I Took a Promotion Even Though Someone Else Deserved It More and Now I Can’t Stop Thinking About It
Imagine starting a seasonal job in a beautiful French ski resort, thinking you’ll blend work, snow and new friends, and then, two weeks in, getting offered the head waitress role for the busiest week of the year. That’s the situation a 22-year-old Reddit poster described in a raw, tense confession that quickly became a quiet but relatable workplace drama. She wants to know: AITAH for not passing the promotion to a colleague who, on paper, deserved it more?
What actually happened on the slopes
The poster, who identifies as F22, began a seasonal job as a waitress/runner at a restaurant on the slopes. She explains she’s “still a beginner” with just a few months of service experience, while a coworker (F20) has years on the job and has always been tougher on her. When a week-long music festival brought a flood of international guests, management named the poster head waitress, a role that involves taking orders and navigating tricky customer interactions, while the more experienced colleague was scheduled as a runner.
The poster says management told her being “fully bilingual” was the reason: she can catch nuances in English, make jokes, and understand sarcasm, skills that matter when dealing with international clientele. She also notes that her coworker “definitely deserved” the role based on experience, but management thought fluency mattered more for that week.
Why this became personal, roommate and workplace tension
What made the situation explosive wasn’t the assignment itself but the fallout. The two are roommates, and since finding out she would be “working for” the poster during the big week, the colleague allegedly stopped doing her job, started making rude comments at work, and even “messes with my stuff back at the apartment.” The poster says she hasn’t told managers because she doesn’t want to “make a drama,” and because she’s the new girl in a team that’s already been tight for months.
Colleagues have reportedly made snarking comments and seem irritated that the poster didn’t protest management’s decision or hand the position back. The poster’s conflict, torn between feeling guilty that someone more experienced was overlooked and wanting to seize a rare opportunity, is tangled up with roommate animosity and social pressure in a tight seasonal community.
How the Reddit community reacted
The post attracted a handful of responses, and the top comments sided with the poster. One commenter, u/_ordinarilyordinary_, wrote: “NTA, it’s the managements choice afterall and they have the authority and decided it accordingly, I’m sure they’re aware that she’s got more experience and despite the fact they chose you over her,they must be knowing more or thought more and have some other reason to justify that decision…and assuming by ur logic that she’s more deserving(maybe u could be more deserving afterall despite less experience)(idk and I’m not saying that at all that ur less deserving than her, u did).”
Another top reply, from u/cynical_overlord1979, echoed that sentiment more bluntly: “NTA If she’s being this mean and unprofessional about the decision maybe she’s generally mean and has annoyed people in management. It is not your decision who is head waitress that week and not your responsibility to question it or re-assign it.” Those comments reflect a common instinct online: if management chose you, accept it; you don’t owe a disgruntled colleague your promotion.
Why this hits so many nerves, fairness, entitlement, and emotional labor
There are several emotional currents colliding here. First is fairness: the poster believes the other woman was more experienced and therefore “deserved” the role. That sense of injustice is amplified by the colleague’s mean behavior, if she’d handled the setback gracefully, sympathy for her might feel more natural. Instead, the colleague allegedly escalated things into passive-aggressive sabotage, which pushes the poster further away from giving anything up.
Then there’s the pressure of being the new hire. The poster says she didn’t want to “make drama” and that the rest of the team has been together for months, so she’s wary of rocking the boat. New employees often shoulder invisible labor, navigating politics, proving themselves, and avoiding conflict to keep their job. Those fears are real, and they influence whether someone speaks up or steps aside.
Finally, seasonal work tends to be high-stakes financially and emotionally. A short-term promotion during a festival week could mean more tips, visibility, and a better experience on a resume. The poster’s choice to accept the position is understandable when you factor in money, brief tenure, and the manager’s explicit preference for bilingual nuance.
What the poster could consider doing next
Whether you think she was in the wrong or not, practical steps can ease the situation. If the roommate’s behavior crosses into theft or harassment, documenting incidents and talking privately to management is reasonable, especially since it affects service and team morale. If the problem is emotional hostility, boundary-setting in the apartment, scheduled roommate meetings, or switching rooms if possible could reduce friction.
At work, the poster could be proactive: ask the manager for clear expectations for the head waitress role, offer training opportunities to help the runner feel included, and model professionalism. Sometimes a small gesture, acknowledging the colleague’s experience publicly, asking for her help with specifics, can change the tone without sacrificing the job. If she truly feels guilty, a private conversation offering a future trade-off (helping the colleague prepare for the next head role) could be a middle ground.
What To Take From This
This story is a tangle of fairness, power, and human feelings. Management decisions aren’t always transparent, but they are ultimately the manager’s responsibility, not the new hire’s. If you’re the person who unexpectedly benefits, you don’t automatically owe your promotion to someone else, especially if that person reacts with unprofessional behavior. At the same time, being aware of how your choices affect relationships matters: a little empathy, clear communication, and firm boundaries can prevent a temporary opportunity from becoming a long-term feud.
If you find yourself in a similar spot, protect yourself first (document and involve management if needed), then try to repair relationships with actions rather than guilt. And remember: taking an opportunity offered to you by your boss doesn’t make you a villain, but how you handle the aftermath can define you.
