Woman Excluding Coworker From Sharing Group Lunch Has Internet Torn

A woman who excluded her coworker from a group lunch has sparked debate online.

Published on Reddit's r/AmITheA**hole forum, a woman under the anonymous username u/VioletPilot97 shared her story to receive feedback from the "AITA" community. The viral post has over 7,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments.

The original poster (OP) began her story by explaining that her boss recently bought the entire office McDonald's. She writes that most of her coworkers are vegetarians, so their options were limited. However, her coworker, "Amy," took all the chicken nuggets that were available and started to eat them at her desk.

When the OP passed Amy's desk, she kindly asked if she could have one—as did other coworkers—only for her to scream "NO!" at them.

The OP explained where the conflict began. "Earlier today, I decided to order in from this nearby Chinese place. There were fewer of us in office day, so I asked everyone except Amy if they wanted anything. We all contributed and ended up ordering a big lunch for ourselves. Food comes, we sit around a table to eat. Amy notices and comes around, making small talk.

"As soon as she reaches for a plate and tries to serve, I tell her she can't have the food as we all ordered it for ourselves. Amy looks at me in disbelief. I shrug. Amy slams the plate back on the table and storms off. She ate alone later and didn't say much to anyone the whole day. My colleagues are split about this. Half of them say she had it coming. The other claim I was a little too harsh to exclude and embarrass her," she continued.

Newsweek reached out to u/VioletPilot97 for comment.

Newsweek has published several articles involving conflicts at work including a woman who was backed for reporting her coworker who rifled through her purse, a father slammed online after forcing his son to stay at work and miss the birth of his first child and a woman who was criticized for delaying her husband's plans to go back to work another year.

How to handle a conflict between you and a coworker?

Learning how to deal with conflict at work can increase productivity and make work enjoyable, according to Indeed. The job search and advice website shared ways to handle conflicts between you and your coworker:

• Keep the conflict between you and the coworker. Don't discuss it with any other coworkers.
• Discuss the situation with your coworker face-to-face and speak using a calm voice.
• Listen to their point of view and understand where they are coming from.
• Know when to involve others including human resources or a higher-up.

Redditor reactions

"[Not the a**hole] Regardless of the McDonald's incident the fact is she didn't pay for it, each of you paid for your own meal & it's no different than bringing in lunch & placing it in the fridge only for a coworker to take it without permission.Would it been nice to offer some? Sure but no one was required to share their lunch with a glutton," u/zadidoll wrote, receiving the top comment of over 10,000 upvotes.

U/Bitbatgaming said, "[Not the a**hole]. She's being a huge d**k here. Notice how your boss ordered mcdonalds for the whole office, not just her. She's being greedy by refusing to share, in addition to her rude manners when you kindly asked if you could eat one."

"[Everyone sucks here], you all sound incredibly immature. She was super weird about the chicken nuggets, and you played a Mean Girls style tit-for-tat. Do yourself the favour and start behaving professionally towards your colleagues, even if they're bit odd - in fact, especially if they're a bit odd," u/hamsandwichandcrisps explained.

"Your colleague's actions regarding the chicken nuggets were selfish and immature. You did a fine job emulating her behavior in return. You earn no points for sinking to her level. She didn't earn your respect, but she also didn't deserve your scorn. [Everyone sucks here]," u/SamW20910 commented.