There’s “friendly older coworker energy”…and then there’s whatever this man thought “job dad” was supposed to accomplish.

This 20-year-old had only been at her new job for about two weeks when one of her older coworkers started taking a very strange interest in her. At first, it seemed harmless enough: offering vending machine snacks, introducing himself warmly, acting helpful because she was new. But things quickly started feeling off.

He repeatedly ignored her polite refusals, kept leaving food on her desk, started referring to himself as her “work uncle,” and then awkwardly clarified that he “wasn’t trying to be weird” because he had kids her age. Which, unfortunately, tends to be the exact moment everyone starts feeling weird.

The final straw came when he handed her a note with his phone number telling her to “text your job dad,” attempted to hug her, and only approached her desk when other women weren’t nearby. So she reported the situation to her manager—and now some family members think she overreacted.

AITAH for “snitching” on my coworker?

I 20f am in college and working as well as I stay with my family and if needed I help pay the bills!

I’m really bad at picking jobs then work them anyways finally after trade school I landed a job that I absolutely love so far I’ve been working it for 2 weeks now! 😛

But there’s this co-worker an old guy old enough to retire in GA (he told me he’s retired) anyways on my 2nd day of working there he introduced himself as Mike and told me if I needed anything I could go to him. I took it as him being nice cause I’m new is all.

Sounds like it.

That same day he came and told me that if I wanted anything from the vending machine in the break room to come get him and that he was my “work uncle.

” I gave a side eye look and told him that I probably wasn’t gonna call him uncle and that I didn’t want anything to eat he did this many times throughout that day.

And he kept doing it when I kept saying nah he’d leave snacks and stuff on my desk and I’d give them away to someone else. up until my 6th day of saying no thanks he came up and told me that he had kids my age and wasn’t trying to be weird.

Yikes.

I did not believe him cause now it just sounds like you know I’m weirded out by you the second week comes and he’s still asking if I need anything or if I wanna go to the break room with him.

Yesterday he said it again this time the whole spill about kids his age and this time he gave me another note and tried to hug me I’m talking I swerved that expeditiously 🤦🏽‍♀️

Anyways the note said “send your job dad a text (his number)” this weirded me out cause ugh?

Woof.

After the attempted hug he told me that he can’t come over as often as he’d like then gestured to the other desk right behind me and said “they were nosey.”

There are three desks right behind me with a window that looks into the break room the girls weren’t there.

And I should’ve added that he only ever comes over to my desk to talk to me specifically when they aren’t there and maybe I’m dramatic but I felt like if I ever went in that break room with him he might’ve tried to touch me or something.

Always better to be safe than sorry.

Anyways after a chat with my mother I went to my manager and told him I didn’t want Mike to get in trouble but just to leave me alone as he Mike hadn’t actually said anything crazy or like touched me or anything.

I was talking to my aunt im close with and she laughed at me like I was joking or something and said “you snitched on an old man cause he wanted to buy you snacks?” I’m not sure if I’m like crazy or something but I was weirded out by him for real.

I don’t think I snitched I saw a problem that was bothering me and I fixed it AITAH? 🥹

Reddit overwhelmingly leaned NTA, with many pointing out that women are constantly pressured to ignore uncomfortable behavior until it escalates into something undeniably inappropriate. A lot of commenters felt OP handled the situation exactly how workplace issues should be handled: calmly, early, and through management before things potentially got worse.

People also noted that while any one individual interaction could maybe be brushed off as awkward friendliness, the overall pattern was what made it concerning. The repeated gifts, the insistence on creating a fake family dynamic, the private interactions, the “job dad” note, and the attempted hug after she’d already shown discomfort all added up to behavior that clearly crossed professional boundaries.

The general consensus was that reporting someone who makes you feel unsafe at work is not “snitching.” It’s protecting yourself before you’re stuck in a much more serious situation later.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who figured out how to stop his manager from constantly stealing his phone charger.

This person says NTA at ALL.

This person is proud of how OP handled it.

And this person says OP did nothing wrong; the colleague should know what he’s doing.

If you have to repeatedly explain you’re “not being weird,” the odds are unfortunately not in your favor.