It’s not always easy to speak up in a workplace where emotions (and egos) run high.

So when one employee found themselves distracted daily by a coworker’s fussy baby, they decided to report it to HR, but soon began to wonder if they took things a step too far.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for reporting a crying baby to HR?

I am second-guessing my decision to report to HR.

There is a person in my building who brings their infant to work with her, and it cries and screams and fusses—as babies do.

This has made focusing on work incredibly difficult.

She does not close her office door but leaves it open like an echo chamber, resounding through the halls.

It is incredibly difficult to focus on anything at all with a crying baby in your ear.

Closing my door helps a bit, but we have a culture of leaving doors open to signal that you’re available for an impromptu meeting.

I leave mine open about half of the time.

They decide they need to speak up, but they worry about what may happen if they confront the woman directly.

I decided today that something’s gotta give.

I do not know her and we do not work for the same department.

I work in an office with a lot of touchy personalities and egos, and I was not confident that I could simply ask her to close her door without setting off WWIII—either with her individually, or between our co-located departments.

So they decide to leave it to the professionals.

Instead, I sent a very nicely worded email to HR asking if someone can send her an anonymous request to please kindly keep her door closed while she has her baby with her.

I assumed the woman has some kind of “reasonable accommodation” for having the baby at work, but now I’m second-guessing myself.

Soon they become racked with guilt over reporting the woman and her baby.

What if she doesn’t, and isn’t supposed to have the baby with her?

Did I just “tell” on her?

I am feeling quite sheepish about it at the moment.

Should I have tried to resolve this myself?

HR chimes in and let them know they made the right call.

HR has already responded with an emphatic “Good job in bringing this to HR, as this is an HR issue, and not something to handle yourself,” but I still feel like maybe I’m the AH here.

AITA?

HR may have assured them they made the right call, but that didn’t silence the doubts.

What did Reddit think?

This user thinks this employee handled this situation with more grace than they give themselves credit for.

This commenter finds it unreasonable to expect anyone to be okay with this.

It’s possible to have empathy for both sides here.

It’s a difficult situation that will likely be best received from the people paid to handle it tactfully.

Screaming baby on a plane?

Fine.

Waiting in line at the grocery store?

Normal.

But in your office while you’re trying to work? Now that crosses a line.

There’s no shame in speaking up for your own needs.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.