February 17, 2026 at 1:48 am

Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

by Matthew Gilligan

woman getting yelled at

Shutterstock/Reddit

The term “family” means different things to different people...

But is that something to get offended by?

In today’s story, a woman ran into an obstacle at work because her boss thinks she misled her about her family.

Read on and see what you think.

AITA for referring to my husband as family?

“I (28f) have been married to my husband for 4 years and consider him my family. We will never have kids.

I have recently started a new job. We’ve been really busy so I worked many hours of overtime.

A few weeks ago my boss asked me whether I had family. I said yes and he didn’t ask for more details.

Last Friday he kept calling some of my colleagues into his office. Then he called me. I went in and he handed me an envelope with cash. (Very weird, in my opinion).

Ohhhh…

Confused, I asked what it was for and he said it was for the kids as they didn’t get to see me that often because I was working my a ton.

I told him that I didn’t have kids and offered to return the envelope. He took it back and angrily said that he specifically asked me whether I had a family and that I shouldn’t have said yes if it isn’t true.

I told him that I did indeed have a family, that I am married and my husband is my family.

This was awkward!

He just told me to get out and has been cold ever since.

From my colleagues I learned that he gives extra cash to employees with kids during busy times because they don’t get to see them very often. I think that bit weird but ok.

They also told me that in the future I shouldn’t refer to my husband as family to avoid misunderstanding like this.

I honestly don’t think I was wrong because my husband IS my family, but maybe I was a jerk and I’m just too blind to see it.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This reader said she’s NTA.

Screenshot 2026 01 20 at 8.54.21 AM Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

Another individual agreed.

Screenshot 2026 01 20 at 8.54.29 AM Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

This Reddit user had a lot to say.

Screenshot 2026 01 20 at 8.54.39 AM Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

Another individual weighed in.

Screenshot 2026 01 20 at 8.54.49 AM Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

And this person spoke up.

Screenshot 2026 01 20 at 8.55.00 AM Employee Was Putting In A Lot Of Overtime, But They Had Their Bonus Taken Away After Their Boss Found Out That She Was Married Without Kids

Well, this misunderstanding sure went off the rails in a hurry!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.