I (18F) am in my last year of high school. I go to a school for gifted students where, as long as we keep our grades up and complete all tests, no one really cares about attendance.
I barely go. I study better alone, and I pick up concepts quickly. Since I turned the legal working age in my country (15), I’ve been working nonstop. I love working, especially typical “teen” jobs like retail, waitressing, etc.
Right now, I have three jobs: waitress at a bar, barista at a bakery, and receptionist at a kids’ club.
A year ago, I helped my friend get a summer job where I was working at the time. She wanted something to do, and the store needed summer workers. But she’s always been lazy. She promised me she would work hard because my name was attached to her hiring.
She didn’t. She sat the entire time. It was a retail job, and she refused to move from the register even when customers asked for help, she’d just tell them to find someone else. We had multiple coupons we needed to memorize; she never bothered to learn them. Every time someone used one, she called for help from another employee. She made a ton of extra work for everyone. She got fired after two weeks. Meanwhile, I got a raise and was made “responsible” for the store whenever the manager wasn’t there.
Ever since then, she’s been weirdly obsessed with working wherever I do, like she wants to “prove” she’s better than me. So far, she got hired at two more places I worked: the bakery where I still work, and a receptionist job at a law firm. She was fired from both.
Last week, I found out she scheduled an interview at the bar where I work now. I immediately talked to my manager and explained what happened at every job she’s had. I told him that if he hired her, I would quit because I’m not willing to deal with that toxic dynamic again.
He didn’t hire her. And now she’s blaming me, and she’s right, because I did warn him.
But I don’t think I’m fully at fault. I told her she needs to take responsibility for her own actions. She and her friends have been harassing me nonstop to apologize and ask my manager to hire her anyway.
What should I do? Am I the asshole?
NTA I wouldn’t recommend a lazy friend either. Your reputation has already been damaged once so it is wise of you to not let that happen again.
And now it seems like there’s someone to remove from their life because they only seem to want to dismantle OP’s life and reputation
NTA. This isn’t about being ‘mean’, it’s literally just self-preservation. You don’t owe someone else your job stability, especially after they’ve repeatedly proven they’re chaos incarnate. I’d do the same thing if I were in your shoes.
Why are they mad it’s not your decision but you have the right to protect your professional reputation and work space. Them her to find her own job
Nta, but i would put her on an information diet to prevent her from doing this
NTA. Just block her and move on with life.
How did your friend find out you spoke to the manager? Did he tell her or did you?
This is an important question. Does the friend know for *sure* that OP spoke against her to the hiring manager? It’s entirely possible the manager would not have hired the friend even without the conversation.
This… whole… post rubs me the wrong way. Everything is so neatly aligned leaves me skeptical. Not outside the realm of possibility… but for the overachiever shown above to turn to reddit to ask if they’re in the wrong? Really? Gifted school, no required attd, loves working, 3 teen (service) jobs.?.
Like i said, not outside the realm of possibility, but this feels like a prompt for someone to prove a point.
Good instinct. Check the profile.
Either OP made a throwaway account because she doesn’t want this attached to her main account or it’s her first account.
Nothing bad about those two possibilities if that’s what it is but I am skeptical about the school thing though. What sort of program doesn’t care about attendance?
NTA. Sounds almost like you’re being stalked by your friend. I’d tell her to stop following me around.
I do not think you and I have the same idea of what the word friend means. This is not a friend. This is a stalker.
You were a reference. The same way that if any person that they trusted and worked with gave one. You did the right thing. NTA.