Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: I’ve worked in a small office for about 5 years. A few of us are pretty tight knit both in and out of the office, including texting, buying breakfast or lunch, drinks after work, etc.   

There’s one coworker, Jay, who we try to include but he has a lot of issues. He’s miserable to be around most of the time; and that’s when his meds are stable.  When his meds aren’t stable it’s like walking on eggshells. There have even been multiple times Jay has been suspended for his behavior.

If it weren’t for making work more comfortable, I would NOT be friends with Jay. 

Jay may just be socially awkward but whenever he sees one of us doing something for another (not a group thing) he always asks why we didn’t do the same for him or why he was left out or why we didn’t bring him a gift back from our vacation (just to clarify, no one buys gifts for anyone else while on vacation, but Jay seems to think we should bring something back for him), etc., and gets legitimately upset or even angry at us. Jay also announces when his birthday is coming up weeks in advance and implies we are all responsible for making him happy on his birthday by providing gifts, cake, etc. All of this behavior has resulted in us buying him meals or small gifts to not set him off. Sometimes he seems thankful but other times he is rude saying he doesn’t like whatever it is you got for him or claiming it tastes so awful you must be poisoning him, etc.  

All of that said, probably 4-5 months ago, Jay bought me a gift card to a coffee shop and it caught me so off guard that I teared up a little bc I honestly couldn’t believe he had done this.  

About a week ago, another coworker, Joe, who is probably the closest of all of us to Jay, had a huge blowup that ended in Joe telling Jay that he is an entitled asshole. Joe told Jay that he never does anything for any of us and why should we continue to do things for him. I was brought up as a very specific example because I tend to be a doormat and do more for Jay than most of the rest. 

Fast forward to this week and Jay asks me to come over to his and Joe’s section of the office. I comply and when I get there I’m handed a gift card for the same coffee shop. I thank Jay, talk a little bit and return to my desk. About 5 minutes later Jay lets me know that Joe has accused him of doing that for “show” and told him how rude of him it was to “parade me through the office” like that.  So I ask Jay if it was for a show because he could’ve just as easily walked the gift card to my desk and given it to me privately. Jay admitted he wanted Joe to see him giving me the giftcard.  

I’ve let this all digest for a few days and I’m not sure I’m comfortable accepting the giftcard and am thinking of returning it to Jay with a “thanks but no thanks” (not sure exactly what to say without offending him or setting him off, tbh).  

So reddit, WIBTA if I returned the gift card?


returning a gift from a coworker