There’s always room for a little goodhearted humor in the workplaces, but some jokes just cross an uncomfortable line.

So when one manager casually implied there was something romantic going on between two married coworkers during a team meeting, one colleague felt deeply uncomfortable while the others laughed it off.

Soon, her discomfort spiraled into a formal HR report that only resulted in more drama.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for complaining to HR about a joke my boss made, even though I was not the topic of the joke?

A few weeks ago, we had a Zoom meeting with our new boss, Kathy.

We were discussing work matters when she suddenly asked my coworker Taylor if she was married and if her husband worked here or abroad.

Taylor said she was married, and her husband was here.

That’s when Kathy crossed the line bigtime.

Kathy then said that if Taylor weren’t married, she would assume that there was something going on between Taylor and our other coworker Mark.

Mark is more than a decade older than Taylor and is also married with kids.

He and Taylor carpool every day to work since Taylor lives along Mark’s way to our office and doesn’t have a car.

The two of them also get along well and often have banter, but all four people in our team are fairly close friends.

Taylor and Mark tried their best to play along, but it was clear they were uncomfortable.

My other coworker Jeff and I were silent while Taylor and Mark laughed awkwardly and said things like, “She’s not my type,” or, “He’s old enough to be my father.”

Kathy laughed and then resumed talking about work.

Mark later told me that he was really upset about Kathy’s joke, especially since we were working from home and on loudspeaker, so his and Taylor’s spouses could’ve easily heard that.

The longer this employee sat with the discomfort, the sooner she realized she couldn’t just stand idly by.

I told him that the joke was definitely off, as it implied that Mark and Taylor had questionable morals, and I don’t know why Kathy thought it was a good idea to say that during our meeting.

I later decided to report her to HR because I really didn’t think it was okay for her to be saying things like that.

She trusted HR would act in good faith, but they soon proved her wrong.

HR reports are treated with confidentiality in our company, and the complainant’s anonymity is protected as much as possible, so Kathy doesn’t know who complained.

I guess she assumed that either Taylor or Mark did, because they say that she’s been picking on them, being snippy with them, and overly critical of their work.

It appears the gossip started spreading like a wildfire.

Mark and Taylor don’t know who reported Kathy because everyone on our entire floor had learned about the joke she made, but Taylor is angry and said that whoever reported Kathy shouldn’t have done that because they weren’t the topic of the joke, and she is blaming the complainant for Kathy picking on her now.

She feels bad for how it all went down, but still feels justified in making the report.

I feel sorry for Taylor, but at the same time, I think it wasn’t out of line for me to do what I did because even though I wasn’t the topic of the joke, I was there when Kathy said it, and it made me very uncomfortable that my boss was saying things like that.

I don’t want to see the day when she could be making a similar joke about me.

AITA?

When you mix gossip with leadership, you can’t be too surprised when things go south.

What did Reddit think?

Kathy is definitely on thin ice here.

This is definitely no way for a manager to behave.

Retaliation in the workplace is a serious matter.

It’s important for HR to build trust with employees.

Kathy really just needs to be the boss, not a stand-up comedian.

Zoom meetings are awkward enough without inappropriate jokes.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.