'AITA for not caving to my GF's ridiculous requests while I'm in work meetings?'
"AITAH for telling my girlfriend to stop disturbing me during work time?"
Throwrarespectime writes:
I work from home pretty much full-time, whereas my girlfriend has recently started a new job where she mainly works from the office but has one home-working day per week. One thing I've noticed is that when she's home, she doesn't seem to respect my work time.
I've told her that if my office door is closed, it means I'm busy or in a meeting and not to disturb me. If she needs something, she should wait until I leave the room or open the door.
She doesn't seem to listen to that, though, and will often start talking to me through the door or keep messaging me if she needs something. Yesterday, I told her I had a two-hour meeting and not to disturb me.
Within 10 minutes of the meeting starting, she started messaging, asking me to come to her because she needed help with her laptop. I obviously ignored it, and she sent more messages.
We got a 10-minute break halfway through, so I went to my girlfriend and asked what she was playing at. I told her she knew I was busy, yet she still repeatedly messaged me because she had issues with her laptop that could easily be resolved if she just googled what the problem was instead of expecting other people to do it for her.
She said I was being unreasonable, but I just asked why she thought her job was so much more important than mine that I should have to leave a meeting to help her with her laptop.
She just said all she did was ask me for help, but I pointed out that's not all she did. She sent repeated messages when she knew I was in a meeting, and I'd told her not to disturb me.
She said again that I was being too harsh on her, but I told her she needs to start respecting my work time and resolving her own problems. I pointed out that she just refuses to even google something when she doesn't know it; she just expects other people to drop what they're doing to tell her. AITA for telling my girlfriend to stop disturbing me at work?
Here are the top comments from readers of the post:
AlwaysHelpful22 says:
She doesn’t seem able to view things from anyone’s perspective but her own. NTA.
Outrageous_Echo_8723 says:
NTA. Shut this down immediately. She needs to respect your workplace and work time.
Oh_Wiseone says:
NTA - I work from home and it would infuriate me if my partner barged into my office or texted me whilst I am on calls. She is jeopardizing your job and making you look unprofessional. If your workplace sees that you are constantly interrupted, they may decide you have to come into the office. Perhaps if you explain it that way, she will back off.
Muted_Memory_3074 says:
NTA. Sounds like your girlfriend thinks office hours means please interrupt my meetings for tech support. You’re not a help desk, and while it’s great she wants your expertise, maybe she could try Googling first! Time to have a chat about boundaries, after all, you’re busy working, not running a 24/7 laptop clinic.