23-year-old employee demands that 24-year-old coworker pays for her parking ticket because she said they could park there: 'She was lying!'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 17, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

Some coworkers cannot be trusted, but it seems that in this situation, both parties are to blame. This relatively new hire went out to dinner with her coworker, who insisted that the unmarked parking spot they chose was not going to result in the former employee receiving a ticket. Unfortunately, the coworker was mistaken.

Now, the employee with the ticket is insisting that her coworker pay it off, which ignited a fiery debate online as to who is in the right here. After all, just because the coworker had been living in this city longer than the person who was driving had does not mean that she should be aware of every single parking rule. Of course, this debate inevitably is going to create a tense atmosphere in the office moving forward. Whose fault is that really? Is it the coworker who assumed their parking spot wouldn't be an issue, or is it the author who had a bad feeling about the spot but ultimately agreed with her coworker? We're of the opinion that while the whole parking debacle is a bummer, there is no point in creating more office drama over it. Since the author is so insistent that her coworker is in the wrong, it would behoove the coworker to propose a compromise where both parties split the ticket evenly. 

However, given that the coworker also seems to be a stubborn individual, we highly doubt that this will happen. One can surmise that this story serves as the perfect example of why going out with your coworkers after work too often is a bad idea. We don't fully agree with that mentality, but the intense fallout over this parking ticket certainly helps prove that theory.  

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  • "[Am I wrong] for asking my coworker to pay for my parking ticket?"

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    via Ali Mkumbwa

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • One can just imagine what a manager might think if they decided to organize a mediation session between these two employees to see why they have been arguing so much in the office in recent weeks. You can just picture the face of that manager when they learn that it all comes down to an unmarked parking spot. Let's all try to be adults here and split the ticket so as to avoid further tension in the workplace! Their Jobs are probably already stressful enough.

  • using a throwaway to avoid work finding this. i (23F) work for a company in a pretty big city. i have a coworker (24F) that i sometimes go out to dinner with because we both enjoy going out to restaurants. for context, i moved to this city for this job and my coworker
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  • was born and raised here, so she often introduces me to restaurants she enjoys. yesterday, we made plans to go. to a restaurant in downtown. I was driving us, and as every downtown city is, parking was hard to find. about a block away from the restaurant, there
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  • was an area where i could potentially park along the street. there were no signs saying not to park there, however the lack of cars in this particular area made me feel unsure if we were allowed to park here. i suggested that we try to find a spot further from the restaurant and we would just walk over
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  • (both of us are perfectly healthy and able to do the walk over so thats not an issue). my coworker protested, saying it would be fine to park there and nothing would happen and she didnt want to walk far. i protested, and she kept reminding me that shes from this city and she would know if you couldnt
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  • park there. i decided to just park there to avoid an argument. we go to dinner and walk back to my car and low and behold, there is a ticket on my windshield for parking in that zone. i was upset, and my coworker
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  • responded by saying its a bummer that the cops checked to see if people were parked there this time. i got upset and asked her if she knew that you were not supposed to park there. she started stuttering and trying to change.
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  • the conversation, and knew she was lying. i confronted her and asked her why she would insist on me parking there when she knew i could get a ticket for it and she admitted that she didnt think anyone would check and see if there was parked there and that she didnt want to do the walk from farther away to the restaurant. i told
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  • her that because she put me in this situation, she needed to pay for the ticket. now my coworker is upset and saying that its not fair for me to ask her to pay for the parking ticket. am i the j for insisting she pay?
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  • PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE WARNING UNAUTHORISED REMOVAL OR INTERFERENCE WITH THIS NOTICE IS AN OFFENCE MADE FROM DEGRADABLE PAPER
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Idontknow1973 • 7h ago ESH. While coworker gave you bad advice, you went against what you wanted to do and what you thought was right to avoid an argument. I think the fair resolution is that you both pay half as you were both wrong.
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  • NoGoodN... · ESH She's an a for insisting she knows better, when she obviously doesn't. You are an a for being an irresponsible driver; it's YOUR decision where to park your car. As you now clearly see, "but she told me it would be okaaaayyyy" is not a valid reason to do stupid sh with your car.
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  • meDRAWINGstuff 7h ago • I would say NTA, because she definitely knew and it was of her not to say anything just because she was too lazy to walk... but honestly I think you should probably split it 50 / 50, since in the end, you were the driver, and it is your responsibility to make the final decision and to take the risk of where you're going to park...
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  • If she didn't want to walk any further, you could have dropped her off there, and then kept looking for a better parking spot that didn't seem so suspicious to you.
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  • Guess it depends on how much you like this co-worker, if you want to spend more time with her I would offer the 50/50 solution maybe?
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  • Uubilicious_The_Wise 7h ago It's your car so the responsibility is with you I'm afraid. If she told you to go 60 and it turned out you were in a 40 zone would she be expected to pay your speeding ticket? No harm in asking but insisting is a bit of a stretch and you certainly would not win this battle if you took it to court.
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  • Not sure I can really call you an AH but not sure I can fully absolve you either so I find myself stuck between No AHS and Everyone S ks. Think I'll go NAH. Chalk it up to experience and next time remember that as it's your car the onus is on you to ensure that you are not breaking any parking regulations.
    via throwaway-parking766

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terrible coworkers aita workplace-stories parking space work stories AITAH parking ticket work coworkers karen coworker parking entitled people
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