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Unfortunately, accidents happen.

This intern learned that the hard way after she accidentally knocked a coworker’s laptop off the desk while getting ready to head home for the day.

She apologized immediately and even offered to pay for any damages, but her coworker insisted everything was fine.

Since she had already called her Uber and nothing else seemed to be wrong, she headed home after asking him to let her know if he found any damage.

A short time later, though, he ignored her private message and criticized her in the company’s group chat instead.

Now the intern can’t help wondering if she made the wrong decision by leaving.

Let’s check out her full story below.

AITA for leaving the office after accidentally dropping my colleague’s laptop?

I (21F) am an intern at a recording studio (less than 10 people), and there are tables for us to sit and do our work.

The tables are arranged 4×4 (four tables on the left, four tables on the right, with a gap in between to walk through).

So we’re all sitting next to and in front of each other.

It all started with a simple mistake.

Anyway, yesterday was just a very tiring day for me (probably related to me having menorrhagia). I wanted to go home on time, as normally I would stay a bit later after work. So whenever I’d go to my desk, I would walk through the gap to sit down, and vice versa.

I took an Uber to go home, and I wasn’t in a rush at all. I was talking to Colleague A while standing in the gap when Colleague B suddenly called my name. I turned around, and then I heard a loud crash.

It turns out the hard drive attached to Colleague C’s laptop got caught between two of my bags. The hard drive was probably sitting at the edge of the table, and the cable got snagged on my bag as I turned around. The laptop fell, along with the hard drive.

She froze, but offered to pay for damages.

I froze for a moment before helping. I apologized to Colleague C immediately. I asked if there was anything I could do to help and whether there was any damage. All he said was, “No, no worries.”

I asked again, and he said, “It’s okay.”

The laptop seemed fine—I checked before leaving—but I think only the hard drive cable was broken. He didn’t explain exactly what was damaged.

Then came the group text.

I decided to leave anyway, considering I’d already ordered an Uber before it happened, and it was almost there. Before I left, I told him to let me know if there was any damage. I texted him again saying I was sorry and asking him to let me know if anything was damaged. No reply.

Ten minutes later, he posted in our work group chat: “Next time, consider looking left and right if you’re dying to go home that much.”

He chose to post that sarcastic message in the group chat instead of replying to my private message. I’m not sure what to do or if there was something I could’ve done better. I even offered to pay for any damages.

AITA?

Wow! Talk about passive-aggressive.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit would handle it.

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Here’s someone who doesn’t think the coworker should’ve done that.

According to the comment, she should reply.

Yet another reader who thinks she should respond.

These are all very good points.

It really seems like she did everything she could to make the situation right.

She apologized as soon as it happened and made it clear she was willing to pay for any damage. When her coworker told her everything was fine, she left after asking him to let her know if he found anything wrong later.

Yet, rather than talking to her privately, he chose to criticize her in the company group chat, and that just seems unnecessary.

Hopefully he handles something like this differently next time. Accidents happen, and she took responsibility for hers. There was no reason to embarrass her in front of everyone else.

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Author

Heather Hall

Heather Hall | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Heather Hall is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in internet culture, workplace conflict, and viral customer service stories. With over a decade of editorial experience in digital publishing, Heather excels at curating trending online discussions and providing insightful commentary on the daily dramas that capture the internet's attention.

Since beginning her career in 2011, she has developed deep expertise in SEO-driven digital content, having written for a wide array of publications covering lifestyle, business, and travel. At TwistedSifter, Heather focuses on synthesizing complex social media threads into engaging, highly readable narratives that highlight the human element of viral news.

When she isn’t analyzing the latest internet discourse, Heather is a dedicated mother of three sons who takes family gaming nights entirely too seriously—whether she is dominating in Mario Kart, exploring The Legend of Zelda, or jumping into Roblox.

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