A mum who refused to buy lunch from a supermarket for one of her colleagues has been backed and attacked on a popular internet forum. The unnamed manager, who described herself as 'a lone parent and broke' had been asked by a member of staff to pick up a meal deal if she passed a shop.
Writing on Mumnset's Am I Being Unreasonable [AIBU] thread, she said she refused to buy the meal deal when she realised the nearest supermarket was Marks and Spencer which would have cost her £5 and she feared she would not get the money back, Liverpool Echo reports. But she told her colleague she "didn't feel comfortable" spending that much of her money without checking with her first - particularly as the colleague didn't offer any cash upfront.
In response, some users on the site branded the mum, who posted under the user name CloseYourEyesAndSee, as 'petty' and 'unprofessional' but others thought she had handled the situation well.
What the original post said
"In the office the other day, I was going to stretch my legs. A colleague asked me to buy her a chicken ready meal if I went near a shop. I went to Marks and Spencer to buy Percy Pigs. The ready meals were about £5. She didn't offer me money before I went, she's not in my team and I might not see her in person for months. I would probably have ended up paying for her lunch.
"I also don't like her, she's rude and weird and messed with my stuff once because I was using the desk she likes. Final point, I'm vegan and don't want to buy chicken, but I was too chicken (lol) to say that. If I liked her, I would have happily bought a meal but I would have said can I get you a veggie one instead, and I wouldn't have minded if I didn't get paid back.
"I told her the meals were £5 and I didn't feel comfortable spending that much of her money without her agreement. But I never had any real intention of buying one, mostly because there were no actual supermarkets nearby anyway. Context, I'm a manager and she isn't, but I'm a lone parent and broke as s***.
"So, was I a total cow (YABU) [you are being unreasonable] or a diplomatic genius? (YANBU) [you are not being unreasonable]."
How people reacted
Sumtimesiamgreen wrote: "I would have asked for the money upfront, saying I never carry cash."
Zonder wrote: "Weird. Presumably she knows the price of an M and S ready meal so was happy to pay that? Seems a bit mean not to get one but I guess you could have asked for the money in advance and explained that you're skint."
mizzo wrote: "I think I'd have asked far the money when she asked me to buy it. I don't think you did anything wrong though."
WhatsMyNameGonnaBeNow said: "You come across as quite petty and seem weirdly pleased with yourself about the whole thing. You knew you had no intention of buying it so you should have just said no. If you were too “chicken” to refuse then you could easily have said you weren’t planning to go into a shop or that you didn’t have cash."
LizDoingTheCanCan wrote: "You come across as very unprofessional. All you needed to do was either say no, or get the money before you went. It's not rude to say no, it is rude to say you will and then come back with nothing."
In a follow up response, the original poster added: "I said I was going for a walk. There are some shops nearby but I'd never been in that office before and wasn't sure if there was a sainsbos or whatever. I didn't have zero intention of buying it but when I realised there was only a marks I decided I wouldn't."
At the time of writing, 76 per cent thought the original poster was being unreasonable.
