by Miz Tee
Everybody knows that you need to be careful what you say to a pregnant woman.
Commenting on her size is a big no-no, as is telling her what she can and can’t eat (unless she’s asking), and jokes about watermelons coming out of something the size of a lemon are never going to go down well either.
But what happens when you suspect the pregnancy is all a ruse?
On parenting forum Mumsnet, a woman posted about a colleague that she suspects is just pretending to be pregnant in order to get out of work.
In their particular field, once someone announces their pregnancy, they are immediately placed on light duties.
“There was some confusion initially about dating and her saying she had a miscarriage,” she wrote.
“She then stated last week she went for her 12 week scan and there was no baby to be found and she was to come back the next day for another scan.”
The woman went on to say that she had messaged her colleague on Facebook after the scan to ask how it all went.
“She said ‘great’ and sent me a picture of the ‘scan’,” continued the post.
But the woman noticed one small detail.
The scan itself was pushed up to the top, probably to cut off the personal information that is usually printed across the top of the scan.
Still, this didn’t stop the eagle-eyed woman noticing that it had a date on it that said 2015 instead of 2018.
So, armed with the knowledge that this woman “has quite a rep for lying about things,” as most mums would, she went Face-stalking back through her co-worker’s online profile for evidence.
She wrote, “She has other children and I was a bit suspicious so I checked her previous Facebook photos and found it was the exact scan of her previous child!”
The woman added that her position is higher than that of the ‘pregnant’ colleague, and she’s still asking for time off to attend appointments, and is still working light duties, for which other people in the company are required to pick up the slack.
Her dilemma is that she feels a responsibility to report her discovery to management, but also considers it to be none of her business.
“It will all come out eventually regardless,” she predicted, “but I see my other colleagues picking up the slack and feel quite bad that it’s all potentially made up? Would you go to the manager or just leave it?” she asked fellow mums of the internet.
Many responses just outright said, “report it.”
“Go to the manager,” said one, adding, “I used to work with a compulsive liar. As well as all the bullsh*t ‘sick’ days she stole quite a bit of money from the company before she was caught.”
Another recalled a friend doing something similar all through school: “As a teen, my friend faked pregnancy after pregnancy, mc (miscarriage) here mc there — definitely fake. Drained us all of sympathy tbh. She obviously needs some help.”
Another suggested that the woman may have some personal issues that she is covering up:
“It is totally possible that she could have had some issues in early pregnancy and has been vague or given misinformation rather than divulge personal details. Personally, I would probably step back and see how it unfolds as you can’t lie about a pregnancy for so long.”
She added that the sensible thing to do would be to speak to a manager about any concerns.
There may very well be other factors at play here, and a pregnant woman (as well as a pretend-pregnant woman) should be treated with extreme care.
Would you say something if it were you?
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Credit: News.Com.Au
Do you know that a woman’s brain shrinks during pregnancy? Read all about it HERE!
