Patricia Grisafi
Sex work is real work, which means it’s difficult, demanding, boring, and nerve-wracking.
Sex work is often a way for people who aren’t making ends meet or who want a more financially stable lifestyle to bring in the cash. In today’s economically precarious environment, where people often work multiple gig jobs to make ends meet, sex work should be treated as a viable option.
However, there is a ton of stigma regarding sex work.
One Redditor, who got a coworker accidentally fired over her OnlyFans account, is finding out the hard way that maybe she should have just not told corporate about her coworker’s side hustle.
“I (30F) work as a financial advisor at a rather large and well known firm, along with my co-worker “T” (mid-20s/F). One lunch time T was having a discussion with us about how she had started an OnlyFans and was already getting subscribers. She said they should forget about slaving away at a desk for a company and take their future into their own hands, etc.”
“T then told me I should try it. I brushed this off, and said it’s just not something I’d like to do. She asked me why, and I shrugged and said ‘just because.’ It’s like asking me if I’d like to become an actress or a doctor, neither appeal to me. However, T didn’t see it that way, and said ‘what, do you think you’re better than me?’ I said no, of course not, I just wouldn’t consider doing sex work as a career,” the OP writes.
“T took great offense, saying that if I’m happy earning peanuts working my life away for a boss just for ‘dignity’ then that’s on me, and I mustn’t judge her for wanting to make a better future for herself, that she’s not ashamed of what she is doing. She also said ‘when your children ask you why they were poor their whole lives you can tell them it’s because you had too much dignity to provide for them more.'”
One of the OP’s colleagues, who is in a managerial position, overheard some of the conversation and asked what had happened. The OP told the manager who said nothing and went back to work. About a week later, the OP noticed T was not coming into work anymore. One of the girls T hung out with at work told the OP that T was fired because of the conversation the OP had with the manager about T’s OnlyFans account.
“I was taken aback, then remembered mentioning it to my colleague that day. I went to her office to ask what had happened. She told me that she had decided to investigate T’s social media, which listed our company as her workplace on her profile. Her IG was full of risque photos to push her OnlyFans. As her IG and FB profiles were easily connected, my colleague said it was openly moonlighting in a way that did not reflect well on the company, and reported it. T was called in to a meeting, which ended in her being dismissed. I now feel responsible for T losing her job. Her friends have branded me an asshole, telling everyone I’m a jealous bitch, a slut-shamer etc. My colleague told me T had it coming and I must not feel bad.”
Was the OP in the wrong here for technically outing her coworker as a sex worker?
“NTA I am pro sex worker but young people especially need to a. Understand how their social media presence represents their company, therefore what implications that can have and b. She shouldn’t be taking about her only fans at work, it’s unprofessional and not appropriate conversation. She was extra rude to you, the conversation was overheard it’s her own problem. I would be reporting the other girls for bullying too, this isn’t high school, it’s a professional place of employment, grow up or get out,” said G3neirc.
“I understand your point however I believe that people shouldn’t have to held to a professional standard outside of working hours. We aren’t born to be professional 24/7. What I post on my social media does not affect how well I do my job. Just like the colour of my hair or whether I wear nail polish etc. While at work, 100% act professional and represent whatever company/employer you work for to the best of your ability. However once clocked out there isn’t a need to be professional because you’re being you and shouldn’t have to censor yourself for the company you work for (obviously this doesn’t count racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic behaviour etc). She shouldn’t have been talking about it at work, I agree, and the way she commented on the family and future was totally out of hand but her personal life outside work should have no impact on her working life,” explained bouxie.
“NTA. She set herself up by talking so openly about it. Your colleague overheard her and asked, you didn’t go gossiping about it. Also—her insistence that you were shaming her sounds like the opposite to me. She forced the issue, and tried to make you feel bad for having a different set of boundaries than her. If she had all that on her social media, the company would have found out eventually anyway, it wasn’t like she was trying to hide it. You did nothing wrong,” said Scout_321.
“ESH. She shouldn’t have encouraged you to do sex work when you weren’t interested, but you shouldn’t have mentioned it to your boss. Seriously, never do that again,” said the-tacktelneck.
Some Redditors commented that the post seemed embellished and ridiculous, and they weren’t sure whether to take it seriously.
“This is just another sloppily crafted post to shit on whichever group of people OP currently wants to. Sometimes its the disabled, trans people, or the oh so popular single mom. Not to mention it’s bad form to tell your supervisors anything about your co-workers personal life. If she was pissed she should have took it up with her coworker. All they needed to tell their boss was it was a personal disagreement that they would settle themselves, or just say their coworker was having a bad day. I don’t care how pissed off I am, I would never feel it’s appropriate to divulge a fellow employees personal life. Even if your coworker was gay, and seemed to be open and proud of it- I would NEVER say that to our boss. It’s innappropriate. And I highly doubt they had pornographic pictures on their social media where they also claimed to be an employee of said company. The employers FB page would notify them who is claiming employment- so they would have seen this,” said TrueDove.
What would you have done in this situation?
Lead image via Pixabay.
