Woman Offers to Drive Coworker to Work. Her Generosity Backfires

A woman on Reddit is seeking advice after a kind gesture for a coworker led to unforeseen consequences.

On Reddit’s Am I the A—— forum, a 25-year-old woman shares that she’s been giving her coworker a ride to work every morning for the last three months. They work at the same company but in different departments, and only live a few blocks from each other.

“At the beginning, everything was fine. But over the past month, she’s started running late — like really late,” she writes. “I text her when I leave my house, and sometimes I end up sitting outside for 10-15 minutes waiting. A few times she’s even asked me to swing by a coffee shop or drop her off at a different entrance, which adds time.”

Though the poster has tried to be understanding, she says that the continued tardiness has led to both of them being written up on two separate occasions, putting her job in jeopardy. As a result, the woman has felt like she needs to put her foot down.

“I finally told her this week that I can’t keep driving her if she’s not ready on time. I said I like her and I don’t want to fall out over something small, but I need to look out for myself and my job,” she shares.

Unfortunately, her coworker did not take the ultimatum well and went around to other employees saying she feels “ditched.”

“She got really quiet and said she ‘didn’t think it was that big a deal’ and that I was being ‘kind of cold’ over something that ‘was supposed to be a favor,'” the poster writes.

This frustrated the Reddit user, who “didn’t mean to hurt” the other woman, but feels taken advantage of. “I feel like I was doing her a favor and she started treating it like a service. I’m not her Uber driver,” she continues.

Though the poster feels conflicted about her decision to put her foot down, others in the comments are firmly on her side. They noted that she was more than kind to repeatedly offer the other woman a ride to work, despite her continued tardiness.

“She’s a funny one to be upset with you for not wanting to be fired,” a commenter writes. “Sounds like she doesn’t need her job, so she really should have no issues with you protecting yours by leaving her in time to get there on time.”

Others suggested she set a firm departure time, giving the other woman a chance to maintain the morning rides, but preventing them from being late again.

“I would tell her that you’ll continue to drive her but you’re not going to wait for her,” another commenter suggests. “You’ll be outside her house or apartment at such and such a time, and you’ll honk your horn or text her that you’re there, and then you will wait exactly 1 minute and if she’s not out you will take off even if she begs you to wait just another minute or two. And then stick to that.”