'AITA for not telling the nurse at my niece's school about my profession?' UPDATED 3X
"AITA for not telling the nurse at my niece's school about my profession?"
Ecstatic-Wrap-5947
I (29F) was supposed to pick up my niece (Sophie - 7F) from elementary school and spend a day with her. It was all mentioned before to the school and I've picked her up a few times before.
Sophie was running towards me, but unfortunately she tripped and fell down. Her knee was bruised and she started crying like crazy. I took her to the nurse's office immediately. The nurse was in her early twenties and helped Sophie with cleaning up her wound and dressing.
I tell my niece a lot about my line of work so she asked if she was going to need stitches, if so, how many and what kind, etc. The nurse was impressed.
She showed Sophie a few items of equipment she had and asked if Sophie wanted to be a nurse like her. Sophie said no, she wanted to be a doctor like her aunt aka me.
The nurse got a bit upset and asked me why I didn't say anything about this. I was honestly confused. I was like why would I need to even mention it. I even threw in a compliment saying she was quite good at her job and I enjoyed witnessing a professional at work.
She said I was being too generous with my comments. I told her I was being honest and thanked her for taking care of Sophie's knee.
Right when Sophie and I were leaving, she said she'd never be able to guess my line of work correctly because I look better than most of my colleagues. I thanked her again and said I appreciated her help.
She said I still owed her for not telling her my job and that it felt like I was testing her or deliberately trying to see how she was doing. I apologized and said that was not what I meant and that I knew she was more than capable of doing her job well.
She said maybe I could find a way to make it up to her properly and I was like sure, but Sophie and I need to go now. I don't know if I was rude but this had me thinking, should I have told her about my job??
Here's what people had to say to OP:
PolarBear374665
NTA. By the way, are you sure she wasn’t hitting on you? I mean, “she'd never be able to guess my line of work correctly because I look better than most of my colleagues” and “maybe I could find a way to make it up to her properly” sounds more like hitting on you than being upset with you.
Minute_Point_949
Lol, she's flirting hard and you're oblivious.
MeatLuversPizza
Poor Sophie is going to have to take one for the team, and go down again so you can meet the nurse again.
AcanthocephalaDry682
TA? Absolutely NOT lol
Oblivious to her flirting with you? 100%
The OP responded after reading all of the 'Um hello!' comments:
Ecstatic-Wrap-5947
I can certainly see it now. Honestly this is embarrassing.
Well the OP then returned 5 days later with the update:
Ecstatic-Wrap-5947
Hi everyone! First of all, thanks for your lovely comments on my original post. I appreciate every single one, and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to give their input on the situation
As you could see in the original post, I was absolutely clueless during the whole interaction and missed the flirting part altogether. So I took your advice, asked my sister to let me babysit Sophia again and picked her up from school.
Around 10 minutes before school was over, I went to the nurse's office with a bouquet of flowers and thanked the nurse for taking care of niece's knee and asked her if I had the opportunity to make up for my rudeness from the last visit. Thankfully, she agreed.
We went on a date last night, it included a late evening walk by the beach and dinner. By the end of the night I showed her the post and I think it is safe to say she was as amused as every single one of the commenters and she can barely stop teasing me about it. So overall, thank you so much for your comments and help!
Here were the top comments from readers following the story:
armchairdetective
Want to come here and say what a nice story this was and thanks for sharing. I'm so glad you had a nice date and were brave enough to put yourself out there! Hopefully you have many more nice dates with one another to come.
ShortPeak4860
AHHH SQUEALING!!! Thank you so much for this feel-good update. If marriage is something y’all believe in, can we have the live stream?
schismasvoice
I’d like to imagine if OP hadn’t made their post they’d have woken up a year later, dead of night, and gone “she was flirting with me.”
ActuallyParsley
I actually like that her first reaction to someone flirting by saying they were upset was to take that upset seriously and wonder if they should have done something differently. It shows that when she's confused about the real meaning, she will still care about the other person.
Edit: ugh I can't word it properly, but I just like how much respect OP had for the other woman and her professionalism throughout.
OP commented:
LucyAriaRose
Honestly I have been on pins and needles all week waiting to share it because it made my heart so happy lol. We need more like these! Just wholesome cuteness.
Two month later, the OP provided a mini update in the comments of her last post:
LucyAriaRose
Hi I've been busy and I only checked my account today. Yes we are still together and everything's going smoothly. Sophia loves it and she joins in on everyone teasing me for this incident and others.
Another 8 months later, the OP returned with a full update:
Ecstatic-Wrap-5947
I (30F) have been dating my girlfriend (25F - I'll be referring to her as Alexandra) for the past 7 months. (It actually was a whole thing back then, I even posted about it) She has the tradition of spending the holiday season with her family members, and she has done so for almost every single year. Her family invited us both over to their house for the holidays. I clearly can't make it.
I have a packed schedule over the holiday season. This is mostly because I couldn't imagine myself having a girlfriend by this time of the year so I changed my schedule to help my married colleagues have more time for themselves.
Alexandra has decided to stay with me for the holidays. Her family members are very upset by this decision of hers because they adore her and miss her and hate the fact that she won't be home.
Whenever we talk or FaceTime they make comments about me causing this situation (and Alex usually tactfully shuts them down). I have told her she could go back and I will be busy and fine but she refused. Alexandra told me I was in the clear but I feel like I am a huge AH for causing this situation. Am I mistaken?
Here were the top rated comments from readers after this unexpected update:
TinyResolution4360
NTA. But this girl is a keeper. She's willing to go to bat with her folks for you and is willing to take whatever time you can give her during your busy schedule. Make sure to schedule in a romantic dinner, ice-skating, or other activity for her and you. Happy Holidays!
FilthyGorilla44
110% missed the hints too 😭, would have flown right over my head and into the stratosphere.
The_Bad_Agent
NTA. She chose to stay home with you. That's not on you at all.
InternalBet6266
NTA in my opinion!
You have a legitimate reason as to why you can't make it, it's not like you're not going because you don't want to, so they should be more understandable.
I totally understand that they wanted you guys there and I get that they are upset, but still...You have a legitimate reason and it's your girlfriend's decision to be with you if she wants to, it's not like you're forcing her to stay.
The situation sucks, but I don't think it's your fault since you've made plans before you were even dating, so if you're girlfriend it's not upset with you, I don't see why they couldn't understand the situation. (I'm glad that your girlfriend is staying with you, I wish you guys the best).
Revolutionary_Quit21
Dang it, I come here for the drama, not the wholesome! Idk which story I love more: this or the dude who “lied” to his parents about being gay so they’d stop trying to arrange his marriage only to find out maybe he isn’t as straight as he thought.