To have asked colleague to pay for my coat?

[GreenSnot]

Office based job. Colleague was flying around the office on a wheeled chair on Monday, I’d asked her to stop twice but she carried on. Then she ended up wheeling over my coat which was on the back of my chair (but partly on the floor). The coat got tangled in the wheels and ripped. It was a Barbour coat so not cheap but not massively expensive either. I said “you should pay something towards me getting a new one” and she said “oh chill out, it shouldn’t have been on the floor”. I said “you shouldn’t be flying around on the office on the chair!” Anyway another colleague charmed in and said she’d knocked a dent into the filing cabinet last week after crashing into it and she should offer to pay for that too.

Now a number of colleagues have taken her side and have started taking the piss like dropping a tea bag and shouting “someone needs to pay for that” etc etc

Was I unreasonable to ask her to pay towards my coat?

Tell your manager and try to get it put through company insurance. They have to have it by law. Don't bother any more with this woman - she's already shown she has no intention of paying.

It's a workplace accident. In the process you will have to explain how it got damaged so the company will know what this woman did. Oh dear. What a pity. Can't be helped though. I imagine they will be very annoyed about her behaviour. Next time it might not be a torn coat, she could hurt someone and they would be facing a claim for injury.

I don't know whether the insurance will cover breakages of employees' possessions but it's worth a try. My company paid for a phone damaged when someone else spilled a cup of coffee on it. It was a genuine accident and no one's fault. Tough luck if they don't cover it but at least you will be able to report this woman.

Ignore your colleagues. If they have any sense they will shut up when they realise it is being taken seriously. Also ignore people on here who say you should have hung your coat up. You should have but as there isn't a coat rack (something they should supply) you couldn't so it's not your fault.

Likewise ignore people saying a Barbour is an expensive so you can't expect compensation. That's not relevant but people always say stuff like that as if you're turning up at work in a mink coat. A Barbour is a bit pricey but not outrageous. Loads of people have them. They're practical for when it's cold and wet. They're also hardwearing - unless a twat decides to run over it like she's on the dodgems at the fairground rather than in the office.

I need to know how much it would cost to repair the coat. Before I comment further..
www.barbour.com/us/repair-rewax

Then you have ammunition to the office staff...Well, you wouldn't think it was that funny if you had to pay $200 to have it fixed!
I thought it was something you could fix on your own...

Mumsnet has become incredibly weird

Where on earth do you work that employs people like this (flying around on office chairs???)? This kind of behaviour is utterly bizarre and inappropriate! Shocking that someone can actually earn a living acting like that!

I have no words other than that she's a massive chunt and should stop behaving like a fucking child. I'm too old for that kind of shit in an office.

I'm all for having a laugh but really, we are all paid to work, not roll around the office taking out peoples possessions and office equipment like that.

@girlmom21

It'd wheely piss people off.

I'll get my coat.

Oh...

I know.

That tickled me too!! 🤣

[quote MurmuratingStarling]@girlmom21

It'd wheely piss people off.

I'll get my coat.

Oh...

[/quote]
Brilliant!!

@girlmom21

Just make sure your coat's not stuck under a chair leg.

Sorry @GreenSnot Just joshing! No offence and YANBU!

I’m struggling to see how you ladies find the idea of the women being wheelchair bound amusing. I am now WELL aware it was an office chair, I just don’t see the humorous side you’re all clearly seeint

@Gemmathecat

I’m struggling to see how you ladies find the idea of the women being wheelchair bound amusing. I am now WELL aware it was an office chair, I just don’t see the humorous side you’re all clearly seeint

Nobody was finding the idea of someone being a wheelchair user amusing, they were laughing at you for getting so exercised about ableism based on a complete misreading of the (very clear) OP.

‘You ladies?’ Rude.

No one finds the idea of someone being wheelchair bound amusing.

Surely you realise that? Posters said repeatedly that it was an office chair and not a wheelchair.

You said you understood eventually and yet now you are saying we are making fun of the disabled when no one is doing anything of the sort.

Channel your inner Elsa petal.

Well maybe there is a reason said co worker was spinning and moving around on the office chair. You have no idea unless you’ve taken the time to ask her

I think you are being deliberately obtuse now.

However, I’ve got about 40 years left on this Earth and will now make it my business to ring round every business that I can to find the chair whizzer and ask them why. I’m bound to hit the jackpot eventually. There. All better…

I am going to take a total stab in the dark (ahem) and reckon they were just being a tit. I’m sure if there was an actual reason for them to use the chair like a waltzer then the OP might have mentioned it.

There is a part of me that might just go with what OP said in her third and last post….

She was flying around and spinning around messing about, treating it like a fairground ride

Bit of a giveaway….

@Erinyes

It was a guest I think. The Barbour was hanging in the hall. I seem to remember scissors were involved.

But no wheelchair.

Well maybe there is a reason said co worker was spinning and moving around on the office chair. You have no idea unless you’ve taken the time to ask her

Fucks sake. Are you Mr Tickle with that reach? She was pissing about on the chair, like she was on the waltzers. She doesn't use a wheelchair. She doesn't have a disability. OP would bloody well know. Just own that you didn't read the thread will you?

She was flying around and spinning around messing about, treating it like a fairground ride

She'd already dented a filing cabinet. People with disabilities (and I am one) don't fly around like dicks damaging property.

Fucks sake. Are you Mr Tickle with that reach?

Beautiful iklboo. 😆 just beautiful.

Your coat being on the back of your chair was perfectly fine, I've never worked in an office with a cloakroom and yet no one has ever fallen over, tripped on or run a chair over my coat. She was acting like a pathetic child and totally inappropriate for a working environment, obviously she should pay she damaged it however I don't think she will as if she's ignorant to think the behaviour is OK I doubt she'll care enough to pay, the others also sound like school yard bullies, sorry you are having to put up with this.

YABU. Coats done belong on the back of chairs

If it was on the floor able to be run over it was also a trip hazard

@Gemmathecat

Well maybe there is a reason said co worker was spinning and moving around on the office chair. You have no idea unless you’ve taken the time to ask her

Yes, there is a reason: she is an arse. A grown woman who treats office furniture like it is playground equipment is an arse. It’s stupid, it’s dangerous and, most of all it’s just perverse to suggest otherwise.

You didn’t bother to read the thread.
you didn’t even to bother to read the second post on the thread which told you it was an office chair
You insisted it was a wheelchair
You stated people were being ableist, were cruel etc.

Just give it up. Admit you didn’t read the thread and were wrong.

YABU. Coats done belong on the back of chairs

THERE WAS NOWHERE ELSE TO PUT IT!

@TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum

Where on earth do you work that employs people like this (flying around on office chairs???)? This kind of behaviour is utterly bizarre and inappropriate! Shocking that someone can actually earn a living acting like that!

Where on earth have you worked? I find it utterly bizarre that you've never worked with people who behave in an inappropriate manner.

All have us have done stupid things from time to time. Some of us do them at work. Some people do stupid things at work quite a lot and don't always get disciplined for them. Some of them get promoted.

I'm not dismissing the OP's situation where a prat scooted around the office in her wheely chair and her prattish colleagues thought it was okay for her to damage OP's coat and mocked her for getting upset.

I'm just saying I have witnessed worse and have reported it when necessary. But if not I've let it go.

I suppose I'm saying you and your colleagues must have equal values and either you are all paragons or you are all as bad as each other. I find that hard to believe unless you work alone.

@Gemmathecat

I’m struggling to see how you ladies find the idea of the women being wheelchair bound amusing. I am now WELL aware it was an office chair, I just don’t see the humorous side you’re all clearly seeint

I don't find the term "wheelchair bound" at all amusing @Gemmathecat. Why are you using it?

@iklboo

Well maybe there is a reason said co worker was spinning and moving around on the office chair. You have no idea unless you’ve taken the time to ask her

Fucks sake. Are you Mr Tickle with that reach? She was pissing about on the chair, like she was on the waltzers. She doesn't use a wheelchair. She doesn't have a disability. OP would bloody well know. Just own that you didn't read the thread will you?

She was flying around and spinning around messing about, treating it like a fairground ride

She'd already dented a filing cabinet. People with disabilities (and I am one) don't fly around like dicks damaging property.

post of the week

@Gemmathecat

Well maybe there is a reason said co worker was spinning and moving around on the office chair. You have no idea unless you’ve taken the time to ask her

What are you suggesting? That she has a hidden disability that makes her scoot about incessantly on office chairs pranging filing cabinets?