She Hid A Piece Of Birthday Cake From An Obese Coworker Who Was Suffering From Serious Health Problems, And Her Coworker Was Furious
Eight years ago, this woman, who was 23 at the time, was going to work in the office for the night shift.
During her shifts, she worked with three other co-workers who were in their late 40s and early 50s.
One night, while working, she was responding to emails on her computer.
She opened an email she’d received from the receptionist, who worked in the office during the day, telling her that there was some leftover birthday cake from a party in the fridge that she was welcome to have.
“She also said something along the lines of, ‘Make sure Linda doesn’t overdo it. Save her a small piece or make sure she doesn’t have any at all,'” she said.
Linda, one of her co-workers, was in her early 50s and nearly 450 pounds.
Due to obesity, Linda struggled with concerning health issues.
Water leaked out of Linda’s legs, she had breathing problems, couldn’t walk long distances, and fainted often.
Understandably, she was worried about Linda, and several times, she became extremely overwhelmed because she was so scared for her.
Wayde Oostendorp/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“She would get scary around food. She would get very aggressive, throw temper tantrums, and just make everybody around very uncomfortable,” she explained.
While working with Linda, she felt awkward that she was put in a position where she was essentially being told by the receptionist that she had to assist in policing someone else’s habits around food. Plus, it felt even more awkward because the co-worker in question was twice her age. She didn’t think this should be her responsibility.
So, she decided to hide the cake in a spot that Linda may not find. She moved the cake to the produce drawer and put some other items on top of the cake to conceal it a bit better.
Even though the cake wasn’t in an obvious spot, Linda would have still been able to see it if she opened the produce drawer.
“When she came in that night, she didn’t stop. She didn’t take off her coat. She didn’t put down her purse. She didn’t even say hello to anyone. She knew there was cake. She went straight for the fridge. She almost knocked down the other dispatcher in her haste. She would get very scary around food. So, she opened the fridge and screamed, ‘They didn’t leave me cake!'” she shared.
Throughout the rest of their shift, Linda was incredibly angry, and her bitterness continued throughout the remainder of the work week.
This made her feel conflicted and weird.
On one hand, she cared about Linda a lot and was worried about Linda’s health and her disordered eating behaviors.
On the other hand, she felt sickened by Linda’s habits.
It made her sick that an adult woman with two children would act like this.
She admitted that a tiny part of her deep down wanted to grab the cake out of the fridge and shove it in Linda’s face with her fist.
Then, she added that she wished she could tell Linda that everyone was tired of seeing her “eat herself to death.”
Sadly, after losing touch over the years, she recently learned that Linda passed away two years ago.
Looking back, she wonders if she should have left a small piece of cake for Linda to have. She also wonders if she should have just ignored the receptionist’s request in the email and allowed the cake to remain in the fridge in an easy-to-find spot so that Linda could choose whether or not to eat some of it.
She acknowledged that Linda was suffering from mental health issues related to her disordered eating. Linda would constantly discuss her insecurities about her body size and how frustrated she was that she couldn’t easily move around to play with her two children.
Linda and her husband had divorced, and it sounded like Linda’s ex was trying to bring up Linda’s health issues as a reason why he should have full custody of their children.
What would you have done if you were in her shoes?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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