Have you ever had your mom or your dad stop by your work without letting you know in advance?

Some people would definitely NOT be cool with that kind of pop-in.

That’s what happened in this story from Reddit, and the woman who wrote it wants to know if she was too harsh on her mom.

Read on to get all the details.

Parent turned up unannounced at my work.

“I’m establishing a boundary for the first time ever with my parent and I don’t know if I did it right.

I am 25f my parent is 62f.

For some context, my family has been going through a lot of stress and drama that follow the themes of family members passing away, mental health emergencies and multiple health scares and I have mostly moved out, living on my own since may 2024.

What are you doing here…?

My mother (the 62f) showed up today at my office at 12:45 pm. I was still on lunch.

She did not call me, she did not text me, she gave me no warning that she would be showing up. (For more context my place of employment is an hour drive from my mother)

My supervisor actually had to text me. “Hey, someone said your mom is here?”

My heart fell into my stomach. I clocked my pulse through my smartwatch at a peak of 144 bpm. I thought for sure another family member had passed away or been hospitalized and she was here to tell me as such.

She sees me and says “everything’s fine, I was in the area for a doctor’s appointment and wanted to take you to dinner.”

I still had 3.5 hours left in my work day, so I walked her out the door, literal stress tears in my eyes (so embarrassing) and said, I will not be off work until x o clock.

It was time to get real with her.

She came back to my office when I got off work, and I told her these words verbatim.

Me : “This is not okay, you can’t just show up”

Mom: “come in the car and talk to me, I know. I’m sorry, I would be upset if my mom did this to me- where do you want to go? (To eat)”

Me: “I’m going to go home – I will see you at the funeral” (my father’s mother that is upcoming next week).

These people need some counseling…

She quietly said “okay” and I could tell she was about to cry, and was very disappointed.

I. feel. Terrible.

I cried on the drive all the way home, but I couldn’t sit and have dinner with her just because it was convenient for her.

God I feel so guilty.

I didn’t want to make my mother cry.

I almost called my therapist because I was so distraught with myself. But I’ve calmed down. And decided to ask internet strangers for their opinion instead.”

Her mom showing up unannounced was pretty traumatic under the circumstances. A simple text ahead of time would’ve prevented this whole situation.

Take a look at what Reddit readers had to say about this story.

This person shared their thoughts.

Another Reddit user said she’s NTA.

This reader chimed in.

Another individual said she’s NTA.

And this person spoke up.

The pop-in at work is never a good thing…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.