So, you’re good at your job. You’ve studied for years to do it, have mastered all the required programmes, and have a brain full of knowledge that would be basically irrelevant for anything else. Recruiters love you, and your managers are super happy with your progress. But instead of sitting behind your computer doing your job, you’re stuck waiting in a meeting that could have been an email, or listening to the small talk of two colleagues before you can finally ask the question you need an answer to, or else you can’t get a word in edgeways as your manager monologues about their recent vacation.

In short, you can be good at your job, but the very real ‘working with other humans’ aspect can still be an absolute minefield. It’s not that other people aren’t fun to be around per se, it’s just that they can be quite distracting, especially when you’re on a deadline. And when it’s the end of the day and you just want to finish up and go home, being around other people who seemingly want to socialise instead of returning to their own families can be frustrating to say the least.

The woman in this story is used to the office politics and has done her best to tolerate the new mothers brandishing their status around the office and regaling the team with stories and photos. But after sitting through another round of baby snaps, she really needed to ask the new mom a question. Instead of getting an answer though, she got called into the manager’s office.

Read on to find out why.

AITA for wanting to get my work done on time rather than sit around talking about how cute someone’s kid is?

I’m a 32 year old woman, and I work at company where I tend to be in the office with like 25 people every day.

Rebecca in my office just came back from maternity leave. We all did the required song and dance about how we’re “so happy” for her and all that sappy stuff.

I don’t work very often with Rebecca, but I’m depending on her for approval on a long-term project, so I went into her office to ask her for a timeline, since she’s back (she’s been back four weeks).

Instead of talking to me about the project, she started showing me baby pictures.

Uh-oh. Let’s see how she responded to Rebecca’s photos.

I kept saying “Hey so about the project” and “That’s great, I’m so happy for you, but can we get back to the project?” and stuff like that. She just kept shoving pictures of her kid at me.

Eventually someone else came in and the whole thing started up again.

Finally done with the dog and pony show, I stood up and said “Hey Rebecca, I’m kind of waiting on you for final approval on this marketing push. Can we please get back to work?”

She started to cry and ran out of the office yelling about how I’m so mean and how hard it is to be away from her baby and can I please just give her a break.

Yikes! Read on to find out how this woman responded.

I’m just stood there like… what the **** dude. The woman who came in and interrupted us is glaring at me all meanly and said “Wow, I bet you’re real proud of yourself.”

I was just like “I’m here to get my job done, not look at picture’s of someone’s kid.” She sneered at me and stomped off and complained to my boss, who said I should try to be more understanding and compassionate.

I told him that I was being compassionate – I’ve been waiting for a week for Rebecca to get her **** together!!!!

AITA?!

It’s true that it must be really difficult to go back to work after having a baby, particularly if you didn’t get very much maternity leave.

But it’s also true that there’s a time and a place for fawning over baby pictures, and it’s important that you know your audience.

Because some people aren’t as head-over-heels in love with your baby as you are. That’s just the way of it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee whose dietary restrictions caused the whole office to turn against her.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought that she’d done everything right.

While others sympathised with the situation.

Meanwhile, this Redditor encouraged the woman to keep gritting her teeth and playing the game.

This poor woman might have accidentally drawn unwanted attention to herself by not spending hours fawning over some woman’s baby when work needed to be done, but in doing so she’s highlighted a real issue in this office. It seems cliquey, with new moms and their babies apparently the centre of everyone’s focus, instead of the job that they are being paid to do. If this woman got in trouble for missing her deadline, it’s unlikely that “Sorry, I was too busy looking at photos of Rebecca’s baby” would be seen as an acceptable excuse.

Sure, show off your baby pictures to people who ask. Maybe even get them out in the break room. But while others are trying to work, and maybe even requiring your input for vital parts of their tasks, perhaps keep the baby photos tucked away, safe in the knowledge that your colleagues will ask if they want to see them.

It’s a harsh truth, but no one is as interested in your baby as you are.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT department who keeps receiving tickets for a company that was previously spun off.