Well, this story from Reddit’s “Am I The A**hole?” page sure is an odd one.
It involves blood, a disgruntled co-worker, and a phobia.
Let’s take a look at what happened and how folks on Reddit reacted.
AITA for checking my blood sugar at my desk when my coworker has a severe blood phobia?
“I (24M) enjoy my job and have two coworkers, Megan (25F) and our new coworker James (23M) who just started. The three of us each have our own office space, but because we have to frequently collaborate on work throughout the day we are often at each other’s desks.
I am a type 1 diabetic, I give insulin and check my blood sugar throughout the day as needed. I give insulin through a pump so that’s not an issue. Checking my blood sugar involves pricking my finger to draw a drop of blood, the blood gets sucked up into a test strip that is connected to a glucose meter, and the meter displays the reading. The whole process takes like 10 seconds.
I was checking my blood sugar in my office right when James walked over. Immediately, his face went white, he looked like he was about to puke or faint or maybe both. I was like, dude are you okay? He told me that he has a major blood and needle phobia and gets therapy for it.
I explained what I was doing and why it was necessary and he said it’s “freaky” that I have to MAKE myself bleed multiple times a day. He told me he never wants to accidentally walk in on me checking my blood sugar again because he could pass out. I said that if I’m checking my blood sugar and hear him coming over I can call out a warning like “give me a sec!”.
He said that won’t work, just knowing that I’m doing that just before he comes over is enough to freak him out, and that he would be stressed that I might not hear him walking over.
He told me I should check it in the bathroom from now on. I told him that I don’t think I should have to do that and it’s unsanitary. He said another option was if I only check my blood sugar at certain times, say 9am, 12pm before eating lunch, and 4pm, that way he’d know when to avoid me. I said these things can’t always be predicted, I’ll need to check if I feel my blood sugar going high or low.
He said he understands that I have diabetes but that he also has a special need (his blood phobia) that needs to be accommodated and that he doesn’t want to have to avoid me at work and only talk to Megan for fear he might see me checking again. He said he’ll talk to HR about this and that he’ll tell them that I refused to compromise with him.
That was last Thursday before the holidays, tomorrow I’m thinking of going to talk to HR before James does, but first I need to know that I’m in the right here.
So AITA for not being more accommodating of James’ blood/needle phobia and checking my blood sugar as needed at my desk?”
Like I said, this is an odd one…here’s how folks reacted.
This reader said that the man is not being an a**hole and that this is a health issue.
Photo Credit: Reddit
Another person said that the co-worker is being unreasonable and, most importantly, is being very SELFISH. Get over it, dude.
Photo Credit: Reddit
This Reddit user said that the man needs to talk to HR at his work because this is a medical issue and the co-worker can’t be a factor in where he decides to check his blood sugar.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And lastly, this Reddit user said that the co-worker is being pretty ridiculous and the man’s situation can literally be life-and-death due to his condition.
Photo Credit: Reddit
What do you think?
Is what this guy is doing really rude?
Or is it no big deal?
Sound off in the comments!
