AITAH For not lending $13 to a coworker?
So this happened a few years ago, and for a while I thought I was justified but the topic of an ex coworker came up between a friend of mine and I was told I might have been the AH, so dear reddit I come to you to see if I was or if I was in the right here, lets start our tale.
I (27 at the time) had a coworker (36f) who I was friends with. I thought we were chill until I noticed she had a habit of asking me for money. It would be small amounts at first, $9 here $15 there and I was ok with it cause she usually paid me back and we would occasional cover each others lunches. But then she would start asking for more and it would go up weekly, $25, $30, and then $50. She would still pay me back, but when I'd say I didn't have the money she would push harder (I wouldn't budge cause I'm broke af and wouldn't have the money). I'd get annoyed cause she technically made more than me and I would be like hey you make this much and have no money, so you know I aint got anything. She would stop pestering me and then again start the cycle of asking for small amounts here and there and work herself up for bigger asks, I think the most she asked from me specifically was $150 which I did not have. She would plead for it but I was like seriously I got $2 to my name. She never asked me for more than that. (lets call her N for now)
N also had this weird habit of sending me money to sit in account and then would ask me to transfer it over to her later. I did not know what that was about cause she wasn't lending me money to use, just for it to sit in my bank. She asked a few times for me to do that for her and I told her I did not like her doing that because it just seemed sketchy. She stopped but it wasn't because I asked her to, it was because she did that to someone else and they would not send her back the money.
After the 4th time of N going through her weird cycle of asking me for money and increasing the amount she would ask for I told her, hey I'm not your bank, I know you always pay me back but it puts me in a tough position with my finances, especially when I need to plan for my expenses. She still asked me for money and my dumb*ss gave in three more times for small amounts until N asked me to buy her something online for here (some sort of fitness thing) and told me she would pay me back the next day in which I retorted if you have time to pay me back the next day, you can buy it yourself the next day, I've told you, I'm not your bank, stop asking me for money. She then stopped for a while.
After that I vented to another coworker (lets call her D) about her and much to my surprise she was doing the same thing with several other coworkers. D mentioned that N had asked her for $4000 to borrow to hide the fact she had stolen money out of her SO's account. D was thinking of helping her and I convinced her not too, N got herself in this mess, she needs to figure it out.
N eventually asked me for advice (cause she knew damn well I did not have that kind of money) and I was completely honest with her, I noticed she needed to work on handling her finances better, the area we live in is pricey but I knew she paid less in rent than me and she needed to stop buying the next newest and hottest thing for her closet. She seemed to take it to heart until she asked "Do you think boss would lend me the $4000?" No. No she wouldn't. I don't know if she actually asked our boss, but I know for a fact that wasn't happening. At that point I realized N was a lost cause and I wouldn't lend her any amount of money again.
One other thing about N was that she was habitually tardy...which was crazy because she lived relatively close to where we worked, closer than me and I was never late (Neither of us drive and we both use public transport...her trip is shorter and more accessible than mine). Sometimes the small amounts she would ask for was for lyft or uber to get to work on time and the last time she asked me for money was for a $13 uber trip. She texted me and I said no and sent her a pic of google maps with a bus route straight to our job which showed if she left now she could get there on time. Turns out she was at her bf's house but I told her that it wasn't my problem. She then called me and we proceeded to get into an argument, she accused me of causing her to be late because I wouldn't lend her money to help her out and I told her I was standing my ground on not being her bank because she was always asking me for money and I was tired of it. Most of our texts at this point was her saying hi and then asking for a certain amount of money. I said I was standing firm on my boundary and she was offended I wouldn't make an exception. I hung up and we stopped hanging out shortly after that.
I did have the money to help her but if I kept lending her money when she claimed she needed it, how tf is she going to learn to handle her finances better, and even if she is destined to never learn, wouldn't that at least be teaching her that she could step over my boundaries whenever she deems it as necessary?
So dear reddit, AITAH?
Posted Mar 14, 2026, 6:13 AM UTC