Story of the Day: Woman Bluntly Tells Co-workers Not Everyone in the Office Can Afford a House

How would you feel if your life is written off as a failure by people with better accomplishments? That's what happened with Ella when one of her co-workers bought a home and made the announcement at the office.

Ella's co-workers are people whose average salary is around $100k. She was their administrative assistant and, as such, only made $32k.

Ella has heard some weird things from her co-workers — one day, a woman expressed shock when she realized Ella had never gotten her clothes tailored before.

Ella did not blame the woman; after all, having all she did could make it easy to get caught up in the kind of reality where everybody is rich, fit, and blessed with perfect white teeth and purebred dogs.

One day she was busy organizing when someone announced they finally got their first house. The conversation quickly degenerated into them becoming rude as they ridiculed people who think it is difficult to buy a house.

Ella started feeling upset when one person quipped about how they would feel like a failure if they were still renting homes in their 30s — Ella is 38.

Most of her coworkers agreed with the statement, and it set her off. She noted that she was 38 and could not afford to buy a house yet but she did not feel like a failure.

One person answered her, saying they had not been talking about her but about people who go on and on about how difficult it is to save for a down payment. Ella thought it was, and she said as much.

The atmosphere in the room changed at her words, so she got up and left for their main office. Later that day, one of her co-workers walked up to her to apologize about what was said, noting that it got awkward.

Ella agreed, then the woman made her realize that she was to blame because it felt like she was drawing attention to the difference in their wages as though it was their fault.

The woman told Ella that if she wants to better herself, they could help her figure out some way to apply to schools where she can learn to work her way up — just like they had.

Ella was stunned and could only manage a half-hearted "thanks" as the woman left. She had just learned a valuable lesson — talking about money is a no-no.

To read another story about a man who excludes his wife from their daughter's birthday, click here.