Imagine working in a job where you are very busy and the work is time sensitive. If a person in another department asked for your assistance, would you be willing to help, or would you refuse since your work is very important?

In this story, one person is in this situation and refuses to help. The other employee makes a threat that escalates pretty quickly.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

I don’t work for YOU, specifically

A couple years back, I worked for a very large… resort-style place. It was where some very, very wealthy people had vacation homes.

This place was huge, as it was basically its own town, and I happened to be in a small subsection of the largest department.

Now, it’s important to note that the uniforms my small team wore were completely different from the vast majority of people in this dept because we were very specialized – we wore blue shirts and grey pants, most of the rest of the department wore green shirts with khaki pants. Actually, I’m fairly certain that we were the only team – other than the on-site EMTs – who had blue uniforms.

It was a big place, lots of employees, so most everyone in “public facing” jobs were essentially color-coded.

Another employee asked for help.

Anyways, it was literally my second-to-last day on the job and I had to go to the main office for the dept, because that’s where we kept things that we didn’t need all the time (space was extremely limited in our office).

I run inside, pick up the box that we need, and head back out to my vehicle.

A lady who is wearing a green shirt walks up to me, and since I try to be a decent person, I smile and say hello

Lady “oh, perfect, I need help taking [a whole bunch of crap] over to the banquet hall!”

The lady was insistent.

Me, very clearly holding a heavy box that is labeled for my team “uh… I’m on a tight schedule, sorry” (my team worked a very time-sensitive position, I’m talking down to the second sometimes)

Lady “that can wait, I need help now!!!”

Me “I’m really sorry, but I need to get this to -”

Lady “I DONT CARE YOU NEED TO HELP ME”

OP refused to help.

Me, completely out of cares to give “not to be rude, but you aren’t my supervisor, and my actual supervisor will tear me a new one if I don’t get back to our office right now.”

Lady “IM GOING TO TELL [head of dept] ABOUT THIS”

Me, over my shoulder as I walk away “go ahead, he’s in his office right now, I just said hi to him”

Anyways, I headed over to my office and pretty much forgot about the interaction because we were SLAMMED that day and it was non-stop until we closed.

OP thought the head of the department was there to say goodbye.

The next day was my last day on the job, so I wasn’t surprised to see the head of the dept show up when my shift was almost over – he was a really good guy, one of the best upper management types I have ever met, and really made an effort to get to know everyone in his dept.

My supervisor and I greeted him and we chatted while I finished cleaning up my station.

Dept. Head, suddenly very grave “OP, I got a very concerning report about you yesterday”

Me and my supervisor “????”

The department head made a joke.

Dept. Head “apparently you refused to give assistance to [lady] when she asked for it.”

Me “oh yeah. I was bringing [supplies] from storage back here and didn’t have time. She was kinda rude.”

Dept. Head, grinning widely at his own joke “well, in that case I’m afraid that I’ll have to let you go if you don’t apologize to her.”

Me “I’m terribly sorry it has to end this way, Dept. Head, but I must stick to my principles.”

It ended with a laugh.

He laughed, shook my hand, and told me I could always count on him for a good reference while my supervisor cackled in the background

It wasn’t a perfect job, but it was one of the better ones and I’ll always be a little sad that I had to move away. But at least it ended with a pretty good chuckle!

The department head sounds like a good guy. That’s a funny way to end the job.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

One person shares how they handle situations like this.

Another person has a great boss.

This is a good point.

Only your boss can boss you around.

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