I (26M) have a mild stutter. It’s mostly under control thanks to years of speech therapy, but it still shows up when I’m nervous or under pressure — especially during presentations or meetings.
I started a new job about 5 months ago. At first, things were great. Everyone seemed chill, and my manager was super supportive.
Then comes Sheryl (fake name). She’s in a different department but joins a lot of cross-functional meetings. From the beginning, she’d make little comments like, “Should we wait for you to finish or just read your mind?” or fake-cough “spit it out” under her breath. I honestly thought I was being too sensitive, so I let it slide.
But it kept happening. Every time I’d stumble over a word, she’d roll her eyes or snort. Once after a meeting, she loudly joked to someone near the breakroom that I was “like Zoom on 0.5x speed.”
I finally went to HR after she imitated my stutter during a company-wide Zoom call — like, straight-up mocking me while I was trying to present. I froze on the spot. My heart sank.
To make it worse, someone sent me screenshots later that day of a private Slack message she sent during the meeting:
“Can we get this guy a script or something? My ears are bleeding.”
HR took it seriously. They reviewed the chat logs, called me in, then called her in. She was fired by the end of the week for harassment and violating company conduct.
Now I’m getting messages from a couple of her teammates saying I “cost her her livelihood over a few jokes” and that I “should’ve had thicker skin if I wanna work in tech.”
And yeah… I feel bad. I really do. She has a kid. She’d worked there for years. But at the same time… I have to work twice as hard just to talk normally. I’m not trying to be fragile, I just want to be respected like anyone else.
AITAH?
Comments
You’re NTA making fun of a stutter is genuinely a messed-up thing to do, you were 100% well within your right to voice your concerns to HR and it’s great that your HR is doing something about it. What she was doing was both harassment and creating a hostile working environment, the other people should leave it alone soon once the shock of ‘Sheryl’ getting fired.
NTA. She’s an adult, and people shouldn’t treat one another that way. It’s literally bullying, not jokes. I’m sorry you had to deal with it. Don’t feel bad. Hopefully she will learn to be nice to people.
Fuck her.
Fk that, Id report those other co-workers too
at the very least the company need to have a mandated training on how to be fkn professional and not like little fkn children in highschool.
NTA
NTA – and if she was making fun of you/your stutter, both verbally and in writing, who else has she harassed and made the workplace hostile for? You are unlikely to have been the first target of her mean-girl behaviour – THANK YOU for standing up for yourself and putting an end to her reign of terror. (From someone who has gone through the mean-girl wringer in a previous job).
Its amazing to me you care more her the wellbeing of her kid than she does. Her job puts food on the table and in that kid’s mouth yet she acts in a manner incompatible with continued employment.
She put the noose on her own head and hung herself. Ignore her bullshit supporters. Their attitudes will place them in HR’s crosshairs as well. You have the courage to get up in front of a crowd and speak publicly. And the courage to handle your immature aggressor and not roll over. You should be proud of yourself. NTA
Maybe itll teach her some humility before she belittles somebody professionally ever again.
Holy sh*t. NTA!!!! Not in any sense of the word. Jokes? They called them a couple of jokes??? I sat and stared at your post for a solid few minutes speechless before I could articulate enough to write a response. So here it goes:
F*”k that woman and her teammates sideways with a cactus. I could add several more epithets to this but I will try to behave.
You have done NOTHING wrong and responded correctly. She made her bed by being rude, condescending, and disruptive and is reaping more than justified consequences for it. If the colleagues continue to message you, I would save the messages and take it back to HR if they don’t lay off. If they like her so much they can join her. Her behavior negatively affected your work environment. And I can’t think of a single set of workplace policies that would not have viewed that behavior as a breach.
I am happy HR took you seriously and did the right thing.
Absolutely NTA. She is a bully and deserved to be fired.
Fuck her. Those co workers who are running their mouths are next.
Man all these have been fake lately! Ai stories have been strong lately here
NTA. You didn’t “get her fired” her actions got her fired.
SHE cost herself her livelihood over the opportunity to make a few offensive remarks she thought would be funny. She’s the one who engaged in the behavior. Her firing really has nothing to do with you. HR didn’t review YOUR chat records, after all. NTA
These were not “jokes”. It was abuse.
Send her friends messages to HR.
NTA. Fuck her and fuck her teammates. I’d forward their messages to HR as well. Sounds like people at your workplace need training on how to be decent human beings.
NTA. Tell anyone who says you cost her her job because you’re too “sensitive” that she did it to herself by not knowing how to act like a decent human being. People who gaslight you do so because they can’t look themselves in the mirror. You did nothing wrong, you stood up for yourself.
Go to HR and show them these new messages, show them how these people are now harassing you. They will get a warning.
I hope you watched the last televised “Survivor”. They had a man that had a stutter. Jeff Probst was so great at asking and respecting how they should respond He was a favorite!
Don’t feel bad… she was causing a hostile work environment. She’s an adult with an adult job which means she needs to be mature and not make fun of people in the workplace. She didn’t belong in IT if she couldn’t get herself together. She dug her own grave on this one, not you. She played a stupid game and won a stupid prize… her getting fired is her own fault.
Report the other jerks, too. Was her boss just ignoring it? He should get booted, too.
NTA
Would she make fun of someone in a wheelchair? Stuttering is a disability, and should be treated as one. Her mocking you is terrible.
If the comments from the other team members continue, I’d be going to HR with that too. Bullying in the workplace is not ok.
NTA, she got herself fired by my reckoning.
NTA at all! She should have thought of her kid(s) before acting like she’s still in elementary school and is the class bully! My husband and 2 of our daughters stutter. Good job standing up for yourself and demanding the respect you deserve! Maybe in the future, she’ll learn how to keep her nasty rude comments to herself.
It’s not a few jokes though. It is cruel bullying. Her teammates are awful people too! Could you please send those messages to HR as well? Don’t feel bad. Not at all! She deserved it and shame on everyone who didn’t call her out on it!
I’m not defending her because she should have known her actions have consequences but did you ever approach her and tell her she was being offensive? I’m glad she was dealt with justly by HR but now it’s going to be a little uncomfortable for you until this dies down. You aren’t responsible to her children and something tells me there are coworkers who were probably relieved she was canned!
Now show those chats of co workers to HR and tell them it was a joke😂😂
You didn’t get her fired, her actions did. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool. If SHE didn’t do something worth firing, she wouldn’t be fired. Simple, really.
I have put a stop to allowing that sort of BS without calling it out. I’d be telling anyone who tries to pull that crap “I know, isn’t it crazy that she’d do something so stupid to risk her livelihood when she has a family to take care of?”
NTA
NTA. My first back office PA job, I was part of a 14 years on the job RN getting fired. She was so rude and belittling. I stood my ground with her. The whole conversation was overheard by the nursing supervisor. The RN was fired. I had to live with a few really pissed off coworkers. Like I didn’t get her fired. SHE got herself fired.
You’re good. Stay strong.
NTA she needs to grow TF up and develop some basic human decency, I know literal children who wouldn’t pick on a person with a stutter.
Nta
Have a friend called them and use your stutter laughing voice on the phone to them.
NTA You should not feel bad. You were straight up harassed for something beyond your control. She should have thought of the consequences of her actions in her workplace. Good for you for standing up for yourself and anyone else that would have ended up being bullied by her.
NTA She is a whole grown ass adult who knew better. I cannot believe that anyone has a second thought about this. She needed to GO.
NTA.
Sheryl has to have done more than that. I mean… this is absolutely a fire worthy offence, but they don’t leap straight there.
Ordinarily they’d have done some conversations with her, she’d have said “It’s all a misunderstanding, it was just a joke, I didnt mean it like that”
And they’d send her for some sensitivity training, or sit her down and read the riot act…
And then she’d cock up a few more times, on you, or someone else… and the cycle would continue… and then she’d finally get the boot.
The fact that this happened… so swiftly… tells me she’s been in line for this before, or that she doubled down and refused to play the game of niceties and made it clear she is an absolute liability.
She deserved to walk.
F that, NTA. She was being a cruel bully. She’s got kids? I pity them having a mother that hateful. May they also learn from her firing if they ever hear the truth of it.
My ex husband had a stutter. Like you, it came out when he was stressed or under pressure. I would have never made fun of him for it…..even while we were going through the divorce (which was a bit contentious- it took us about 10 years before we could be cordial to each other when not around our kids).
You did the correct thing- reporting a bully. She deserved to get fired. Mocking something someone cannot help is just plain cruel. Hopefully learned her lesson.
Those friends of hers harassing you now? Report them too. They’re just as much bullies as she was.
NTA
It costs nothing to be kind. It can cost a job and lifestyle to be an ass.
Nta
NTA… Fk that bitch. She got some free training from HR. I’d also keep the messages from her fellow workers accusing you of her losing her job. Most likely they are of her mindset as well. They can join her in the unemployed line.
Fuck that. YOU didn’t get her fired her being a bully who apparently didn’t mature out of high school got her fired. Her little clique of “mean girls” (gender neutrally I mean) can go too if they don’t wanna grow up either.
NTA – SHE cost her her livelihood and you should tell anyone defending the bully that.
NTA. She’s a bully. She harassed you and got what she deserved. And you would think she would have some empathy having a child. No sympathy for her. At all. And let the jerks in tech keep talking. They’ll be the next to go.
You didn’t get her fired. She got herself fired.
Fuck them-.report those assholes too. They’re creating a toxic work environment, and I guarantee you’re not the only person they’re bullying. Nta
NTA. You didn’t get her fired, HR chose to do that. You were getting harassed and simply wanted it to stop. Talking to bullies and asking them to stop does nothing, or makes it worse.
In no way should you feel bad. But I do question why you did not have the balls to nip it in the bud, the first time it happened.
NTA, she’s a vile bully and needed stopping. I’d tell her friends that anyone defending a bully can go kick rocks. Hold your head high, someone that toxic didn’t deserve to be part of the team.
Please, please, please, don’t make yourself smaller to accomodate other people’s shitty behaviour! Yes, she is a mother, she needs a livelihood, etc. She still decided to behave badly. You did not cost her her job. Her behaviour did. You stood up for yourself! Keep doing it, it will become easier! NTA of course
Screenshot those messages and report them to HR
NTA. She’s an AH and a bully and deserves to get fired for being a horrible person. She has only herself to blame and her friends are AH as well. Your conscience is clean. Who cares what those idiots who support her think.
NTAH
She cost herself her livelihood by choosing to bully someone. Her behavior got her fired. Not yours.
NTA, please understand that you did nothing wrong and she cost herself her job by harassing her colleague and creating a hostile work environment, it is very unlikely you were her only target. Anyone continuing to harass you or suggesting working in a particular industry requires the ability to accept toxic, abusive, discriminatory treatment needs to be reported. It’s absurd, no one should have to suffer silently through bullying or blatant discrimination to collect a salary in their chosen field, if I’m HR at your company I’d be looking at this entire team and what is being fostered by its management if this is how they respond to this woman’s firing.
Report the others as well. This wasn’t a few jokes. NTA.
Imagine you had made comments about her big nose or crossed eyes or if she had a limo? Right? Nah. People like her are disgraceful. What she was doing was bullying you and making fun of you. She absolutely deserved to get fired.
NTA
At all
You didn’t her her fired, her mocking you constantly did and her own conduct did.
Not you.
And fuck those coworkers saying you should just suck it up or whatever, their just as bad and I’d report them also for creating a hostile work environment
Her actions caused her situation. You have nothing to feel bad about. I’m sorry that she publicly humiliated and harassed you.
I would message those people “and where do you think these messages are being forwarded to right now? This is bullying over a disability, that’s what cost her the job”
Let them know what they are doing is about to get them sacked too
It wasn’t a joke. It was bullying! And you didn’t cost her the job. She lost it all on her own. Being a parent she should have known better! I don’t feel sorry for her!!
Nope you did the right thing. HR followed procedure. She was making fun of a disability. No ambiguity there. As for her teammates they are also in the wrong and are liable to have the same fate, if they continue. This isn’t even a discussion it’s fact as far has HR policy is concerned.
NTA, if she wanted to keep her job and ‘livelihood’ she should have not been making jokes
Report the other ones to
NTA. I’d be reporting her buddies for harassment too. That’s how little I’d feel bad. Making fun “jokes” like that is unacceptable and she can go work somewhere else. Her friends can follow her if they keep it up. You should not have to suffer in silence because someone wants to be an asshole bully. If they continue, report them too. It’s insane they think it’s okay to harass you over you being bullied. You have done nothing wrong. I’m proud of you for reporting her in the first place. It’s not always easy standing up to people.
FFUUUUCCCCKKKK THAT. You don’t get to bully someone like you’re in elementary school. You did the right thing, OP.
My mom’s cousin had a very bad stutter, and he has improved greatly. He has 2 masters and a PhD, worked at bell labs in the seventies and eighties. I know he was still working for whichever baby bell he went with, when the government broke up the bell labs. What this woman did was horrible, if you HAD spoken to her, she would have brushed it off and said that bully tag line: “it’s just a joke”.