A 28-year-old CEO and founder of a small tech company received online support after firing her younger sister for exposing private family matters at work. In a post on Reddit’s /r/AITAH subreddit, where users evaluate actions in a given situation, the CEO asked if she was wrong for firing her sister. The post quickly gained viral attention, with more than 12,000 upvotes and over 1,000 commenters backing the decision. The CEO described her introverted personality and value for privacy, while her sister, 24, was extroverted and often spoke without thinking. Despite their rocky relationship, the CEO had hired her sister, who had recently lost her job, in hopes of bonding.
Initially, the CEO thought hiring her sister would help the pair bond, but tension started building when colleagues began behaving oddly around her. The breaking point came when a deeply personal family matter was treated as “common knowledge” during a team lunch, which the CEO said her sister had shared with co-workers. Confronting her sister about this, the CEO was met with resistance, with her sister stating that sharing personal details helped her connect with others. When her sister continued to share private information about her with the rest of the company, the CEO made the difficult decision to fire her, leading to accusations from her sister of trying to control her and letting her CEO status go to her head.
Commenters overwhelmingly supported the CEO’s decision to fire her sister, emphasizing the sister’s unprofessional behavior and crossing of boundaries by sharing personal family drama at work. Working with family can present unique challenges, as personal and professional boundaries can become blurred. Jerime Winters, CEO of Winters Industries, spoke about the challenges that come with working alongside family, mentioning that while family relationships can complicate business decisions, there are also advantages such as built-in trust and shared long-term vision for the family legacy. Winters emphasized that working closely with family can bring unique benefits to a business.
In an update to the post, the Redditor expressed gratitude for the support received and confirmed that she felt she had made the right decision in prioritizing her business and team. Despite the challenges of working with family, the CEO stood by her decision to fire her sister in order to maintain professionalism and protect her own reputation and that of her company. The online responses to the post overwhelmingly supported the CEO and commended her for taking action to address the breach of privacy and unprofessional behavior by her sister. The story highlights the complexities of mixing family and work relationships and the importance of setting clear boundaries to maintain a professional environment.
