Microwave etiquette in a shared office is sacred…or so one employee thought.

But when a newbie jumped the queue mid-warm-up, things got uncomfortably heated.

Read on for the story.

AITA for calling out my coworker who jumped the microwave queue?

I work in a pretty large office, but in our particular section, we’ve got one microwave.

One.

Naturally, there’s a bit of a lunch rush and you sometimes have to wait your turn.

Anyway, I was heating up my lunch, and when the microwave beeped, I pulled it out to give it a stir (you know, the cold in the middle struggle).

I always pop it back in for another minute, just to finish it off.

Sounds reasonable.

But!

The moment I took it out to stir, this guy swoops in from the side, whacks his container in, and starts heating his food.

For four minutes.

Didn’t ask. Didn’t check.

Just claimed the microwave.

Now, I don’t think I’ve seen him before, pretty sure he’s a new starter.

But still, microwave etiquette is not exactly niche.

I stood there, waiting (FUMING), and when his four minutes were up and he took his food out.

I said: “Great, thanks. I can finish heating my lunch now that you’re done.”

Passive aggressive, much?

He just looked at the ground and slinked off.

I figured that was the end of it, but later his manager actually came up to me and said I should be nicer and that I’d hurt his feelings.

Apparently, he felt really bad and embarrassed.

I didn’t insult him, I just called out the behavior.

But now I’m being told I made someone feel bad at their new job.

So AITA?

The food thief got his lunch—and a side of public shame.

So who’s in the wrong here?

Everyone. Everyone is.

This person says there was no need to be rude (even if he made a mistake).

This person points out that assumptions were made.

This person has an idea of what they could say next time.

One nuked lunch, one bruised ego—and one very divided office.

Use your words, people.

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