Trying to protect yourself can sometimes leave you questioning if you did the right thing.

Today, we meet an intern who secured a position that would let her stay with the company during the school year, and she badly needed the money for college and a new car.

So, when her manager casually asked if another intern also wanted to stay on, she froze. Even though she already knew her coworker hoped for the same opportunity, panic kicked in, and she pretended not to know.

Now, she can’t stop wondering if staying quiet makes her selfish.

Let’s check out her story.

AITA for concealing a co-workers career objectives to manager

I’m an intern, and I just got offered a job through the school year to stay on at my company.

I needed this badly because I need to buy a new car, and college isn’t free.

So I got it, and then afterwards, a couple of weeks later, my manager asked if another intern I work with was looking to stay on as well.

There were a few reasons she chose to stay quiet.

I made the decision to say, “I dunno,” even though I knew full well she did.

Now, this intern does not report to my project manager, and I feel it is not my duty to speak for her. I also panicked and thought maybe they would revoke my offer ( the company is tight with keeping interns on) and give it to her, because she is doing a good job.

The intern has told me in the past that she is really hoping to stay on.

Now, she’s questioning her own actions.

She doesn’t seem like she needs money (parents are loaded), but who am I to judge? I also told her I was trying to stay as well, and that she should ask her manager about opportunities.

Did I do everything right here? Should I have maybe tried to put in a good word?

I just feel this is a delicate topic, and I just need to shut up and keep the job. It’s probably selfish, but IDK.

AITA?

Eek! It’s easy to see why she feels that way, but who knows if the other intern have done the same for her.

Here’s what the folks over at Reddit think about the whole thing.

This is probably how some people feel, but it does sound pretty harsh.

It seems like this person doesn’t like what she did either.

This reader is spot-on.

Here’s some great advice.

In all honesty, it sounds like she may have panicked a little bit in the moment.

She didn’t lie about anything or try to ruin the other woman’s chances behind the scenes, she just chose to not answer a question.

And realistically, plenty of people would so the same if they thought jobs were limited.

At the same time, if the manager was really interested in keeping the other intern on, her response should not change that.

The guilt probably bothers her more than the actual decision ever hurt anyone else.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who refused to keep giving his coworker rides to work because he left a mess in his car.