'AITA for calling the ambulance for my coworker even though I know she was kind of faking it?' MAJOR UPDATE

"AITA for calling the ambulance for my coworker even though I know she was kind of faking it?"

I (28M) am working in an English language center in a Southeast Asian country. There's a female co-worker in her 20s here who often touches her head and wobbles like she was about to faint, and she would lie down on the couch, letting people fan her, bring water and food to her.

We take midday naps here, so whenever she does this, everyone's lunch and nap time is ruined, especially the ones who keep caring for her. This would happen at least twice a month, so over the last 5 or 6 months, I've seen a few incidents when we worked the same shift.

One time she even asked me to order ice cream for her. (info, it's a big, crowded city, so you can just walk to the ice cream shop nearby to grab one for a dollar). Didn't pay me back, but that's beside the point. This Monday, she did it again, and this time she asked a girl to order her an iced drink, a sandwich. A group of co-workers fanned her, did the whole caring thing like she's a sick child.

I stood up from my chair, walked towards her, asked if she was OK, then I went to the men's washroom, dialed for an ambulance and went back to my seat. After 20 minutes, we heard the siren, my phone rang again, and I stood up and told her "servants" to help her to the ambulance.

Her face CHANGED, you know, that face, when someone knows they fked up, other girls asked if I called, I said yeah, it seems more severe this time. It's best for her to go. The ambulance is here already, you'll have to pay for it regardless (the ambulance fee is about 1-2 days worth of her salary, ~50 dollars).

Other coworkers actually agreed and helped her get on the ambulance. Now that I think of it, no one called an ambulance for her once. Ever since that incident, she stopped interacting with me beyond hi's and hello's (Thursday now, not a word to me). AITA for this?

The internet had a lot of thoughts about the scenario.

MizzXJabroni wrote:

Damn this is something I actually want an update on. After that incident did she stop her faking for a bit? Did she continue? I feel like if she stopped for a bit, you should tell your coworkers the ambulance trick worked n they need to do it. Every time you see her you should be annoying n just ask if she is feeling okay! lol

OP responded:

It's only been 4 days. Usually she acts up every 2 weeks, sometimes once a week but in a milder way. Tired, headaches, etc. Not fully laying on the couch. It's a small update but I texted two girls a turned out she hasnt paid them back food money, but they're teachers so they said it didn't bother them. My workplace is very nice and peaceful otherwise.

Frankifile wrote:

I’d have called the ambulance too. As far as you know she could be severely unwell and nobody has got her medical attention, just been buying her food.

graupeltuls wrote:

I had someone I was supervising act like they were having a heart attack. I was pretty confident their plan was to skip the ER and head home as they didn't want to work. Unfortunately for them, there is policy that does not allow someone having a heart attack to drive, so they had to go through with the ER. Expensive fake heart attack.

Alivelsip1322 wrote:

NTA. Don't cry wolf and act like you're having an emergency if you aren't. My type 1 diabetic bf likes to play dead all the time as a joke and I used to get angry at him because I told him if there's a legit emergency I need to act if I think he's faking it then it takes me extra time to figure out whether it's BS or not .

A_very_sad_cat wrote:

NTA. It might stop her using others for freebies, attention seeking and dodging work.

If it’s such a regular occurrence she needs it checked out and you helped her with that. If it’s faked, FAFO.

Fact she’s not talking to you is telling, pissed you didn’t follow the script and dared to put a stop to her antics. I’d guess the hospital didn’t provide free snacks or minions to fan her and wait on her needs. Be interesting to see if she stops doing it now, in fear another ambulance might be called and she’ll have to pay £50 instead of getting free snacks.

Four days later, OP shared an update.

Here's the update on the female co-worker who kept "fainting" and asking people to order food for her. I'll call her Anne, because there's a lot of women involved in this update.

- After the first post, I texted some female coworkers to see if they had received food money back. Two female teachers told me that they hadn't, but they didn't mind. The total amount was around 20 dollars per person.

- Words got around fast, and I was added to a group of 5 OTHER people, so in total, at least 7 female teachers were affected by Anne.

- Based on their word, Anne has low blood pressure and malnutrition, she indeed is very thin (Kpop idol type of body). She clearly has some unhealthy relationship with food. It's almost as if she doesn't want to pay for food.

- She borrowed money from multiple female teachers to "pay hospital bills", and begged them to not disclose this information to others. We're talking up to a loan that worths FOUR MONTHS of salary. She basically borrowed half of that teacher's emergency funds.

- She also flirted with one female teacher, said teacher often brings her on small dinner dates. I didn't ask on this matter.

- HR was notified, the girls did the talking, I was called in as "the one who called the ambulance".

- After the meeting, it's confirmed that Anne will be let go after 30 days, the reasoning was "creating a hostile workplace environment". This morning was really awkward.

- Unfortunately, HR cannot help with the loans that people have given her, as it's personal matter. However, HR is willing to provide personal information of Anne to the affected coworkers. ?????? Oh well. It's their matter now.

Now, answering some comments from the previous post:

- Some mentioned that I was wasting healthcare resources. Well, she was examined and came back with a diagnosis.

- Some asked me why everything's so cheap. It's Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Most things are affordable here except real estate lol. In fact, my overseas relatives literally book flights to Vietnam for medical care. Insulin here is like 3-7 dollars per vial and you can buy it at almost any public or private hospital. If you have national healthcare ID, it's basically free.

- Some was worried for me because I accidentally slipped my personal social media page on the previous post. I don't really care honestly, I'm considered a valuable asset, and I'm easy to work with. If anything comes up, I think the company and I will be able to solve it peacefully.

- Yes, people take midday naps in Vietnam, you're the odd one if you don't. If I'm not standing a class, I'm allowed to be online, doing Tiktoks, etc. Having a Tiktok account is not a legal reason to be let go.

And finally, don't lend your coworkers half of your emergency funds. ????? Like whyyyy.

The internet did not hold back one bit.

thebugfromchaos wrote:

Thanks for the update - man what a wild ride! I like that your feedback of a prank on a pattern of bad behavior turned into this huge unmasking of the extent her harmful behavior!

NTA. Why diagnosis did they give her?

OP responded:

Low blood pressure and malnutrition.

Dconstructed wrote:

Is it possible she is supporting her parents or family and doesn’t have enough money for food for herself?

OP responded:

Nah, she doesn't come across as someone who's in need. Her position offers good salary. I think she has a problematic relationship with food more than anything. Maybe a form of eating disorder.

yayforgoats wrote:

I'm glad that nap time is back to normal for you guys. Still find that awesome.

OP responded:

If you have tiktok, search "Vietnam nap" it's funny to see foreigners integrating into Vietnamese culture 🤣

abear61 wrote:

She is learning that her actions have consequences. A lesson she needed to learn. I hope your coworkers use the personal info they are given to take legal steps to get their money back. It sounds like she has more than an issue with buying food. She also seems to be an attention seeker. She needs to seek therapy. But she won’t. It sounds like you improved the working atmosphere for everyone.