Employee momentarily rests their eyes during their shift, coworker takes a photo of them without their consent, then accuses them of sleeping on the job: ‘She knew she was in the wrong’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Nov 1, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

Sleeping on the job is universally frowned upon. What do you do if you weren't, but your coworker claims you were?

Now, we know what this sounds like. Who rests their eyes on the job ever? Isn't that rule number one of the workplace? Well, if you've ever worked a job that is more boring than it is difficult, then you'd know that sometimes it's inevitable. We've all been there at one point or another, so let's not pretend the employee who shared this next story is the first person ever to do so.

What's not cool is a coworker taking photos of them without their consent. While the employee was on shift, they rested their eyes for a moment… Again, not the best thing to do while you're clocked in. We're all human, though, right? It happens. As long as the employee wasn't asleep and continued being alert, there shouldn't have been a problem. However, now that their coworker has a photo of them with their eyes shut, they can use it as ammunition. The employee is most upset about the fact that their privacy was breached. What would you do in this situation? Scroll below to read the full story.

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  • 01
    woman getting stressed and closing her eyes
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • 02

    "AIO - My coworker accused me of sleeping at work and took a photo of me without my permission"

    Gonna explain this as best as I can so let me know if there's anything that confuses you To protect the identity of an individual, I changed his name to Evil Larry bc I need some sort of laugh out of this situation I work at a learning disability company and mostly do night shifts at a residence with 3 gentlemen due to the decent hours and how it works with my schedule (I also have a little brother that I babysit often).
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 03
    There is also always a sleep staff member that sleeps overnight at their home in the event of an emergency where night staff need to leave the building (such as supporting an individual to the hospital) Alongside various cleaning tasks, every hour we have to do checks on all the individuals by scanning a barcode inside their room.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 04
    Each barcode is unique to an individual and locks in the time that you scan it, it's the only way we do night checks to ensure they're actually being done and you aren't sitting around the whole time.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 05
    You can change the times with anything else except night checks Yesterday I was doing a night shift, I had completed all my tasks and it's pretty chill after that.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 06
    I relax, watch something and adhere to the hourly night checks At around 4am I started to feel tired (Mind you, it's a 10 hour shift starting from 9pm - 7am), so I decided to rest my eyes because it helps alleviate the tiredness, I was fully aware of my surroundings and knew I was not falling asleep.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 07
    About 2 mins later I can hear my coworker (sleep staff) leave the guest bedroom and my eyes are still closed so l assumed she went to the bathroom.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 08
    I hear the guest room door close again and sit there for maybe 5 more mins before I get up to make a coffee.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 09
    I didn't think anything of it at the time, but today, after my second night shift, she came in for a morning shift and immediately accused me of sleeping at work, which is smth my anxiety wouldn't let me do if I tried She hasn't done a night shift since the barcode system was implemented so she claimed I had slept the whole time and faked doing night checks (which is literally impossible), I explained this to her, even tried to show her proof they were done at the correct times n she just tried
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 10
    a hand holding a smartphone as if to take a photograph
    via Lala Azizli (Unsplash+)

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

  • 11
    Evil Larry was being particularly verbal that night, I had been to his room several times and figured he would settle if I stopped giving him attention, which worked Anyway, I immediately grabbed my phone to ask my manager if we could talk bc i was livid and felt embarrassed due to there being 2 other coworkers there She must've looked over my shoulder and seen I was texting someone from work bc she quickly said "There's no need to take it up to management or anything, just be careful because so
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 12
    I won't because I'm nice" VERBATIM and then she started laughing. No you are NOT NICE Do you expect me to thank you for not reporting something that didn't fucking happen?
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 13
    I don't want to be THIS angry bc I'm not in any trouble but I've been working to the fucking bone this past week, that was the last thing I needed I'm not a minor (20yrs) but I have massive boundaries around people taking photos of me, even when I'm aware of it.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 14
    I'm completely uncomfortable with her now and right before I left she almost tried to play it off like a joke, she knew she was in the wrong.
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 15
    I chose not to message my manager but what are your guys thoughts? Also side note: If she really thought I was sleeping then why wouldn't she tap my shoulder or try to wake me up?
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 16
    I know damn well she didn't try because I awake the whole fucking time Thanks to anyone who had the patience to read this shit Imao On the off-chance my friend sees this, HI CHRIS YOU STINK
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 17
    Bencil_McPrush As long as she has that photo, she has ammo on you that she can use at any time. Take it up to management and n p that shit in the bud.
    via Bencil_McPrush
  • 18
    AdEmbarrassed 8709 Actually, talking about what happenned to a manager would be smart. Get ahead of anything that management could hear. She confronted you in front of other coworkers, who knows what they'll say to whom... You have this bar code system that's working for you, it should be ok ! Be honest and upfront, it's always better than to have to explain things to management after they started being suspicious.
    via AdEmbarrassed8709
  • 19
    Little_Bear_5134 Definitely report her to the manager she is causing drama for no reason.
    via Little_Bear_5134
  • 20
    Admirable-Mess823 Unfortunately it's quite common with my coworkers, she's the only one at this residence that gossips but the other residence I work at is AWFUL when it comes to drama The higher ups don't really pay attention to disputes between coworkers, only when it involves an individual and even then, I've seen them overlook some shocking things
    via Admirable-Mess823
  • 21
    rainydays16393183 YOR even if you weren't sleeping, "resting your eyes" isn't something you can really do at most workplaces.
    via rainydays16393183
  • 22
    psychedelicparsley Eh. People get breaks, it's not really uncommon to find people putting their head down for a moment during a break.
    via psychedelicparsley
  • 23
    Admirable-Mess823 Right, I can own up to that and not make that mistake again. My main issue is that she never claimed to delete the photo, I like to think she did but I just wanted to leave because I was super uncomfortable at that point
    via Admirable-Mess823

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