College student waitress pays for her older coworker's $20 Uber to get home from work; coworker keeps asking her for more money: 'She's a young single parent and shares a car with her boyfriend.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Aug 18, 2026 6:00 PM EDT

She's going to keep asking unless you tell her "no."

You cannot fix your problems by throwing money at them. If you're a miserable sourpuss who is convinced that you're a blight on the universe, your self-esteem isn't suddenly going to improve because you have a lot of dough in the bank. If you are a homebody who always complains that you don't have any friends, a generous stock profile isn't going to make you a fun hang. There's a huge group of men online who think that money would solve all of their dating problems, but that's just not true. If she doesn't like you when you make six figures, she's not going to change her tune if you get a sizable raise in two months. Money can be used as a tool to improve your life, but a lot of your problems don't have anything to do with money at all. 

Having money can't solve the root cause of your money problems. If someone is terrible with their money, they're going to be terrible with it whether they're making $50K a year or $200K a year. Giving a financially irresponsible person a sizable sum of money to pay off their debts might propel them into a debt-free lifestyle, but that's contingent on their stopping the things that got them into debt in the first place. If someone keeps getting bailed out, you can't be surprised when they start to expect it.

The user in this story, Natural-Spot2597, took to Reddit to share the problems she's having with her coworker who keeps asking to borrow money. She bought her a $20 Uber, and now she thinks that she can ask her for a similar amount of money constantly. It's clear she needs to nip this situation in the bud, but how? 

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  • A college student who works as a waitress in a restaurant.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A college student who works as a waitress in a restaurant.

    Actor performance of story events.

  • I gave a girl at work an Uber ride, and she keeps asking me for money

    I started a job last month. I'm the youngest of my shift and a trusting person. I'm a college student while the majority of my coworkers are late 20s - early 40s single parents. They need this
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • job desperately, while I would likely be okay with only half of the hours I get. One day, my coworker told me her car broke down and she needed to get home because she was working another shift. She's a
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • A woman next to her broken-down car.
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A woman next to her broken-down car.

    Photo is a representation of scenes.

  • young single parent and shares a car with her boyfriend. She told me she didn't have a lot of friends, so I offered to get her an Uber. I don't have my card connected to any payment apps and my online bank money is for my tuition next semester.
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • Cheezburger Image 10657108992
    via Victoria Heath

    A college student walking on campus.

    Representative only.

  • I paid the Uber through the website because Google autofills my card. I told her to not pay me back because it was only $20. She was also talking about how she couldn't afford her car note, so I let her get a few tables of mine because it was a
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • really slow night. She texts me next day, asks for $20. I tell her I don't know where my card is (true. I actually found it a week later today.) Today she texts and is asking for $30. We had an entire
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • conversation that shift about hanging out one day and how its ks to have friendships where you give and get nothing back. Though a lot of it was her saying her friends never give when she does and me going "yeah, as college students all of my
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • friends pitch in for stuff", which made me feel worse for her situation. How do I gently direct her to please stop asking me for money? Do I keep lying? Do I ignore her texts? Its ks because it's a coworker too and I have
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • no idea when I work with her again.
    via u/Natural-Spot2597
  • hereforthedrama57 If she asks a third time, just tell her that you are broke too. If she asks a fourth time, tell her that you feel taken advantage of since she keeps asking for money.
    via u/hereforthedrama57
  • Silent Technology540 Ok this the fact now she's seeing you as a resource and not a person is low-key insulting
    via u/Silent_Technology540
  • Total-Object-4766 "Hey, I bought you an Uber ride once and gave you some of my tables the other day. That's all I'm doing. I have my own bills and responsibilities. Please don't make this awkward."
    via u/Total-Object-4766
  • Hippie-Farts Say No or she will ask you every day
    via u/Hippie-Farts
  • Opposite Spell_6662 Saying no is short-term and leaves the door open. Just say, "Hey, I don't lend or give money out to friends as it makes things complicated". That closes the door for the current and future. If she asks again, then block her because she isn't interested in friendship.
    via u/Opposite_Spell_6662
  • AkkmanB Say no. That's it. Don't ever offer your money to people like that. Because it turns into expectation and exploitation.
    via u/AkkmanB
  • BBG1308 Just tell her you can't do that. Ignore any additional texts that might include bargaining, guilt-tripping, requests for explanation, etc. Don't engage. You don't owe her anything more than a yes/no. The stuff about her being giving with her friends and them never giving back is baloney. She's either making it up to manipulate you or she milked them for what she could and now they have cut her off and she's moved on to her new human ATM machine (you).
    via u/BBG1308
  • ThanosSnapsSlimJims She doesn't like you, she likes the potential of you opening your wallet
    via u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims

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terrible coworkers server car uber waiter work coworkers college students driving waitress coworker single mom college student restaurant server money problems
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