A 29-year-old woman who moved from Thailand to the United States about six years ago said a coworker repeatedly made negative remarks about the homemade lunches she brought to work. She shared her account in r/AmITheJerk on Oct. 14, 2026, asking whether she was wrong to challenge him. The post was later deleted and recirculated in r/BestofRedditorUpdates with updates dated Oct. 16 and Oct. 18.

The woman said she brought Thai food to save money and initially treated her 34-year-old coworker’s complaints as jokes. She recalled remarks about dishes including curry, chicken and rice, and fried rice, and said he did not make similar comments about other colleagues’ fish or eggs.

The exchange came to a head when she brought pad kra pao, made with meat, basil and rice. Her coworker asked, “Do you people eat anything that doesn’t smell like this?” She asked him to explain what he meant by “you people” and why the meal was funny or abnormal. According to her account, he accused her of overthinking and twisting his words. Two colleagues were present, and one stopped laughing during the conversation.

She told him to learn manners before commenting on other people’s meals, then left with her lunch. She later said he described her as difficult to colleagues and claimed she had accused him of racism. The poster wrote that she had come to work and earn a living, not to hear daily criticism of her lunch.

In an Oct. 16 update, she recalled another remark from the coworker: “At least you’re giving us a break from the weird stuff today.” He called it a compliment, she said, but later told her that his comments were directed only at her food.

By Oct. 18, she had reported the incidents privately to her manager. The manager asked for examples, dates and witnesses, and said she would speak to the coworker. The woman said she wanted the comments to stop, not to have him fired. She later heard that he was upset she had gone behind his back. At the time of her final update, she had not been told the outcome of the manager’s investigation.

The Daily Dot said it could not independently verify the events. The account reflects the original poster’s description of what happened; the identities of the people involved and the workplace were not confirmed.

Sources: The Daily Dot.