45-year-old coworker reprimands 27-year-old employee for being on her phone during lunch, employee reports her to manager: ‘She's been on thin ice since’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Sep 21, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

As someone who truly enjoys the office culture and the opportunity to socialize with my coworkers every day, I, too, have days when I don't feel like talking to anyone. While most days I will gladly sit with my coworkers for lunch and chat about everyone's lives and funny stories, I would be lying if I said that I don't have days when I take my breaks alone and avoid everyone in the office. 

Some of my coworkers are like that every day. All they want to do on their lunch break is to eat in silence and have an actual break from work and other people, and I would never hold that against any of them. 

The coworker in the story below, Karen (yep, that is her actual name), would beg to differ. She has no problem stating that she has a problem with her younger coworkers being on their phones during their lunch breaks. But since she also has no right to dictate how other people spend their break time, she was later reprimanded by her boss.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10555623168
    via VioletaStoimenova

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

  • Other coworkers in the office thought it wasn't necessary to report Karen's comment about the phones to the manager, so scroll down to read the full story and share your thoughts in the comments below.

  • 02

    AITAH for snapping at my coworker (45F) for her attitude with me (27F) during my lunch break?

    I'm 27F, my coworker is 45F and her name is actually Karen. I'll be honest.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 03
    We do not have the best relationship ever since she started working here a few months ago.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 04
    She is totally new to the field and asks me a lot of questions, then dismisses what I say because I'm younger than her.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 05
    Then she asks our manager the same questions and gets the same answers I gave her.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 06
    Even though our manager is younger than her too, Karen listens to her because of her authority.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 07
    She has made comments saying even though I have more years of experience than her, the experience is a mama bear knows a lot more.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 08
    Yeah, she called herself the mama bear of our department on her second day after seeing how everyone in our department is younger than her.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 09
    No one likes that sh and never call her that when she asks us to.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 10
    Going on, I went on my lunch break earlier this week and Karen comes in for hers a little after I started.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 11
    I'm the type to be on my phone, watching videos and just having a little time to decompress while I eat.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 12
    Another coworker Kevin (38M) was with us in the lunch room and he was just eating his food without looking at his phone.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 13
    Karen comes in and sees me, waving hi. I wave back and turn back to watching my video.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 14
    Karen starts talking a bit with Kevin, I just keep eating with my head down.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 15
    Karen says loudly to my coworker, "Kevin, doesn't it seem funny to you that us old people are able to hold conversations but the younger generation are glued to their phones and not talking to people in the room?"
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 16
    Every condescending thing she says about me is always in my earshot like she wants me to hear it.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 17
    So I shut my phone and asked her why me being on my phone bothers her so much when I'm minding my own business.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 18
    She froze like she thought I'd never say anything.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 19
    Kevin immediately looks down on his phone and doesn't say a word.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 20
    Cheezburger Image 10555623424
    via @imgenesjosecarlos

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

  • 21
    Karen tried to say she was just joking around and that she thought the younger generations are always addicted to their phones rather than having meaningful conversations with each other.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 22
    I told her "I'm on lunch, Karen. It's none of your business that I'm on my phone during my lunch break.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 23
    Stop being ride about something that has nothing to do with you. Keep it to yourself and mind your own business."
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 24
    Karen asked Kevin if what she said was ride, but he agreed and said nothing else when she tried explaining her perspective to him.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 25
    I left the break room to report what happened to my manager before Karen could since she has tried putting in a complaint about another person not being friendly enough with her.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 26
    My manager got all sides of the story from me, Karen and Kevin.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 27
    Kevin defended me and said Karen was singling me out for no reason.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 28
    He's also really ped that she called him old.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 29
    Manager determined that Karen was out of line and needed to stop making remarks like what she said to me towards others at work.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 30
    She's been on thin ice since then from an accumulation of other incidents.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 31
    Some of my coworkers came up to me every so often to tell me how Karen thought I was an a hole for telling my manager about what happened rather than settling things like reasonable adults.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 32
    Now I was getting her in trouble for a joke.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 33
    I beg to differ, but obviously I'm biased.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 34
    Maybe I should've worded things differently.
    via BoyIAmAdorable
  • 35
    Maybe I was being too harsh because I don't like her. AITAH?
    via BoyIAmAdorable

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Tags

boss lunch break aita workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace coworkers reddit story workplace Reddit company entitled people
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