me.
Oh hell no.
She’s kind of right, maybe kids do make you extra tired. It’s not her fault she had to use 14 vacation days in the first 2 months of the year. I told her that I can’t give her my days. She’s upset and says that it’s my fault her kids’ dreams are being crushed. Am I the asshole?
Not at all.
Let’s tag in with what Reddit has to say, and stay tuned to the end when OP gives us a nice little update.
Alright, so Reddit agrees: this woman is SO not an assh*le. In fact, she’s so wildly not an assh*le that she went ahead and did her coworker a solid anyway. Check out her update:
Update: She’s not that terrible. Some other coworkers and I each gave her a day so she could have the full two weeks with her kids.
Pretty nice of her, huh?