'AITA for asking my supervisor's distraught wife to leave the office?'

A 29-year-old woman got embroiled in a difficult workplace situation when she asked her supervisor and his distraught wife to take their family matters elsewhere.

The woman recently took to Reddit's popular "Am I the A**hole" (AITAH) forum to share the difficulty that she was facing in her workplace because of her "problematic" supervisor and that she recently had a confrontation with the supervisor and his wife. 

Woman shares she told her supervisor and his sobbing wife to take family matters outside as she couldn't concentrate

The original poster (OP) shared that she recently "scored a nice job at a real estate small business," where everyone is "very friendly," except her supervisor, Gene (mid30s?M), whom she called "problematic."

"I've had several small issues with Gene involving sexist language, particularly about our other pregnant coworker, but that's beside the point. Point being, he's kind of an a**hole sometimes," the woman wrote. 

On the scenario that has been bothering her, the OP said, "So yesterday, Gene got some bad news," before noting that after screaming "very loudly" at someone on the phone "for over an hour," Gene went out in the hallway to tell her and another colleague that he lent "a VERY large sum of money (5 figures) to his dad who told him he would invest it in what was basically a get rich quick scheme."

The woman pointed out that "to no one’s shock," the scheme did not work out and Gene was left in debt. While the OP was sympathetic to Gene's situation, she had to rush to her work desk as she was behind schedule.

However, things went downhill from here due to Gene's "sobbing wife." 

Explaining that her office "shares a wall with Gene, and the walls there are paper thin," the OP shared, "I can hear everything, no matter how quietly people talk. Not that 'quiet' meant anything here, as while I was attempting to catch up on work." Naturally, she heard Gene breaking the news of his financial disaster to his wife (who was also hired by him for the company).

"The wife is, understandably, audibly upset, and she starts crying. This makes Gene angry, and he starts yelling at her to suck it up and calm down because 'he'll deal with it and she never has any faith in him', which makes her cry harder, and meanwhile I have been staring at a very important email about to be sent for the past 3 minutes, unable to concentrate due to sobbing woman and a**hole man," the OP stated. 

Being fed up with the distractions, at this point, the woman made up her mind to intervene. "So I got up and knocked on his door. Opening it revealed a crying woman and Gene, to whom I very quickly rushed out 'I'm really sorry, I know you're going through stuff, but can you PLEASE take this somewhere else?'" the woman shared. 

She continued, "I was talking directly to Gene, but his wife seemed spooked and a little offended and pissed off. They both quietly skedaddled, and I didn't see her for the rest of the day."

While the woman didn't care about what her supervisor thought, the wife's reaction to the confrontation made her question if she was in the wrong.   

"I hold absolutely zero sympathy for Gene - he was an idiot who wasted his money on get rich quick schemes doomed to fail, doing so while knowing he has a wife & two young kids to care for. He's barely been at this job for longer than I have (my real actual boss is a really cool dude), and my overall vibe from Gene is pretty rancid," the OP shared. 

Giving a summary of the situation, she wrote, "TL;DR - I got fed up with hearing my supervisor scream at his distraught wife (over a f**k up HE did) at work, so I told them to take their drama elsewhere. I don't give a f**k about supervisor, but I feel pretty miserable about being short with the wife."

Redditors think OP's request was reasonable and that the real issue was the supervisor's lack of professionalism

Redditors unanimously declared that she had done nothing wrong by telling the supervisor and his wife to take their family matters elsewhere. Nevertheless, some also advised her to start searching for jobs as they felt the place was not conducive to peaceful work. 

One wrote, "NTA, but I do recommend you report the incident to a supervisor before Gene finds a way to fire you. His workplace conduct was completely inappropriate and warrants a complaint. The office is not couples counseling and they were on the clock."

"NTA. You’re entitled to a work environment where you can focus without being distracted by personal drama. Gene brought his personal issues into the office and made them everyone’s problem. While it’s unfortunate that his wife was caught in the crossfire, your request was reasonable and directed at the inappropriate behavior, not her personally. Gene’s lack of professionalism is the real issue here," said someone else.

"NTA," declared another, before explaining, "An office is not the place for a screaming match and emotional breakdown about personal finances. Gene created this mess and then made it worse by berating his crying wife AT WORK. You were professional asking them to take it elsewhere. His wife wasn't offended by you - she was probably embarrassed about the whole situation. Gene sounds like a piece of work, hiring his wife and making terrible financial decisions. Document his behavior pattern. Someone who screams for an hour on the phone and yells at his crying wife in the office is unprofessional and creating a hostile work environment."

"Walking away yourself to cool off was the kinder option," said an individual, slightly criticizing the OP's stance, before adding, "If it was so urgent, the email would have been a phone call, plus you've got your phone and your laptop. However, you don't have to be nice to your co-workers. NTA." They also noted, "But I wouldn't expect your relationship to these peeps to improve."

"Time to polish up that resume and search for other opportunities. I wouldn’t want to work with a husband-wife duo like that," another comment read. 

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