The Office Intruder: ‘AITA’ For Telling My Wife’s Divorced Colleague to Back Off?
Ah, Reddit. The digital arena where the gladiators of morality come to battle it out and, inevitably, ask the world if they’re being insufferable jerks. Today’s tale of woe revolves around a gentleman who seeks the wisdom of the internet horde, questioning if he overstepped by giving his wife’s colleague a verbal swat on the nose because, oh horror of horrors, she dared to get divorced.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
The Intrusion
Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant land of cubicles and useless meetings, there lived a woman who had just gone through a messy divorce. This liberating experience transformed her into a self-made relationship guru, naturally. Enter our protagonist’s wife, who, despite being very married, seemed to become the new focus of Ms. Divorcée’s unsolicited advice crusade.
Now, you can smell fodder for drama from miles away, can’t you? Because why limit your impeccable marital advice to people who ask for it, when you can also impose it on those who clearly don’t?
All Starts Innocently Enough…
Initially, Ms. Divorcée’s thoughts were relatively harmless—typical office chit-chat about how being single wasn’t half bad. But as everyone’s patience eventually wears thin, her unsolicited input began to stretch into the ‘who-asked-you-anyway’ territory. The hay that broke the camel’s back was when she started suggesting lifestyle changes for our protagonist’s wife—changes she wasn’t quite in the market for.
The husband’s Big Moment
Our protagonist, having had enough of playing the passive observer, finally stepped in like a knight in passive-aggressive armor. During a fated occasion of social gathering—one of those insufferable department functions that nobody really enjoys—he told Ms. Divorcée, point-blank, that she had no say in their life decisions, especially seeing her own marriage had gone kaput.
Queue the drama alert! This, naturally, left Ms. Divorcée clutching her pearls and gasping for air. One can only imagine the mental somersaults she must be doing as she questioned the very foundations of her post-marital hobby of ‘saving’ other people’s relationships.
Sides Are Taken
As always, there’s no shortage of people to applaud or boo from the sidelines. The office crowd took sides quicker than teens at a high school catfight. There were those who thought the husband was justified—taking a ‘good riddance’ stance. And then there were loyal defender types of Ms. Divorcée who mistranslated his firm boundary-setting into a full-blown personal attack. How dare he judge a fellow human based on her relationship status?
Reddit Reacts
Redditors are nothing if not opinionated. Responses ranged from “NTA, stick it to her!” to “YTA, because empathy?”, crisscrossing every conceivable position on the moral rainbow. The predictability of Reddit’s bipartisanship aside, it was clear our protagonist had stirred quite the beehive.
So What’s My Take?
Alright, gather around folks, because Roger’s about to drop some wisdom here. First of all, never underestimate the power of minding your own business. Pro tip: nobody likes an uninvited life coach, especially one backed by the dubious credentials of a failed relationship. That said, was our protagonist overly harsh? Perhaps. But he wasn’t wrong. There’s a fine line between offering support and sticking your nose where it clearly doesn’t belong. Ms. Divorcée would do well to remember that knowing where that line is can spell the difference between being seen as empathetic and just being plain annoying.
In summation, not every ‘AITA’ story has a clear-cut villain, but they sure do have convenient punching bags. Our protagonist’s forthright approach might’ve lacked finesse, but sometimes you’ve got to whack the mole hard enough for it to duck back down and stay there. As for Ms. Divorcée, here’s hoping she takes a little vacation from her unsolicited relationship coaching, perhaps refocusing on fabulous self-care routines, or just, I don’t know, tending to her own garden?
Until next time, remember: unsolicited advice is rarely appreciated—even if it comes with the best of intentions.
Original story
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