I (21f) have this one coworker (35f) that basically relies on me to get to work. She also has a daughter (16) who she also wants me to pick up from work, and her daughter works at a different job than we do.
My coworker goes on and on about how she doesn’t like feeling used because of her kindness, but I feel like she’s doing the same thing to me. Over the past several months, I’ve never received a dime from her.
I asked her why she doesn’t take public transportation to work, and she said she doesn’t like taking the bus. She’ll take the bus after work but not before work, which confuses me. Sometimes she’ll stay at work later if I’m working and then ask for a ride home because the buses don’t run past a certain time.
They’re about to change my schedule so that I wouldn’t come in until over an hour after she does, and I don’t want to sit in the parking lot for over an hour waiting for my shift.
She texted me on my 21st birthday asking if I could pick up her daughter from work. She knew it was my 21st birthday, as we had been counting down the days until I could sell al*_hol at my job. I told her, “I can’t. You know it’s my 21st birthday. I’m at dinner with my family and then we’re going bar hopping.” She got upset that I couldn’t do it.
The following Monday after my birthday, she told me that her daughter was complaining that I was “MIA.” I told her, “I don’t think I’ve been MIA, as I’m not in a combat zone. I have a life outside of work and playing Uber for people. I’m in my 20s, I’m single, and my parents told me I need to live my life to the fullest so I don’t look back with regrets.”
WIBTAH if I stopped giving them rides?
Edit: I’ve been applying to work elsewhere to get more hours, and I got a message that a company I applied to wants to interview me. It sucks for her, but she’s definitely losing the ride if I get this new job. She’s already lost the ride, but we’ll see how she reacts when I leave.
Edit 2: I’ve been telling her no to rides, and she’s started begging other coworkers to take her home after work. She still messages me about her daughter, but I keep telling her no—especially since I live about 35–40 minutes away. She even asks on my days off.
I also had the job interview I mentioned in the first edit, and they want me to come back for a second interview this coming Wednesday. Fingers crossed for the new job.