Woman Loses Weight, Her Coworker Is Not Happy About It: “Fattest Person In The Office”

The world would be a better place if, instead of lashing out at others, people would focus on solving their self-esteem issues. Unfortunately, real life means some folks are overly entitled, toxic, and lack self-awareness.

Case in point, u/NerdyBrooklynGirl, who recently lost weight, vented to the AITA online community about a passive-aggressive coworker of hers. According to the author, her colleague raged at her when she offered her some of her fashionable clothes. The woman was accused of losing weight just to make her coworker “the fattest person in the office.” Keep reading for the full story.

It is a major challenge to lose weight for health reasons. Though you might be proud of your success, some people around you might be envious

Woman smiling and holding oversized jeans, showing weight loss in a bright living room with clock and plants.

Image credits: voronaman111 (not the actual photo)

One charitable woman wanted to give away some of her old clothes. However, her toxic colleague turned it into a massive drama

Woman loses it after coworker offers old clothes too skinny for her after losing weight to show her up conflict.

Text excerpt about a woman discussing losing weight, body dysmorphia, and tension with a coworker over clothing and size.

Text post sharing a woman’s experience of losing it after coworker offers old clothes she’s too skinny for, revealing tensions.

Text excerpt about coworker offering old clothes too skinny woman after losing weight causing tension at office.

Text excerpt describing a woman upset after coworker offers old clothes too skinny for her, involving weight loss conflict.

Woman covering face in distress, upset after coworker offers old clothes not fitting her skinny frame, emotional reaction at home.

Image credits: GSR-PhotoStudio (not the actual photo)

Text message expressing confusion over a coworker upset about giving old clothes due to weight loss and perceived insult.

Text post explaining a coworker giving old clothes to a woman losing weight to show her up.

Text excerpt discussing a woman losing weight and coworker accusing her of losing weight to show her up.

Text showing a woman losing it after coworker offers old clothes she's too skinny for, involving weight loss and office conflict.

Image credits: NerdyBrooklynGirl

Genuine friends will celebrate your successes with you. False friends get envious and try to put you down to feel better about themselves

The sad reality is that good intentions, charity, kindness, and generosity won’t be appreciated by everyone. Some individuals are more concerned with keeping up appearances or maintaining a grip on their fragile egos.

Or they’re incredibly envious of your success. So, they’ll try to put you down for doing something nice for them or someone else.

You can quickly tell whether someone is a good friend of yours or just pretends to be by how they react to your victories and defeats. Losing weight for health reasons, with a doctor’s advice, is a huge endeavour. It’s challenging because it requires you to overhaul your lifestyle.

A good friend would be happy for you that you’re on your way to solving your health issues. On the flip side, someone who feels envious of your progress and feels like you don’t deserve your success isn’t a true friend.

In a similar vein, good friends will support you when times are tough and you’re down on your luck. False friends, on the other hand, will be glad that you failed.

It might be best to reconsider your relationship with people who want what’s worst for you… or those who feel like you can’t succeed when they don’t.

Three people engaged in a lively conversation in a bright room, illustrating a woman losing weight to show up a coworker.

Image credits: Melanie Stander (not the actual photo)

Most employees, unfortunately, completely ignore work problems, making them grow

Now, in your private life, you would either talk to your friend directly about these issues or you’d simply spend less time with them. Things are slightly more complicated at work. You can’t exactly avoid that person if they’re in the same department or if you have to collaborate on a bunch of tasks.

So, you’ll have to be more diplomatic and delicate when tackling everything. You don’t want to come off as judgmental or angry because you don’t want this drama to spill over into the rest of the company. You may even want a manager or member of HR to step in to mediate the conflict.

However, in reality, most people actually avoid workplace conflicts and ignore problems. This, according to the Harvard Business School, leads to resentment, unsuccessful initiatives, and missed deadlines.

As per data from coaching and training firm Bravely, a whopping 53% of workers deal with toxic situations at work by, well, not dealing with them at all. They avoid having those tough conversations.

The result is that United States businesses lose $359 billion per year. This comes out to organizations losing $7,500 and more than 7 workdays per year on average.

Four women chatting at a cafe table with drinks, illustrating a woman losing weight after coworker offers old clothes too skinny for her.

Image credits: LinkedIn Sales Solutions (not the actual photo)

Workplace conflicts are tough(er) to manage because you have to focus on the long-term nature of these relationships

There are five main strategies for conflict resolution, according to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model:

1. Avoiding the conflict altogether, which is best left for daily life situations where you’re unlikely to see the problematic person ever again.
2. Competing, where you assert yourself and take charge, which may not be the best for work settings because it might impede building trust.
3. Accommodating, where you focus on preserving your relationship with the other person by de-escalating and giving in to their needs.
4. Compromising, where you and the other person both set aside some of your needs to reach an agreement, for the sake of the bigger picture. This is a lose-lose strategy.
5. Collaborating, which, unlike compromising, is a win-win strategy, where you and the other person look for ways to meet both of your needs.

The last three strategies (accommodating, compromising, and collaborating) are best suited for dealing with workplace conflicts because they focus on long-lasting relationships, while the first two (avoiding and competing) only work when you don’t care about preserving the underlying relationships.

What are your thoughts, Pandas? Do you think the woman was wrong to offer her clothes to her colleague, or do you think she was simply being kind? How do you handle conflicts at work? Who is the most entitled, passive-aggressive coworker you’ve ever had to deal with in the workplace? Let us know what you think.

Three women in a modern office having a discussion around a table, illustrating coworker interaction and weight loss topics.

Image credits: Christina @ wocintechchat.com (not the actual photo)

The internet rushed to support the confused woman. They shared their perspective on the argument at work

Screenshot of a Reddit conversation discussing a woman losing it after coworker offers old clothes she’s too skinny for.

Text post explaining a coworker’s difficult relationship with body image after weight loss causes tension.

Woman loses it after coworker offers old clothes too skinny for her, causing tension over weight and appearance.

Comment explaining coworker's issues with weight loss jealousy and passive-aggressive behavior in a work setting.

Text conversation discussing a woman’s weight loss and coworker offering old clothes she’s too skinny for.

Comment thread discussing a woman losing weight and feeling insecure after coworker offers her old clothes that are too big.

Screenshot of a Reddit conversation discussing a woman losing weight after a coworker offered her old clothes she's too skinny for.

Text post from Reddit user IllustriousWash8721 explaining how a woman took losing weight personally from a coworker.

Comment discussing a woman upset about coworker offering old clothes after losing weight to show her up.

Screenshot of an online comment discussing a coworker offering old clothes to a woman losing weight to show her up.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a woman’s reaction to a coworker offering old clothes she’s too skinny for.

Reddit comment discussing coworker upset over old clothes and woman losing weight to show her up.

Text post discussing a woman upset after coworker offers old clothes she’s too skinny for, involving losing weight conflict.

Comment discussing coworker jealousy over weight loss and refusing old skinny clothes in a workplace setting.

Comment explaining how weight loss affects coworker relationships after offering old clothes to a skinny woman.

Comment discussing a woman's weight loss journey and coworker's reaction to offering old clothes that no longer fit.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a woman losing it after a coworker offers her old clothes she's too skinny for.

Text comment discussing a woman losing it after a coworker offers her old clothes she’s too skinny for.

Screenshot of an online comment criticizing a coworker who offered old clothes to a woman losing weight to show her up.

Comment discussing a woman losing weight to show up a coworker after being offered old clothes she is too skinny for.

Comment discussing coworker offering old clothes to a woman who lost weight, highlighting toxicity and need for counseling.

ALT text: Comment about woman losing weight and coworker offering old clothes, highlighting feelings and reactions to weight change.

Commenter explaining emotional reaction connected to weight loss and coworker offering old clothes causing discomfort.

Screenshot of a forum comment discussing challenges in friendship when a woman loses weight and clothes no longer fit.

Screenshot of a forum comment discussing a woman losing weight and a coworker offering clothes that don’t fit her anymore.

Screenshot of a user comment discussing a woman losing weight and a coworker offering old clothes she is too skinny for.

Commenter discussing woman losing weight, coworker offering old clothes, and insecurities about body image at work.

Some folks shared their personal experiences dealing with similar situations

Text post describing a woman losing it after a coworker offers her old clothes she's too skinny for, highlighting passive aggression.

Text post discussing weight loss, pushback from friends about being too skinny, and struggles with celebrating it.

Screenshot of an online comment discussing insecurity and self-consciousness about weight loss among coworkers.

Comment about coworker losing weight fast and thrifted clothes, advising to distance from insecure coworker.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing keeping old blazers from a coworker, related to losing weight and coworker clothes.

Comment from user about coworker offering old clothes too big after losing weight to show her up on forum.

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