A man faced his boss’s anger for not offering his first-class seat to her ‘out of respect.’
Taking to Reddit’s AITA platform, a user explained that he was traveling with his boss on a flight, and they were coming back after attending a business conference.
OP said that he is a frequent flyer and uses the credit card of the airline he was traveling in, so he often gets free upgrades on flights.
“Yesterday, my boss and I were flying home from a conference. We were on the same flight, but our original seats were not next to each other. I’m a frequent traveler on this airline and use their credit card, so I often get free upgrades to first class. I got upgraded on this flight, and my boss did not,” he wrote on Reddit.
After being upgraded to first class, OP sat in his seat while his boss sat in economy.
However, after the flight landed, his boss became furious and asked why he didn’t offer her his seat out of protocol as she was his senior.
“After the flight, when we were collecting our bags she said she wanted to talk to me about my “lack of respect for protocol”. She thinks that because the company paid for my original ticket, and she is more senior than me, I should’ve given her the first class seat.”
He added, “I think this is absolutely insane. While the company paid for my seat, it’s my own personal credit card spending, and frequent travel that earned me the upgraded seat.”
Asking his fellow Redditors if he was TA for not offering his boss his first-class seat, the user wrote,
“Is this some sort of corporate standard I’m not aware of? AITA?”
In response to his post, several people commented and agreed with the OP and said his boss was absolutely wrong for getting angry at him.
“NTA. If you want to cya going forward you can always email HR and ask “X happened while on this trip and Manager Y advised that I should have done Z. Can you point me to where I can review the protocols so I know going forward?” It documents the incident without being accusatory and lets you be able to cite chapter and verse if there’s a next time,” one wrote.
“Obvious NTA. Is your boss 5? What fucking protocol says you have to give gifts to your boss??” another said.
“NTA – this was your upgrade, not a company upgrade. I’d keep an eye on this boss from here and document anything in case of retaliation,” added another.
“NTA – you got upgraded. YOU. The upgrade was connected to your own personal credit card use. Your boss is a bully and she is being completely inane about this. If she brings it up again, I’d just tell her that she is wrong and leave it at that. Document this too, in case you need to take it to HR,” someone commented.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Reddit
