Boss demands 15-year-old daughter shadow employee for school project, gets upset when told she's a liability: 'The girl has zero boundaries'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Nov 24, 2025 9:00 AM EST

All work experience has to start somewhere.

One of the many frustrating parts of the modern working world is that it seems like even the entry-level jobs magically expect applicants to have the knowledge and training to slip seamlessly into the role with no effort on the part of the employer. As we all know, it doesn't work that way, and education alone is unlikely to prepare most for what it is like to be a part of the workplace. It pays to get a foot in the door, the earlier the better.

Things like internships and shadowing, while occasionally controversial, are often an important introduction to how a field of work operates in the day-to-day. However, anybody who has dealt with these kinds of things can tell you that they do not always turn out to be a success. The thing about inexperienced people is that they can be more of a hindrance than a help. 

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  • the back of the head of a young woman, sitting at a desk and touching the keyboard of a turned off computer
    via Annie Spratt (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • In this story, an employee despaired when their manager approached them and asked if their 15-year-old daughter could shadow them for a week to complete a school project. They agreed, and almost immediately regretted it when the girl spent her time invading their desk space and computer, culminating in her accidental deletion of an important file.

    Feeling under stress due to this unwelcome intrusion, the employee told their boss that this work experience would have to end early. She wasn't happy and felt like they couldn't deal with an issue that was not that great. They wanted to know if they were overreacting.

  • AITJ for telling my boss her daughter can’t shadow me anymore because she keeps touching my stuff?

    My boss (45F) asked if her daughter (15F) could shadow me for a school project. I said yes, it's only a week. But the girl has zero boundaries. She: touches EVERYTHING on my desk
    via Wide_Sale_217
  • opens drawers reads papers she shouldn't uses my computer without asking corrected my emails
    via Wide_Sale_217
  • took a photo of a client document "for notes" I told her politely multiple times to stop touching things. Yesterday, she accidentally deleted a file that took me hours to format. I had to redo everything from scratch.
    via Wide_Sale_217
  • I finally told my boss that shadow week needs to end early. She said I'm "intimidated by a teenager" and "not being a team player." AITJ?
    via Wide_Sale_217
  • wwwwww
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)
  • Low_Practice779 You expressed your boundaries and she isn't respecting them. Not the jerk. Why isn't she shadowing her mom?!
    via Low_Practice779
  • KimberKitsuragi And her mom did nothing? Disgusting. The child was clearly born with the silver spoon
    via KimberKitsuragi
  • RadishNew6502 Tell the teenager it's her turn to learn more about your role in the company. Sit her down at a computer and have her write about something. Sounds like this teen is bored out of her mind. Maybe tell the boss, you're taking the kid out for lunch. Then at lunch talk to the teen and ask her what she hopes to learn from shadowing you. As her what she has learned so far. It totally sucks, but this is also the bosses kid
    via RadishNew6502
  • flirtypolly you're literally just trying to do your job while mini-Inspector Gadget is rummaging through your stuff like it's a treasure hunt NTJ
    via flirtypolly
  • Background-War9535 NTJ and it sounds like you need to start planning your exit ASAP.
    via Background-War9535
  • obxhead Family helps family. Daughter should shadow mom instead.
    via obxhead
  • ButltSaysOnline NTJ. You set boundaries and she stomped all over them.
    via ButItSaysOnline
  • knight_shade_realms It's not that you're intimidated by a teenager That teenager is affecting your ability to do your job, creating more work, and possibly reviewing and taking pictures of confidential information She needs to shadow her mom until she learns to keep her hands to herself. I had taught my kid that long before this age NTJ
    via knight_shade_realms
  • spsonoma NTJ, I'd let HR know about this, so your boss cannot make things difficult for you.
    via spsonoma
  • MIMINCR NTJ. The brat needs to understand that shadows dont touch anything.
    via MIMINCR
  • BeautifulChaosEnergy Tell your boss "she's putting company security at risk. But sure, I'm threatened by a teenager. Don't come crying to me when you get chewed out for a leak because she read stuff she shouldn't have and took pictures of secured documents and then blabs to her friends"
    via BeautifulChaosEnergy
  • hellabob420 Report the unprofessionalism of your manager to HR.
    via hellabob420
  • grayblue_grrl I am not intimidated by this girl, I am worried about client confidentiality and the fact she DESTROYS my work. Do you want to get the pictures of client files from her? NTJ
    via grayblue_grrl
  • HippieGrandma1962 Give this list to her mother and say, "This is why."
    via HippieGrandma1962

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