Nobody should have to negotiate with a coworker just to get to work on time, but some people really do treat punctuality like a personal preference instead of a basic expectation.

One employee thought she would save time and money by carpooling to work with colleagues. But when she realized her coworker’s constant lateness was starting to impact her daily routine, she decided to bow out and just make her own way.

Her coworker basically begged her to come back, so she gave her one last chance, but after she was disappointed once again, she decided to finally let her colleague know how she really felt.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for calling out my coworker for making us late repeatedly?

We have a new coworker who lives only one barangay away from me and drives to work. She invited me and a few nearby coworkers to carpool with her.

I agreed because it was convenient and would save me money on transportation.

But there’s one big catch with all this.

The problem is that she’s constantly late. Because of this, we’ve been called out multiple times for arriving late to work.

I brought up my concerns and suggested we agree on a fixed departure time. It worked for one day, then she went back to her old habits.

This employee decided she was on her own with getting to work. But when her coworkers approached her yet again, she gave them one last chance.

Eventually, I stopped riding with them.

Yesterday, she messaged me asking if I wanted to join the carpool again because they were spending too much on gas. I agreed, but only if we could leave on time.

Once again, the employee was left disappointed.

Instead, I ended up waiting at the pickup location for 30–40 minutes.

When I told her she needed to respect other people’s time, she responded that the other passengers weren’t complaining.

To her, this is totally missing the point.

That really frustrated me. Just because other people aren’t speaking up doesn’t mean it’s okay to keep everyone waiting and risk making them late for work.

She also brings up another good point.

For context, these aren’t free rides.

Everyone contributes toward gas, tolls, and parking fees. Also, there were originally six people in the carpool, and I’m already the third person to leave because of her chronic lateness.

After waiting that long, I told her that she was being inconsiderate and needed to be more respectful of other people’s time.

She didn’t take it well, and now I’m wondering if I overreacted.

AITA?

This coworker really needs to get her act together.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

What did Reddit have to say?

This coworker made her bed, and now she has to lay in it.

This coworker seems to also lack basic self awareness.

This employee needs to remember what’s most important here.

This commenter shares the same concern.

When you agree to a carpool, you’re giving up a little bit of comfort for two promises: saved time and saved money.

The second one of those falls through, the whole arrangement stops making sense.

This worker wasn’t just losing time standing at a curb for 40 minutes, she was also catching heat at work for tardiness that wasn’t even hers.

Everyone has their weaknesses, and some people genuinely struggle with being on time. But having self-awareness means knowing that about yourself and realizing that if punctuality isn’t your strength, maybe you shouldn’t be the one organizing the ride.

Her time is valuable — and it’s time her coworker start respecting that.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who reported some missionaries after frustration over lack of parking boils over.