Woman Unsure How To Handle Coworker’s Life-Changing Personal News: ‘Big Surprise’

An unsure woman has turned to the internet for advice on how to deal with her expectant coworker after she was evidently excluded from her pregnancy announcement.

The 38-year-old woman and original poster (OP), user Low_key_Changa, explained on Reddit that she has a “decent relationship” with this 33-year-old colleague in question. They work in the same department and see each other almost daily.

As the OP shared in the comments, they even attended each other’s weddings. Plus, according to the OP’s post, this coworker was among the first handful of colleagues to find out when she was pregnant a few years ago.

So it was a “big surprise” to the OP when, a couple days ago, she found out from someone else at work that this particular coworker is now “very much pregnant” and had revealed that news weeks ago to her team and boss—but not her.

“Funny [thing] is that I’ve been asking her why she’s been missing lately and the response was, ‘I was sick’,” the OP wrote in her Jan. 30 post, which has racked up around 300 upvotes.

“This did make me think how to act exactly in this circumstances. [With] pregnant people, you don’t ask anything unless THEY say something… Right? So…. [Am I wrong] for deciding to ignore the pregnancy (not her) unless I am directly [spoken] to about it by the pregnant lady herself?”

Various Redditors have since offered up their takes on how the OP should move forward.

One user, for example, agreed with the OP that she was in a bit of an odd situation, though suggested she not ignore the pregnancy: “Her behavior is a bit weird. For some reason she doesn’t want you to know.

“Maybe don’t ignore it. Next time you see her in passing, say, ‘I just heard the great news, congratulations’. It doesn’t hurt to be kind and polite.”

‘Would not say anything’

A second, however, understood why the OP was hesitant to say something: “I would never congratulate a pregnant person unless they confirm that they are expecting.

“They could be as big as a house standing in front of me and I would not say anything.”

An individual applauded the OP for trying to “respect” her colleague and advised: “If you’re worried, approach her and say you heard a rumor that she’d announced a pregnancy, and you just wanted to let her know so she could deal with it if it wasn’t true and offer your congratulations if it was.”

However, a fellow Redditor didn’t think this was a big deal at all: “My guess is no one particularly cares how, or even if, you recognize your coworker’s pregnancy.

‘Not the main character here’

“Not only are you not the main character here, you’re barely a side character. So do whatever you want I guess.”

On a similar note, another user urged the OP not to “read too much” into this: “She might think she told you or that you knew… She’s got a lot going on at the moment, cut her some slack.”

The OP replied that she just guessed the pair were closer given their history, while to another user, she opened up with different follow-up comment: “It seems she can tell others directly with no issue (told the other person back in December already), so why should she have her feelings hurt if she’s decided not to tell me anything?

“I just think now she wants to keep me away.”

In other workplace drama to hit the internet, Newsweek just covered an employee who was infuriated to discover what their coworker had taken credit for.

Newsweek also highlighted how a boss’s response to a worker’s request for a raise after four years sparked fury online.

Newsweek has contacted Low_key_Changa for comment via Reddit.

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