Being a team player needs to go both ways…

If you had a coworker who always asked for help finishing her work but was never willing to help you, would you keep helping, or would you refuse?

In today’s story, this Redditor is in this exact situation and finally decided not to help any longer.

Read how they finally stand up for themselves and see if you think they made the right decision or not.

AITA for refusing to help my coworker with a big project because she never helps me with mine?

I work in a small office.

There are only five of us in this office and, while we all have our workloads, we are supposed to help each other whenever it gets really busy.

But, one coworker takes it to the extreme.

One of my co-workers, let’s call her “Rode”, is always asking for help.

I have helped her many times when she has needed my help.

I take calls, finish reports, and I have even stayed late to make sure her stuff gets done.

The wild part is that Rode doesn’t return the favor — ever.

However, whenever I have needed help, she is always “too busy” or somehow finds a way to disappear.

It’s every time!

Last week, she had a huge deadline, and again, she was not going to meet it.

She asked me to help, and she looked super stressed. She asked if I could get the rest of her work finished while she worked on her deadline assignment.

So, she did something shocking…

I said NO and told her I had my own deadlines.

I am so sick of her always asking for help but never returning the favor when I need it.

She got mad and said I was being unprofessional.

The staff felt uneasy about the OP’s strong choice.

Another coworker overheard the conversation, and told me I should have just helped so that I could be seen as a team player (which I have always been).

I am tired of always helping!

Now, the whole office feels awkward after the incident, and I am wondering if I should’ve just helped her anyway, but I also feel like I finally set a boundary.

AITA?

Was this employee justified in standing her ground? Let’s read the comments below to get an idea of what Reddit thinks about the matter.

People said the problem was bigger than just the coworker…

One reader knew exactly what to say for the next time.

But, overall, Reddit said “NTA.”

Management needs to check on their staff — because this setup isn’t fair.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.