Woman was minding her business at work when 75-yr-old coworker blasted 'ancient Christmas music' — it ended up costing her the job
The weeks leading up to Christmas tend to shift the mood in most workplaces. Some people lean into the decorations, others count down the days, and a few simply try to get through the season without losing their focus. But for one woman, what started as holiday cheer turned into a breaking point she never saw coming. Posting under the username u/dmorelli99, she shared on Reddit how a small office, four coworkers, and an endless stream of old Christmas music became the final straw in a job she had held for three years.
She worked in an unusually tight setup, an open-plan room barely bigger than a bedroom, separated only by a glass divider that didn’t do much to muffle sound. She often felt like the odd one out due to the age gap. The real trouble began when her 75-year-old coworker started playing Christmas music from the 1930s on his computer at a blaring volume. Loud enough that she struggled to hear herself on calls, long enough for seven straight hours, from 9 a.m. to closing, without a pause.
“I think my other coworkers enjoy the music, which is why it wasn’t a problem for them,” she wrote, describing how the relentless soundtrack was unbearable. “When you’re forced to listen to loud music you don’t like, it gets really grating. Especially when you have to actually get work done.” She tried to handle it through the proper channels, asking her boss on the first day if he could address the volume or request headphones. He agreed, then did nothing. Day two—the music started again, even louder.
With no help from her manager, she finally approached the coworker herself. Her request was simple: could he wear headphones? The answer was a blunt no. And with that, she said, “This began my crash out.” The music kept playing. The boss stayed silent. Someone closed the door in an attempt to “fix” the issue, but the noise seeped through anyway. When the boss opened the door again to ask if this “helped” her problem, letting the music pour back in, she snapped.
She yelled "No," grabbed her things, and walked out. A week later, she still hadn’t heard from anyone at her workplace, and her unemployment claim remained pending. “No one has even contacted me about my possessions from my desk,” she told Bored Panda. Her job at a food pantry had already been tense. “More donations, more clients, and more tension,” she said. “I was feeling resentment… but I wasn’t planning on quitting anytime soon.”
“Those first few days… were wracked with panic,” she said, describing the relief she felt reading supportive responses on Reddit. Some were serious, others light-hearted. The responses to her Reddit post captured a mix of humor, outrage and disbelief. @freeeeels tried to lighten the moment, joking, “If it helps, I laughed out loud at ‘ancient Christmas music.’” @u/Sea-Hornet-1834 remarked, “I'm wondering if this was intentional.” And then some simply couldn’t wrap their heads around the situation, @crankykitty20 asked, “In what universe is it acceptable to blare music in an office?” Reflecting on it all, she concluded with one message: “Don’t stop talking about the lack of worker rights and protections we have and the inadequacy of our safety nets… we deserve better.”
More on Amplify
Woman has the perfect response to a coworker who kept downgrading her cultural food