Work friendships can be a great way to get through the work day — that is, until those work friends start putting unwanted pressure on you.

One employee found himself stuck with a coworker who treated lunch like a mandatory social hour.

So when this coworker insisted he violate restaurant policy by bringing outside food in, the employee refused to break the rules just to make him happy.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for not joining my coworker for lunch?

My coworker and I work servicing machines throughout the county, so we carpool in a work van.

I bring my lunch every day in my lunch pail.

His coworker isn’t the most tolerant of his lunchtime habits.

He eats out every day, and every day he tries to pressure me to join him inside the restaurants he’s eating in.

There’s no way I’m taking food from home into an establishment and eating without purchasing anything.

Now his coworker is mad at him.

He says I’m being a jerk for having him eat alone.

AITA?

If his coworker insists on reading into his refusal, then that’s his issue to sort out.

What did Reddit think?

If anyone’s in the wrong here, it’s clearly this coworker.

Maybe this coworker has a hang up about eating alone.

There is one way this coworker could sweeten the offer.

Why not let the restaurant itself tell the coworker he’s wrong?

And if a grown adult can’t handle eating alone, then there are much bigger problems at hand.

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.