Vegan coworker breaks down while training in the meat department: 'The rest of the day, things felt incredibly awkward'

JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor

Nov 8, 2026 3:45 PM EST

When you're training someone, you probably hope they're going to make it through the day without crying.

Training somebody at work can be a stressful thing to undertake. You probably have to do it at some point in your career, and sometimes it's easier than others. If you're good at your job and you have a lot to share, you still might not be a good trainer. Just like good artists aren't always good art teachers. Teaching is a whole other skill. And every student requires a different level of attention. This remains true in the workplace. When you're training somebody, you have to put yourself into it. You have to respond to what they need, and adapt to what they might be thinking. But this is much easier said than done. And sometimes you just get a trainee that you don't feel like you'll be able to help no matter what. The person in the story was struggling in training somebody for a pretty particular reason. They thought they were doing everything they could to make it a good experience, but that didn't stop things from going a little bit haywire.

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*A woman looks distressed with her head in her hands*

We all have different sensitivities. We have different things that might trigger us, and different things that might set us off over the course of the day. It's because we all have different lived experiences. The things that we've gone through in our lives make us who we are, and sometimes force us to respond in ways that feel out of our control. What makes sense to us might not make sense to anybody else, because they haven't lived our lives. But that doesn't mean we don't need to reserve basic respect for one another. Because we do. We know enough by now to know that everybody approaches things differently, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't respect them. But at a certain point, you have to trust in yourself and trust in others to make a decision. You can't walk around on eggshells all the time for the sake of everybody else. You can trust people to use their voices and to ask for what they want. The person in the story was having a difficult time doing that, and it came at the detriment of everybody around her. She had a very specific sensitivity about something, and wasn't very good about expressing it. That doesn't mean that the sensitivity was bad in the first place, and that she didn't deserve respect, but it's hard to help somebody when you don't know what's wrong. And in your training, somebody like this can be a frustrating experience. At least it was for this worker who was just trying to find his way around it. Keep reading to see what happened here, and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Vegan coworker broke down because I was training her in the meat department.

I (19) work on the meat counter. My manager recently asked me to train a new colleague who is older than my mother and previously worked elsewhere. Anyway, I was training this colleague, and within the first hour, I was very sociable and she was very quiet but nice. After I'd brought the meat out and started preparing it, she suddenly started crying and hyperventilating.

Just beforehand, I'd asked her a couple of questions about her previous career. "I heard you used to be an X. Is that quite a small industry? Does everyone tend to know each other?" I only knew about her previous career because my manager had mentioned it. I was genuinely curious and didn't think there was anything particularly sensitive about asking.

When she started crying, I initially assumed I'd upset her by bringing up her previous profession without her brining it up herself. Perhaps something traumatic had happened in that job, so I upset her and I legit started to panic as I didn't want to upset her talking about something she didn't want to talk about.

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*A woman comforts her coworker who is upset*

Eventually, she explained that she was actually crying because she's vegan. Seeing me preparing and handling the meat had upset her. I explained that if she genuinely couldn't manage it here, she could potentially move to another department for today and she should let a manager know. I was very empathetic.

However, for the rest of the day, things felt incredibly awkward. I passed her about 10 times, and she ignored me, and so I made no effort to talk to her. Had I been in that position, I would've made some self deprecating jokes to my trainer, and apologised for "wasting" their time, just to be polite, and make it so we didn't end it on a solemn and awkward note.

However, in reality, I was the trainer, and not in an awkward position, so I decided I'd let her make the first move. I would've asked her "Hey, are you alright? Did you tell a manager?" but I didn't want to bring it up, as potentially that'd trigger her again.

I ended up in her department for the final hour of my shift, and I really struggled to make eye contact, and even talk to her, and don't know how to move on. I feel the added age dynamic makes it complex as well. What should I do in the future? Was it wrong of me to bring up someone's old job prior to them telling me about it?

(A colleague did ask her later about her job, "What job did you do prior?" And she was happy to talk about it.)

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Vegan coworker breaks down while training in the meat department: 'The rest of the day, things felt incredibly awkward'

Vegan coworker broke down because I was training her in the meat department.

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