Reddit Stories - RELENTLESS Demand_ Forced into the SPOTLIGHT by a Stubborn COLLEAGUE_

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #demand #forced #colleague #spotlight #relentlessSummary:A tale of being pushed into the spotlight by a persistent colleague, causing a cascade of events that test boundaries and relationships.Tags:redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, demand, forced, colleague, spotlight, relentlessBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Colleague insisted that I stand by her side as her best woman and wouldn't accept my refusal. She then provided me with a roster of duties for the wedding. Despite my repeated declines, she asserted that it was customary in contemporary times. Woman needs a bestie. This happened yesterday and I'm still confused. Yesterday was my first day back to work after being off for two weeks. This is kind of important.

One of my co-workers had gotten engaged the week before I left. When she announced at work we all did the congratulations and happy for her type of things. I thought it was over. So when I left for vacation the last I knew no plans had yet been made. Then yesterday when I went back to work my boss Kim and best friend Laura said that co-worker Claire was looking for me. I asked what was up and they weren't sure but she was carrying a little gift bag. A few minutes later Claire found me and asked how my vacation was. I was telling them about it and she cut me off and said she had a very important question to ask.

She handed a little gift bag and asked if I would be her best man of honor for her wedding. I thanked her and told her that typically this would traditionally go to a close female relationship. She responded that there was nothing traditional about her wedding so it was good. I looked over at Laura and Kim who were both trying to keep from laughing. I again thanked her congratulated her and told her that I wasn't interested in being part of her wedding party and that I would be happier being a guest in the audience. I swear when I said this it was when we watched her entire demeanor changed and a switch flipped. She went off saying that I have to be in her wedding and that she doesn't understand why I would say no. I told her that we only knew each other for a short time and that I had no interest in trying to.

to plan parties, dinners, and shopping trips. She told me I needed to think about it and she would get back to me later. I told her go for it, but my answer will be the same. She walked away and I looked at Kim and Laura and asked what the ever-loving fresh, creepy hell was that. Kim started to laugh and said she didn't know. But saying no like I did might have saved me a lot of headaches in the future. Laura made the comment that she went straight to Bridezilla and this was a look into what

she was going to be like. Claire came back today, however, she went with a different approach and handed me a list of what she wants me to do and her vision of how she sees things. I asked her why she gave me this and she said that as her man of honor these were my responsibilities. I told her again that I was not going to do any of this. She started again that she needs me to do this and how much fun it was going to be. Then she asked haven't you ever wanted to be part of something special. I told her I was. I was a nurse. Enter Kim who could sense that I needed help and told Claire one of her patients needed her help. I told Kim that if this keeps up I might need her help. She said she was already watching it and would intervene if I needed it. What did I miss?

We aren't that close. She just transferred down to my unit from a different unit six months ago. I had no idea who she was until that point. Laura is saying that she is close and age to me and she might feel that to be enough of a connection. Did I miss something? When we are asked are we supposed to automatically gush and jump up and down in excitement? Why is saying no a bad thing? This is where OPP has replied, commenter, it seems Kim is useless here. You really need to go over Kim's head and nip this in the but right now because Claire isn't

taking no for an answer. Goop. Kim will help. I know she will. She is just waiting to see what her next step is. I have had to have her help with a work issue before. If I have problems with her the next time we work together then I'll let Kim lose. Could this be some weird way to flirt?

It won't work with me. I like Dick. L.O.L. and I have a boyfriend. L.O.L. Commenter, I'm not an expert, but it isn't this an HR issue now? I mean, isn't that like harassment? Boop, it becomes an issue if I report it. My boss is seeing all of it so far and has said that she is watching the situation and will intervene if it keeps going. I'm off tomorrow so I won't see her for a couple of days.

Commenter, she wants to show off how different and edgy she is by having a man of honor. She may also admire your organizing skills and get it done demeanor and thinks you'll throw her great wedding-related parties. Oop, I'm a bad gay guy friend. I'm organized when it comes to a lot of things. But planning a wedding is something I've never done and really don't want to learn to do. If I were to ever get married, it's midnight under a full moon at the beach with a few friends and a cookout the next day. LOL Update 1.

Hey everyone. First I apologize. I never thought this was going to go as crazy as it did. I want all of you to know I read all of your responses and responded to as many as I was able to. Thank you all for your amazing insights and comments. I'm sorry that made me laugh. Which I needed. I have been sick and that really helped to cheer me up.

I had to meet with my lawyer today regarding family issues. My neighbor slash best friend slash co-worker Laura took me. I really felt awful and driving wasn't a good idea. We were talking about this on the way and we both were asking a lot of the same questions that all you were asking. The big one was that we were asking about the circumstances of her transfer. She went from Med Surge 4 watts to the ER. That is a huge change. I have to work tomorrow so we will see what happens.

But Laura and I are going to ask him about the transfer and raise a couple of other concerns. After I got home from the meeting with my lawyer I slept for the rest of the day. Many of you asked about if Claire and I hang out outside of work. The answer is no. I really don't know anything about her. I have helped her a few times with patience and different things. But our relationship is 100% purely work-related. That was why I was so surprised that she asked me to do this.

That is why I was so surprised that she asked me about being the man of honor. I have a very small friend base and in all honesty I like to keep a it that way. I really have no interest in being a part of this. I'm not a wedding person. After reading so many Bridezilla stories and hearing about over-the-top weddings, they have become a huge turn-off to me spending tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars with insane unrealistic demands that turn people against each other. Why? I would rather use that money and spend that time planning my next trip or vacation. Many people said that I was being used as a token or a wedding or a gay best friend. I never really thought about it. I admit that I'm out and proud.

But I'm not going to just pretend to be someone friend just so they can fulfill some kind of fetish they have for wanting to have a gay best friend or some kind of status she feels the need to fulfill. It takes me a lot to get offended, but if this were actually the case then I would really be rather offended. I was not put on the face of the earth to be someone's play toy. A lot of people have said that maybe she doesn't have a boyfriend. She does. She has brought him in before. If she has any insecurity, I don't understand it. She is attractive, smart and nosy stuff. So I'm at a loss as to why she is acting like this. A lot of people say go to HR. I'm starting that process with my boss Kim. She is completely aware of the situation being with us when all this

happen. She has told me that she is watching the situation and will jump in if I need her too. I trust her completely. While Kim and HR can control the situation from the hospital, they can't control the situation from a personal level if she were to maybe follow me home or a situation like that. So I think that covers it all. I wish I could say this is over. But most likely there is more to come. Set your update me. Comments where OP has replied, comment her, about that name. Oops username, you're not just an RN, because there's nothing just about RNs or other nurses. You folks, regardless of gender, do the medical heavy lifting, and when we can't get a straight, the oh so busy MDs. The nurses provide the no-shit

information. Oop, my name is kind of an ongoing running inside joke. I'm told at least once a day or so from a patient that I'm just a nurse. One day I heard it three times. I don't really take offense to this. And in a joking way I repeated what the patient said and my boss Kim jumped my case about. That's not the case at all. I love my job.

It's a huge part of me and who I am. It's a part of my identity. Comment her, I'm curious about her list of demands or responsibilities. Like, did she read? I really think you would change your mind now that you had all this BS work to do and money to spend? Boop, it pretty much had me planning the whole thing. She wanted me to plan the bridal shower. The Bachelorette party.

Coordinate dress shopping and fittings make sure everyone was having fun with the whole thing. Just to name a few. Comment her, O-P, what the ever-loving fresh creepy hell is this? L-M-A-O-O-O-P, I had no idea what the ever-loving fresh creepy-es. creepy Paul was from something. It's just something I have always said. Mini update, I'll be posting an update in a day or two. Things came to a head today and it was pretty much just as everyone was saying. I need to take some time to understand everything that happened today. I also have a meeting scheduled Monday with the director of nursing at my

hospital which should bring closure. I hope. Update 2, this intro is going to be long, but I'm telling you about this for a reason and later in this update it will make sense. I'm hoping this will be done and that this will be the last of this whole situation. I was born into a family where I was referred to as an issue that needed to be dealt with. I lived in the shadows of my sister who was the child my parents wanted. They wanted one child which was a girl. That way dad had his daddy girl and mom had mommy little princess. Then I came along.

Keep in mind that I'm 23 so back then my parents had options but chose to not use any of those options. So instead my parents raised my sister and I was raised by a nanny who even to this day is one of the biggest influences in my life and I am so grateful for her. She helped me with so much. I finally realized that all these years later that by being referred to as an issue that needed to be dealt with that they stripped me of my humanity and individuality and self-worth as a person. I think that's why I've worked so hard to establish myself in my career and in my life as a way to become a person again and not just be that issue that needed to be dealt with. Just past Thursday things came to a head with the Bridezilla known as Claire and the Truth came out. My best friend Laura has been sticking close to me when we worked together if Claire was to start

something. We weren't sure if she was going to leave it alone or start up again. I was really hoping that it was done. But she had to try once again. I've been sick and I had a busy morning so I really just wanted a few minutes to go to the bathroom, grab a quick snack and maybe breath. Claire came up and had her list and asked if I had a few minutes to talk about the wedding planning. I looked at her and told her again know that I was not interested in being part of her wedding and that I was not going to help in any way and she needed to drop the subject and leave me alone.

Again she went into the who thing of how I was going to do this and how much fun it was going to be. Here we go with that line all of you love the first time. Why in the ever-loving fresh creepy hell is it so important for me to be your man of honor? I'm not interested and I'm not doing it. It is as exactly as pretty much all of you told me it would be. She was just planning on using me as a token or a play toy. She took all of the fucked up gay stereotypes that are out in society. and put them into one sentence.

What modern liberal women isn't going to have a gay bestie on her arm for special events. I felt everything in my stomach move and a wave of nausea come over me and I felt like I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough. This pissed Laura off to no end. Laura is really kind of like the overprotective sister that I wish I would have had and took Claire off to visit our boss Kim and laid it all out. Everything that was said. While I wasn't in on that conversation, Laura and Kim filled me in on what was said.

Kim came to check on me and I was still hiding in the bathroom she knocked on the door and asked if she could come in. I asked her for a bottle of water first. While I was waiting, I realized two things. I realized why I chose to not hang out with her and why didn't like her. I couldn't figure out why I didn't like her just that there was something that gave me the hebi-jeebies. but I realized that I didn't like her because she is a different version of my sister. While Claire is educated and employed she doesn't care about other people and there she is like my sister in the sense that if she wants something bad enough she will figure out how to get it.

The second thing I realized was that she did exactly what my parents did to me. She completely dehumanized me and reduced me to an entity. Just kind of turn me into a token or a thing for her. I think the word that best describes it is I must-a-play toy. What really gets me is that just like my sister Claire doesn't think she did anything wrong and I'm being too sensitive and a delicate snowflake. The next day an emergency meeting was held at work and Claire is being suspended pending investigation and a new transfer is being looked into. Kim made the request for her to be terminated. The director of emergency nursing said this was a last resort but she was going to be looking into options which could be sending her

to a new hospital or facility. This didn't go over well with me. I asked what would happen if she did the exact same thing to someone different. She didn't really give me an answer. But she said she still needs to look into a few things and at this point she is suspended. Anyway, here it is. I'm still pretty sick and had to work this weekend. If I can, I'll respond.

I want to thank everyone for all the amazing support. I am going back to my lawyer to see if he can figure out how to send her a cease and desist letter to make sure she doesn't contact me. I'm heading to bed. Have a good night. Edit. I keep forgetting to thank my boyfriend. He has been with me on this but more in the background. First when we were laughing about it.

But when everything Thursday happened he was there as well. Al was able to get him away from his unit for a little bit for the It Will Be Okay Boyfriend Hug. He stayed the night with me a couple of nights as well also helping with me being sick. So yeah, I'm very lucky to have such a great support. Update 3, hi everyone. First I apologize for not responding sooner. I have always tried to do what I can to stay engaged with all of you and to respond as often as possible. Truth of the matter is that I hit a brick wall.

Between everything with my parents, being sick and then the brightest silla, I just kind of lost all my motivation to keep the conversation going. But I will say this. I read all of your comments everyone one of them and there are not enough words in any language to say thank you for all the amazing support, feedback and suggestions. I am truly grateful for everything all of you brought to the table. I went back to my lawyer the other day and told him everything. I told him I only had her name but I did not have her address and since he has resources that I don't. I wanted him to find her and send her a cease and desist letter to not contact me.

He was looking into this. The good news. Claire has been terminated. While I am not able to talk about all of the details, I can say that this goes a lot deeper than what she did to me and after Kim did some digging it brought out some information that could have put our hospital in a serious position. When this information was brought out in the open it gave the director of emergency nursing, D.N. No choice but to terminate her and it could put her.

the D-E-N in a serious position as well. Honestly, it has Kim, Laura and myself looking at potentially looking for new jobs if this doesn't get properly corrected. None of us want to change hospitals. Because then we have to start all over with seniority and benefits. It's a last resort, but it's still something to consider. I guess I can say that this is closed. At least I hope it is. I need to move on with my life. I doubt that Claire will be dumb enough to contact me. She is in enough trouble and this would only make it worse. Again I apologize for not being able to keep up with responding back to all of your comments,

but again, I can assure you that I read all of them and value all of them as well. Thank you again for the amazing support. Final info, commenter, can you give any further info about what you learned about her? Had she been moved as a result of something similar? Obviously you have to be vague but she sounds wackadoodle. Boop, I honestly don't know much of her personal self. But some of the problems that we are having come to find out was things she was doing when it came to her job and what she was doing wrong.

To a downboated commenter, Boop gives more info. Kim, Laura, or myself had nothing to do with getting Claire fired. Claire got herself fired. I'm not sure what I should put on here. So I'll say this much. The question was brought up with Claire's transfer. She went from Med Surge to ER. This never happens.

The ER is such a intense experience that you have to start in ER at the beginning of your career. It's a eight-week training program while still doing orientation. With that being said, going from ER to Med Surge happens often. So naturally when someone comes from Med Surge it raises some questions and I bring grouse. So basically what was found out was that Claire in her own way committed assault towards a patient and falsified the patient's charts. The Med Surge director knew of this as did the DEN and it was swept under the rug. We are learning that she may have done this to a patient in the ER as well. I was asked to be in a wedding and I had no interest in attending. I told her

three times no in a polite manner but she refused to take no for an answer. I finally forcefully told her no. Then she did what my parents have done to me for my entire life. She reduced me to a play toy and referred to me as her token gay bestie. This is hardly the case. We never hung out at any time and I never wanted to. I have no kind of attachment to this women so when I say no I'm saying no for a reason. Had she just accepted my responses then most likely none of this would have ever happened. OOP gives a tiny bit more info. A 14-gauge needle slash four catheter is the biggest that you can use. If they are ever used, it's mostly on EMS sites and if it's being used, it's usually for rapid infusion or the patient is shutting down and you need to get fluids in in a

hurry and can't get a vein with the standard size. Realistically, you should never have a reason to use a 14 gauge. And if you do in my opinion, then you better have three other people with you to help do this. I hope in my lifetime I never have to use one. Also the HIPAA notice. It's one of the first things you learn at the beginning of nursing school or med school. Basically HIPAA is keeping a patient's privacy. What you can do is talk about the case as long as you don't reveal any information regarding the patient's identity. Also opening a patient's file that you have no reason to open and also a violation of HIPAA as well. These are serious offenses and could result in loss of license.

With that being said, take this information and do with it what you will inform your own opinion.