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In most cases, there’s a fine line between being someone’s friend and being someone’s manager.

One restaurant manager ran into that problem with an employee she’s known for nearly a decade.

The two had become close friends, but things changed when the manager decided to send another worker home early.

Her friend immediately accused her of being unfair and argued over who should leave first.

Eventually, the manager had enough and told her to go home too.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for managing my friend?

I’m a manager at a small restaurant. I’ve been here for about 10 years, and I’ve worked my way up from part-time to currently being the Daily Operations Manager.

I have one employee (Katie, 50sF) who has been with me since the beginning, and we’ve gotten close in the past 3–4 years to a point where I consider her a close friend rather than an employee.

The other day, I decided to cut someone early (Theresa, 20F) as we were slow. Theresa was scheduled until 4:30, and I let her go at 3:30.

When Katie found out, she was upset.

Katie was scheduled until 4:15, and when she heard Theresa was going home first, she threw a temper tantrum.

Gabby (40s) was scheduled until 4. Katie went on a whole tirade about how wrong it was to cut someone early when they were scheduled later and that the first one scheduled out should be cut first.

However, even this logic wouldn’t support Katie’s tantrum, as Gabby was scheduled out earliest. I didn’t want to cut Gabby because she had been cut earlier in the week, and I try to be fair and juggle hours so no one really misses out.

Gabby was fine with this. Theresa was cut first because she was working 7 days in a row because we needed coverage.

Frustrated, she sent Katie home.

Katie was adamant that everything I was doing was unfair as a manager, and after her tantrum, I said in front of other staff who were present for this entire thing that if she was going to fight and fuss over a matter of less than 15 minutes between cuts, she could just go home too.

She refused and said she wouldn’t screw anyone over, in regard to if I cut Theresa, scheduled till 4:30, early, she wouldn’t screw Gabby by leaving first and possibly making Gabby stay until 4:30.

I didn’t need anyone until 4:30 and had fully planned on cutting all 3 women by 4. I put my foot down and told Katie to **** if she was going to have that attitude.

Katie is now not speaking to me and definitely holds a grudge in that I pulled my manager card on her by cutting shifts as I saw fit.

AITA?

Eek! That’s always a tough situation.

Let’s check out what the readers over at Reddit think.

According to this comment, Katie is jealous.

This reader doesn’t think she did anything wrong.

So true.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a researcher who complained about being excluded from a trip only to watch the university cancel the whole thing.

Another great point.

This is exactly why mixing friendship and management can get messy.

Katie may be her friend, but that doesn’t mean she gets to challenge every decision she doesn’t like.

Once she started arguing in front of the rest of the staff, the manager had to draw a line somewhere.

Hopefully, Katie realizes that being close outside of work doesn’t make her exempt from being managed at work.