Employee asks if they're wrong for not respecting coworker's peanut allergy.
It's hard to interact with coworkers, especially if they're annoying. But what if they are so annoying that you don't even want to deal with their allergies. When this employee is annoyed that they have to attend to their coworker's peanut allergy, they take to the popular Reddit forum to ask:
"AITA for 'not respecting' my co-worker’s peanut allergy?"
We have a new employee I will call “Heather.” I have candy dish on my desk which has various types of candy in it. Right now I happen to have the little Reese’s peanut butter cups.
Heather noticed my candy dish and said, “You know, I’m allergic to peanuts.” I said I was not aware of her peanut allergy but I did have some other kinds of candy in my dish without peanuts if she wanted any.
She said, “You don’t seem to get it. I could die.” I said yes, I have heard that can happen sometimes. I said that at the time I purchased the candy for my dish she was not employed by our company yet and next time I would be sure not to buy candy with peanuts.
She then said, “Don’t you think it’s insensitive to keep that death-inducing candy sitting on your desk? You’re not respecting my peanut allergy.”
I said I did not think it was insensitive because all she needed to do was not take any of it. She told me I needed to “get rid” of my candy and I told her “no.” I said, “We have employer-sponsored health insurance. If you know you will die if you come in contact with something as common as peanuts, I suggest you get an eppi-pen.”
She went to Human Resources and basically told them I was putting peanut butter candy on my desk to harass and bully her because of her peanut allergy. I got a lecture from HR and was directed to never bring anything containing peanuts into the office again.
I definitely think she is an asshole, but I am not entirely sure about myself. EDIT: A lot of people are talking about airborne peanut allergens.
I don’t think it’s that kind of peanut allergy because she was standing right next to my candy dish the entire time she was arguing with me. Also she didn’t correct me when I said that as long as she didn’t eat any of the peanut candy it wouldn’t be a problem for her.
Also when I talked with HR they did not say anything about an airborne peanut allergy. I know I wasn’t nice and I am not saying I was not an asshole.
I do want to say if I thought she was in any actual danger I would remove the candy right away. ONE MORE EDIT: I don’t know if it makes a difference, but my candy dish primarily had non-peanut candy. Kit-Kat, Milk Duds, Whoppers, Rollos, and then Reese’s cups.
It all came together in the same bag like a Halloween candy mix. Then I added milk chocolate Dove candies (no nuts). We are literally talking about no more than three Reese’s cups in the candy dish.
Not an entire dish full of Reese’s. UPDATE: Today I went to the HR lady to discuss me being the only person instructed not to bring peanuts to the office. The HR lady said, “I owe you an apology. We should have done our due diligence before we said that, and we shouldn’t have singled you out.
At this time we have no reason to limit anyone from bringing peanuts to the office.” I asked her, “What about Heather’s allergies?” She kind of rolled her eyes and said, “I really can’t talk about her private health information.
All I can say at this time is that I haven’t seen any evidence that supports the need to limit any employee’s exposure to peanuts. Going by the evidence we have, Heather will be just fine and that’s all I can say about it.” AITA?
Well, let's see what Reddit had to say.
fireproofbunny writes:
NTA, if her allergy is that severe that she could die from someone else in the office having a very common food, that's called a disability and she simply cannot work in a setup like that with other people. What she cannot do is expect for the whole company to never eat peanuts again. That's ridiculous.
icheskate seems to disagree:
YTA. Many commenters don’t seem to understand peanut allergies can be ultra-severe and someone eating peanuts and then talking closely to her or touching items she touches after them could trigger anaphylactic shock.
She should have an epi-pen but using one is still a very serious situation and they are over $500, even for the generic ones. Take the damn peanut candy home, this was a dumb hill to die on and make you look like a jack-A at work.
roguemiralannie also thinks OP sucks:
YTA. You could have just said 'im sorry, i wasn't aware. I will not bring in something that can potentially kill you into work again.' Your'e incredibly self centered. People with peanut allergies can die from contact if someone else ate peanuts.