Imagine walking into work chewing gum. If your coworker asked you for some gum but you had it in your car and not on you, would you tell them no or go back to your car to get the gum?

In this story, one young man was in this exact situation, and he chose the first option. His coworker got really upset about it, and he’s not sure what to do to fix the situation.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for telling my coworker I’m not getting him gum?

I should start by saying that on its own, I can immediately tell I’m a jerk. But there is some context that I felt was not worth putting in the title.

Anyway, me (18m) and my coworker (I don’t have a concrete age, but most of my other coworkers are guessing between 50-70m) have a small tug of war sometimes over snacks.

He’s known for joking about this kinda stuff, and it’s no different from me.

It seems like the coworker can handle joking around.

He’ll ask me to buy snacks for him and occasionally I buy it for him.

No big deal, especially since when I say no (specifically I say stuff like “nah I don’t feel like it” or “I wanna keep my money in check” because I’m used to him joking around about it) he takes it on chin, fakes pouting for a bit and forgets about it later.

Not yesterday, though.

Here’s where the gum comes into the story.

Again, I thought he was joking around. I came into work chewing gum and he said “give me some gum.”

I responded with “nah, it’s in my truck and I don’t feel like going to get it.”

He kept insisting and I kept insisting I didn’t want to go to my truck to get it.

Eventually he gets frustrated and says “fine then we aren’t friends anymore”.

His coworker seems to be taking this gum thing too seriously.

I don’t think much of it, and move on with my day.

At lunch, though, he deliberately ignores me, which I thought was weird but chalk it up to him committing to the bit kinda hard.

Today I come into work, say morning, and he goes “morning- oh I’m not talking to you” and turns his back on me.

Again, when I went to buy snacks and eat lunch he ignored me. Then in front of my face while I’m buying my snacks he starts telling the cashiers that I was being mean to him “because he won’t get me some gum”.

He realizes the coworker isn’t joking around anymore.

At this point I’m feeling that it’s excessive, and I recognize he’s not joking.

But like at the same time I’m not gonna go out of my way to give him stuff, especially when it’s stuff that is in my truck to be consumed by me exclusively.

However because of how stingy that sounds out loud, I’ve also been feeling bad about it.

So… AITA for not giving him gum, playing it off like a joke like we usually do, and keep sticking to my guns? Should I apologize for telling him no?

It’s his gum in his truck. The coworker isn’t entitled to it. He shouldn’t have to apologize. The coworker sounds like a demanding child.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

The coworker is being ridiculous.

This person would’ve handled it differently.

No context needed.

The coworker really is a mooch.

Nobody owes their coworker free snacks.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.