AITA for reporting/snitching on my friends/coworkers?

A Redditor shares a difficult workplace dilemma: after repeatedly being left alone to handle heavy workloads while other coworkers took extended breaks, they finally raised the issue to management.

Although they tried to avoid naming specific people, their coworkers—including a close friend—reacted harshly, calling them a “snitch” and accusing them of betraying their trust.

The situation escalated to a point where the user’s friendships were affected, leaving them wondering if they were wrong to bring it up. Read the full story below to learn more…

‘ AITA for reporting/snitching on my friends/coworkers?’

My shift pattern works with 1 person on 8-4, 4 people on 9-5, and 1 person on 10-6 and this rotates weekly. The people on normals help with the admin side so that the person on late does not get held up after work. Several weeks where I was on late, the group of girls would vanish for hours.

This often lead to me being held up after work and having to stay behind. If the manager was WFH, the girls would scarcely be in the lab, leaving me and another guy to do everything. It was a high capacity workload and we were extremely stressed.

One day, the other lad wasn’t in, and I was left for 45 minutes alone while the girls went on lunch break together (despite the rule that two people were required in the lab at peak times.)

They began taking extra breaks throughout the day, going over the allotted time on their lunch breaks and, when the manager was WFH spending a ton of time in her office, claiming to be doing admin work. I entered once to ask for help and found 3 of them cuddled up on one chair.

The computers were off and there was no paperwork out. I felt like it was putting more stress on myself and the other guy, but one of the girls in this group was also my best friend. I hung out with her frequently and didn’t want to dob her in it.

So I let her know that it was bothering me and that I felt like this was putting a lot of stress on us. She apologised and said this would be sorted (she was also technically the lab senior) but it never was. I brought it up one more time to her, but once again, nothing changed.

So the girl who was my close friend mentioned that they were going to sneak out and go for a coffee. She asked me if I wanted to come,  I agreed. We were not supposed to leave the lab unmanned. We got back about 20 minutes later. The manager found out about this.

The following day, I was called up to speak to the manager who raised concerns that I had not been pulling my weight in the lab, and that it had been noted to her that I had left the lab unmanned and left work to go to costa. I admitted I did this, but explained that I was not the only one who had gone.

I did not mention names, but expressed that lack of professionalism and general lack of productivity was a lab wide issue. I wasn’t trying to get anybody else in trouble. But I didn’t want to be a s**pegoat when I wasn’t even a main perpetrator.

The manager mentioned that it would be brought up in the team meeting. I went back to the lab and told everyone the whole story. The others in the lab got angry with me, called me a snitch, my close friend said our friendship was done, that she could lose her promotion over this, and that I had betrayed her trust.

Even the other lad in the lab who wasn’t involved with any of this (which I told the manager), called me sly and said I handled this in the complete wrong way. After a very unproductive team meeting with finger pointing and blaming, my friendship with these people was lost permanently.. Was I wrong to do this?

Here’s the comments of Reddit users:

Chef-cat −  You should’ve reported it long before it got to this point, with documentation if feasible.

Your ‘close friend’ is not a friend she’s a user who saw you doing all the work and didn’t care because it meant she could hang out with her real friends and get paid for it. NTA but I hope you have some kind of log or evidence to show HR cause yikes

Imnotranee −  I’ve learned work comes first, friendships at work comes second. You could’ve lost the job. That’s bigger than loosing a promotion. Nta, and honestly not worth the hassle to have friends who would just throw you under the bus.

Aware_Welcome_8866 −  So I agree with the others, but I’m going to say YTA. This should have been brought to the manager’s attention long ago. You needed to do this to take of yourself but also you have an obligation to the company that pays you.

And leaving work to go out for coffee, leaving the office unmanned… really? You complain about the people doing it and then you join them? It appears your priority at your job is to have friends. That’s not how this having a job thing works.

MrJudsonJames −  How the hell had the manager “found out” that you left but no one else had??! Why are you in trouble for leaving it unmanned but the supervisor (your female friend) isn’t?

In order for it to be unmanned that means all the other staff are missing too, so how are you being singled out as leaving the lab!?. This doesn’t add up.

Organic_Start_420 −  NTA at all she wasn’t your friend and this might have been a set up since you complained to them to have you as the s**pegoat. Don’t trust anyone there anymore. As of now document everything in writing and pass it on to the manager immediately and follow all rules no exceptions.

Next_Commercial_5458 −  NTA, but the other lad is right you have handled it the wrong way. Any issues should have been brought up sooner, you now look like you’re just covering your own back and being petty when they should have right been pulled up.

Work hard, keep your head down and know a Costa isnt worth risking your job for! Also, don’t be too saddened over the loss of your “best friend”. Friends don’t have one person doing the work whilst they have a laugh.

BoomBap9088 −  NTA. Why should you suffer burden for someone else’s paid relax and do nothing time? Don’t be a doormat. They are not good friends at all. A friend wouldn’t repeatedly do this..

InspectionChoice7906 −  No, they were wrong for putting you in that situation. Shame on your so called friend taking advantage of you and your kindness you asked her several time to help you and she didn’t.

Do you think the Redditor was justified in speaking up about the workload or should they have handled it differently? How would you balance friendship and fairness in a similar workplace scenario? Share your thoughts below!