'He was an idiot who wasted his money on get rich quick schemes doomed to fail': Woman's boss' financial troubles get exposed to whole office including boss' wife who is an employee, woman asks them to take their issues elsewhere

Author image for Baiz Hoen
Baiz Hoen
Jan 11, 2025 10:00 PM EST

If there's anything that has stayed consistent with the modern age, it's workplace drama. Even if you work remotely, a coworker's questionable behavior can translate over all mediums. It's best to keep a level head and stick to your tasks at hand while airing out your grievances with your work besties in the break room or over clandestine Slack channels. Sometimes, workplace drama can even be a uniting force among many a disgruntled employee. Coming together over one colleague, no one can stand, and this strengthens employee morale like no other incident. It's one of the most rewarding parts of suffering through a 9-5.

However, workplace drama can get really tricky when it affects your productivity in real-time. Especially if the person causing all of the issues is your supervisor. And even more so when said supervisor involves their partner in the workplace. When push comes to shove, you have to decide if it's worth it to take a stand or to swallow your pride and continue on with your day. That's what OP is facing here, when her boss' personal financial issues come to a head during work hours. Is it OP's place to make a comment? Read on to see how you would react.

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  • 01
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  • 02
    AITAH for telling my supervisor's sobbing wife to leave the office? I (29F) recently scored a nice job at a real estate small business. Everyone is very friendly and I like it there a lot. Unfortunately, my supervisor (mid30s?M) is....shall we say "problematic". Let's call him Gene.
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  • 03
    I've had several small issues with Gene involving sexist language, particularly about our other pregnent coworker, but that's beside the point. Point being, he's kind of an al h le sometimes.
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  • 04
    So yesterday, Gene got some bad news. After very loudly screaming at someone on the phone for over an hour, he goes out into the hallway and tells me and another coworker (also loudly, he is NOT hiding this) that apparently he leant a VERY large sum of money (5 figures) to his dad who told him he would invest it in what was basically a get rich quick scheme. To no one's shock but Gene's, said scheme didn't work out, and now Gene is SIX figures in total debt.
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  • 05
    At this point I say "man that S ks!" and go back into my office because I am behind on my work. This is where the sobbing wife comes in.
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  • 06
    My office shares a wall with Gene, and the walls there are paper thin. I can hear everything, no matter how quietly people talk. Not that "quiet" meant anything here, as while I was attempting to catch up on work, I start hearing Gene breaking the news that he f ed up to his wife (who also happens to be recently hired by our business, hired by Gene, funny that). The wife is, understandably, audibly upset, and she starts crying.
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  • 07
    This makes Gene angry, and he starts yelling at her to s k it up and calm down because "he'll deal with it and she never has any faith in him", which makes her cry harder, and meanwhile I have been staring at a very important email about to be sent for the past 3 minutes, unable to concentrate due to sobbing. woman and ah le man.
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  • 08
    So I got up and knocked on his door. Opening it revealed a crying woman and Gene, to whom I very quickly rushed out "I'm really sorry, I know you're going through stuff, but can you PLEASE take this somewhere else?"
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  • 09

    Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. Can I tell him to buzz off on company time?

    I was talking directly to Gene, but his wife seemed spooked and a little offended and ped off. They both quietly skedaddled, and I didn't see her for the rest of the day.
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  • 10
    I hold absolutely zero sympathy for Gene - he was an idiot who wasted his money on get rich quick schemes doomed to fail, doing so while knowing he has a wife & two young kids to care for. He's barely been at this job for longer than I have (my real actual boss is a really cool dude), and my overall vibe from Gene is pretty rancid.
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  • 11

    Here's some advice OP got in the comments

    NTA, but I do recommend you report the incident to a supervisor before Gene finds a way to fire you. His workplace conduct was completely inappropriate and warrants a complaint. The office is not couples. counseling and they were on the clock.
    via pinkjaguar12
  • 12
    NTA, girl, that's gotta be so frustrating! It's not your job to listen to his drama. You handled it, but I get why the wife might've been upset. Gene sounds like a mess, though.
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  • 13
    NTA. You're entitled to a work environment where you can focus without being distracted by personal drama. Gene brought his personal issues into the office and made them everyone's problem. While it's unfortunate that his wife was caught in the crossfire, your request was reasonable and directed at the inappropriate behavior, not her personally. Gene's lack of professionalism is the real issue here.
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  • 14
    Honestly, you did what you had to do. It's awkward and unprofessional for them to be loud and crying at work, especially with all the drama. I get why you'd feel bad for her, but you had to focus. Not the a h le.
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  • 15
    Nah, you're not the a h le. Like, it's a workplace, not their living room. Gene sounds like a walking red flag anyway, and you weren't ride, just trying to do your job. His wife probs felt awkward, but that's on him for dragging their drama to the office.
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  • 16
    You know it's bad when the office drama makes you wish for a classic sitcom laugh track to drown it out. Sometimes you just have to draw the line between office hours and real-life soap opera.
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  • 17
    Nta if I can't work from home please do not bring yours to work. The end.
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  • 18

    Time to get back on the job boards...?

    NTA but I would look for a new job. I wouldn't want to work in a place where his behavior is tolerated by management.
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  • 19
    Nah, you're not the a hole. Work ain't the place for their drama, especially when you're tryna focus. Gene sounds toxic anyway. You handled it better than I would've.
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  • 20
    Time to polish up that resume and search for other opportunities. I wouldn't want to work with a husband-wife duo like that.
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  • 21
    You aren't supposed to let your supervisor know that you loathe them. You probably aren't long for this job.
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  • 22
    It s ks that you are stuck dealing with this. However, you might want to start looking for another job now. Good luck.
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  • 23
    NTA His situation is inappropriate for the office. He should have removed himself and dealt with his private matters privately and not been screaming down his wife for his f ups. Hope she divorces him tho.
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  • 24
    In addition to it being a very bad idea to talk to your supervisor this way, it seems like you could have given it a bit more time. It doesn't sound like it was going on for very long at all before you intervened, and interruptions to the work day are frustrating but pretty routine. Sometimes a client traps you with a really long story, sometimes the internet goes out, sometimes you're in a really stupid meeting for two hours, and yet life goes on.
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  • 25
    NTA. Personal issues should be dealt with in personal time. Gene is the A here for breaking the news while at work, which he probably did thinking that his wife wouldn't react that way at work.
    via pinkjaguar12

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toxic-workplace AITAH relationship-drama reddit story finances workplace Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit
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