We've all had to deal with that one co-worker.
You know the one.
They don't do their work, or if they do, they don't do it right. They make things more difficult for the people around them.
And sometimes you get a bonus like they're a bigot.
Haven't you ever just wanted them to quit?
It's time we return to our favorite board on Reddit, AITA. For those not in the know, AITA is short for "Am I the A**hole?"
Responses can vary, but are usually one of these:
- NTA - Not The A**hole
- YTA -You're The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH - Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - Not Enough Information
Let's begin.
Our focus today is on wetsocksssss and her new coworker. It would appear that the coworker has a different idea of how to do her job from what Wetsocks would have assumed.
And by that, they mean Wetsocks does the job instead.
"Okay so I work at a restaurant, and we got this new girl about three months ago, and she was okay at first. Despite working 3 days a week every week for three months, she still has no idea what she's doing."
"She is incredibly lazy, and every single time I work with her I have to do my job AND hers (even though we have two different jobs and tasks)."
Okay, but she's new.
Some people take longer to get acclimated to a job than others. Three months working at a restaurant and still not having things down is bad, but not the worst.
No, the worst is when you find out she's racist.
"On top of that, I found out she's f***ing racist which is something I can not stand. Here are a few things she has said:"
"-(Talking about a black person) "I just feel bad for people who look like that""
"-(Talking about this group of three black men that walked in) "OP, can you take this order, I don't want them staring at me""
"-"You've heard of elf on a shelf, now get ready for..." and showed me a picture of a black person with a spoon on their head. I genuinely did not understand it so I asked her to explain it and she proudly said "spoon on a con![sic]""
"-(An eastern-asian looking man ordered, and we took his name for the order) "OP how do you think his name is spelt? Should I just put Ching Ching Chnk?""
"There are many others, but I won't list them as I think that is more than enough."
Yeah, that's plenty.
Because of all this, Wetsocks told the girl to stop being racist. But that didn't really get them anywhere.
It seems like confronting racism is difficult these days.
Instead, Wetsocks went to their manager and requested to not work with her.
So the girl quit.
"She got wind of my comments and told me I am the reason she is putting in her two weeks, and if I had just talked to her first instead if going to the boss, she would have stopped. (I did encourage her to do her own work, she just didn't take the hint multiple times, and I did call her racist etc)."
This leads Wetsocks to ask the question of this board:
Are they the a**hole here?
Many said no.
"NTA, you did the proper steps by talking to her and then your boss. Most companies want to know if their employees are vocally racist to customers (what the F***, btw)."
"She's quitting and you (& the company) dodged a bullet. A lazy, racist bullet." - MenArentThrowaway
"i get you, i have worked with a similar girl and youre right to ask for that. She put it on herself to get reported if she doesnt change her behavior after being asked to several times. Definitely NTA" - hallalaladeii
"NTA, I've had to do the same several times at my work place. You have the right to be comfortable while you work. I'm sure management would not take too kindly to her comments if you were to report her." - The-confused-alpaca
"NTA. You did talk to her, she just didn't take you seriously. And it's better for everyone not to have racists working in public-facing jobs." - Chiomi
For someone whose job isn't training a new employee, Wetsocks did their best. They tried to get the coworker to do their own work and stop being racist.
Which at the end of the day, is asking for bare minimum effort.
If you know you're going to have more to do when you work with someone, you would ask to not work with them anymore, right?
However, this seems too cut and dry for some. They had questions that might clarify the situation.
Particularly, they were wondering if there was more to the story when it looks like an easy NTA.
"you feeling like an AH for these reasons makes me want to believe that there's more to this story. Why are you doubting yourself in such an obvious NTA situation?"
"Also i know how it feels to work with someone who is useless like that, it not only affects you but the whole establishment." - Reasonable_Crackhead
"Unfortunately, you are NTA. You need to grow a pair and not shy away from being an asshole when appropriate."
"Here's my thinking. According to the story, you were clearly offended by the racism and unhappy with the job performance. To deal with it you only 'suggested' and 'hinted' at how she needed to change."
"This situation was way beyond that. Believe me, as someone who used to avoid conflict at all costs, you aren't doing yourself any favors."
"There's no good reason for you to be the only one in that situation that's offended. Say what needs to be said, and don't worry about how she takes it. Hopefully you can be tactful about it, but if you come off as an a**hole; who cares?" - tomphoolery
"ESH. I feel as though you missed a step in here."
"Instead of straight up refusing to work with her, you should have gone to your boss with concerns about her poor work performance and seen what he/she could have done. It's possible she could have been whipped into shape."
"Outside of that little issue, she is still absolutely in the wrong here." - Tytonic7_
Regardless, this situation does mean someone is out of a job. Sure, she supposedly wasn't very good at it, but everyone needs to eat.
Lucky for her, Reddit knew just where her particular skill set could be put to use.
"Of course NTA. Not sure where she thinks she's going to get a job that's fine with her blatant racism, not to say anything about her questionable work ethic" - gunnyhunty
"Government?" - SarkyCherry
"Fox" - Jay-Dee-British
"InfoWars, TPUSA, PragerU…" - NonaSuomi282
"The Committee for the Re-Election of the President" - interestingtimecurse
In the end, it can be difficult to confront someone over something that makes you uncomfortable.
And even when you do, you might not get the response you were hoping for.
Racism should be called out when it happens. It's the only way to prevent it from spreading.
But what do you think about what Wetsocks did? Were they in the right to request different shifts?
The book White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism is available here.