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AITA for embarrassing my coworker after she kept calling me “mom” at work?
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This was an issue that one team leader realized she had to address when her younger colleague developed a habit of jokingly calling her ‘mom’. After multiple incidents, she privately told the 23-year-old that she wasn't comfortable with this nickname. She shrugged off this interaction.
The problem got taken to the next level when the coworker called her mom during a meeting with their mutual manager and some other colleagues from their department. The supervisor publicly reprimanded her for the comment, leading her to stop talking to her, and her manager to tell her she should have handled it with more tact. She wanted to know if she had taken things too far.
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The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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Outsiders sympathized with her reaction to the comment.
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23-year-old colleague repeatedly calls 29-year-old supervisor 'mom', gets upset when behavior is called out in a meeting: 'She said I should lighten up'
In the average workplace, one of the most crucial professional relationships an employee has is the one with whoever directly supervises them. More often than not, they are going to be the person who reports your performance to the higher-ups and dictates whether or not your experience in the workplace is a pleasant one. Unless they are putting you in an unacceptable position, it pays to play nice and keep the peace where possible.
Nonetheless, that doesn't stop some people from testing the boundaries with those who manage them. Sometimes this stems from a place of jealousy; other times, it is just plain immature. Whatever the cause may be, these types rarely respond well to getting checked on their behavior. It is a challenge from a management perspective to handle it in the right way, especially if the manager in question has never dealt with a similar kind of situation before.
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