Pizza shop employee tells on rude coworker, she loses her shot at a law career. AITA?
"Try to get me fired... Enjoy the end of your law career."
Agreeable-Key3914
So first of, hello. I'm John. I worked in a pizza shop back when I was in college. I worked with Sarah, a vindictive lady who would stir up a lot of drama. Sarah would pick a target and then bully them into quitting.
Where I'm at, college students can receive welfare if their parents make less than a certain amount of annual income. I was ineligible for student support due to my parents' income, even though they didn't support me and I desperately needed this job.
Matt, a new hire, quit after Sarah's harassment. Sarah's attention then turned to me, Sarah would approach my supervisor and spout bullsh*t like:
- "Hey Mr. Supervisor, I asked John where the snake is and he said the snake is cutting pizzas." This while the supervisor was actually cutting pizzas.
- She would shout at me with extreme hostility.
- She'd wouldn't warn me if pans were hot — a major sin in kitchen jobs.
- She conspired with her friends to accuse me of slacking off, even though they'd never complained about me until Matt quit.
This all took a toll on me. My hours were cut, impacting both my financial and mental well-being. I even considered dropping out of college because I was struggling to afford rent.
Sarah was illegally claiming student welfare despite being employed by the pizza shop. You can only claim the welfare if your are unemployed. Sarah, in the first year of her law degree, was also aspiring to become a lawyer.
The thing about being a lawyer is that you need to be admitted to the 'bar' to begin practicing. The law industry is very strict, even proven allegations of plagiarism in college would make one permanently ineligible to become a lawyer. Frankly, she was stupid for defrauding the government.
There is an anonymous complaints line for welfare fraud. Most of the time, the welfare department never follows up. Occasionally, however, they would send officials to investigate. This was one of those few times they followed up.
I sent an anonymous tip, stating the business, her schedule, her name, and her number. I was on shift when some officials from the welfare department came in, informing us that multiple complaints were made against Sarah.
I think my boss could have just told them to scram since they probably didn't have a warrant. But, instead of doing that, he licked their shoes, showing them all of the CCTV footage.
The officials then questioned Sarah. She panicked, confessing to everything. I felt no sympathy for her. As a law student, she should have known to remain silent.
Long story short, Sarah received a suspended sentence, which would most certainly disqualify her from becoming a lawyer. She dropped out of college, while I continued working at the pizza shop and eventually graduated with an associates. I have an alright job now. I don't know what happened to Sarah but honestly, I stand by what I did.
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
ilp456
She was messing with people’s livelihoods, doing something she knew was illegal while studying law and receiving welfare that should’ve gone to others. I have no sympathy for her.
drtowson
Seriously - pick one cruel or illegal thing to do at a time. Don't make enemies at the same place where you're cheating.
Vistemboir
When you're one whistle blower away from being caught, the sensible thing to do is to NOT antagonize people. Guess her brain was as shitty as her attitude...
CircaSixty8
Sarah had it coming. She would have been a shitty ass lawyer. What you did was the public service. 11/10.
Responsible_Milk_421
There’s nothing better than a story where the narcissist gets what they deserve and the good guy rides off into the sunset with an associate degree. Good on you!
Fun-Yellow-6576
Good for you! My ex-SIL was receiving unemployment and had received and refused several good job offers because she wanted to use all 26 weeks of her eligibility. After bragging about it one day at a family bbq, 6 of us called the fraud hotline and turned her in.
She was contacted and denied it, but when several of the jobs she turned down were mentioned to her she lied about the offers. A full investigation was handled, she lost her benefits AND had to pay back weeks of the disallowed benefits.
amerkanische_Frosch
Damn. Good job. I was a lawyer for some 40 years. Despite the modern popular image of lawyers as sleazy ambulance-chasers, or worse still outright criminals like Saul Goodman, we actually really do not like law-breakers in our ranks (defending accused law-breakers is a different story.
We want people who do that, but we don't like colleagues who break the law themselves.) Good riddance to bad rubbish and thanks for keeping the likes of her out of the profession.