Helping someone out of a bind can feel good, until the favor starts feeling like a trap.

So when a sympathetic employee fronted a new hire $200 after a payroll mistake left her nearly stranded, she began to realize her coworker had no intention of repaying her.

So the employee was forced to question: Would an HR report help get her money back, or was she SOL?

Keep reading for the full story.

WIBTA if I went to HR about money a coworker essentially stole?

So I (24F) work in a relatively small office. Around 2–3 weeks ago, a new girl started. Let’s call her Sasha (30F).

The week after Sasha started, payroll screwed up her paycheck and only paid her like $3.

Sasha was quick to turn on the waterworks, so this employee couldn’t resist helping out.

I came into the office as she was crying, saying she needed the check to pay her car payment, and if she didn’t pay that day it would be repoed.

So I loaned her $200 and told her to just pay me back when they corrected her check, which was meant to be the next day.

Almost immediately, the cracks in their agreement began to show.

The next day, when she received her corrected check, she texted me asking if instead of paying me back she could simply be my ride to work for the month of December.

I usually take the train and wouldn’t pay that much for transportation, but I said sure since I could tell she needed it.

Sasha began to make it clear she was going to be trouble.

About a week later, Sasha got in trouble at work for not performing and made it into a race issue. Not only that, she dragged my name in as a witness.

I told HR I had no clue what she was referring to and didn’t call again for a ride. That was last week.

Things got even worse when Sasha kept pushing off repaying the money.

Come Thursday, I spoke with her about wanting my money back. She gave me rides for a week, so I figured it was more than fair to only ask for $120 back.

When I said this to her, she said, “Umm, okay.” Come Friday, I sent the Cash App request.

Finally, she admitted she never intended to pay her back.

So Saturday night, she declined the Cash App request and texted me saying she wouldn’t be paying me back.

That she was “being nice” by giving me rides, and she was keeping the $200 for the one week of rides she gave me.

This employee is irate.

I responded saying that wasn’t what we had agreed to at all, and I was willing to work out a payment system but I wanted my money back. She never responded.

And since we get bonuses, and I know hers was at least $250, it isn’t a financial issue.

I was venting to one of my friends, and they suggested I report her to HR for creating a hostile work environment.

Now she’s not sure if an HR report would help or hurt the situation.

Which I want to do, but I don’t know if I have a right to, or if it’s worth her losing her job over this since she’s already had HR issues.

So Reddit, WIBTA?

When you lend someone you barely know money, at a certain point, you have to be ok with the possibility of never seeing that money again.

What did Reddit think?

Sasha deserves to be held accountable, but HR likely isn’t the right place for it.

This commenter shares a hard truth.

However, this user disagrees.

This user can’t help but fault the lender for this questionable decision.

She tried to help a coworker get back on her feet, but instead she got stepped on.

Next time, this employee’s generosity needs to come with stricter terms and conditions.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.