Posted by u/DiscoExtreme 3 years ago
AITA for letting someone into my place of work without paying?
I (21f) work as a park ranger at a national park. I do not want to say which one because of privacy reasons but it is a well-known park. I just started a few months ago. I really like my job. I have always loved the outdoors, and I grew up loving nature. That is why I became a ranger, you know? Because I wanted to make a difference in the world. I haven’t been able to do what I initially set out to do, but I’m still new to the job.
Anyways. The problem starts with my duties. I have to patrol a specific area of the park at a certain time every day. I hate patrol. I don’t like walking around this certain area (it’s around the entrance of the park) and I feel like I’m wasting my time. I know that I should take this more seriously, but I don’t think that it affects anything in the park. I’m just walking around the entrance of the park for three or four hours and sometimes stopping a car and redirecting them. I didn’t think it mattered much.
This is where I might be the asshole. I was scheduled to work on this Friday. I knew that my whole shift I would be patrolling since it was a relatively long shift. I also got a text from a friend the day before asking if I would be available to come see a concert with them. On Friday. They had already bought two tickets and needed an extra person to go with them. In a moment of weakness, I said yes.
I did go to my job – I just didn’t stay. I clocked in that Friday morning and left immediately afterwards to go to the concert with my friend. When I got back from the concert I clocked out. That is when I noticed a vehicle headed towards the entrance of the park. They were leaving in a big truck. The closer I got to the truck, the worse it smelled. I waved them down and asked to see their pass and they explained to me they didn’t have one. I should have told someone, but instead I let them go.
AITA? I know I should have told my supervisor, but I didn’t want to get into trouble – if they found out I wasn’t patrolling I could get into serious trouble. What should I do?
5000 Comments Give Award Share …
This Thread is archived
New comments cannot be posted, and votes cannot be cast.
JurrasicParkSquirrel 27.5 points * 3 years ago
Let me get this straight: you skipped work and went to a concert for your whole shift, and then let some dude come into a NATIONAL park with some stinky truck? I would say YTA. If you were there he wouldn’t have been able to come in. He may not have done anything sketchy (WHICH I’M GETTING BAD VIBES TBH) but even if he was an angel there he still didn’t pay which is a problem?
PsychoTurtle 11.0 point * 3 Years ago
YTA for sure. Parks operate on the funds they get from entrance fees. The reason we can have parks like the Grand Canyon National Park, the Great Smoky National Park, and Yellow Stone is because they charge to get in. I shouldn’t have to tell OP that, though. They’re a PARK RANGER. They should know this already. Sounds like they don’t love nature as much as they say they do.
RomanholidaY 776 points * 3 years ago
Which concert was it?
RugbyHero 2.2 points * 3 years ago
Does that matter?
RomanholidaY 776 points * 3 years ago
Yeah. If it was a good concert, then it was worth it. I’d skip the birth of my child to go to a good enough concert.
DiscoExtreme * 3 years ago
It wasn’t a big concert. There was only about a hundred or so people there. I know the band - They’re called Daily Nightmare. I got a little excited when I heard they were playing because I haven’t seen them for a long time. I know I shouldn’t have gone. But I did have fun, if that helps anything?
LadybugParade 11.5 * 3 year ago
You should tell your boss. Honesty is the best policy. You’re twenty-one. You’re bound to make mistakes. I know that you don’t want to get into any trouble, but you have to learn responsibility. And this is a great time to do so. If you don’t want to tell them everything, just tell them that you let someone go without paying. You’ll probably get into trouble but you’ll feel better.
DeathTrap 200 * 3 years ago
That sounds like leading OP to the wolves. She could literally lose her job if she did that. Look, just don’t do it again OP. It was stupid, and if you got caught you’d be out of a dream job. Learn from that mistake – do better.
Necromancer 1.3 * 3 years ago
Okay, I know OP said they didn’t want anyone to know where they worked but I went to that concert. I think I know which park she works at…
Home – Twitter Feed
Yellowstone National Park @YellowstoneNPS * 1 year ago
News Release: Starting on Monday, Yellowstone National Park will be closed to the public. All park roads, except for the road between the North and Northeast Entrances, are closed to the public. When conditions in Yellowstone are acceptable to visitors the park will open once more.
Juicebat @thetrollamoungus * 1 year ago
i guess yellow stone is closing some sections of their park down?? my family was going to go hiking there. does anyone have any suggestions to what we can do while we are in the area?
Juicebat @thetrollamoungus * 1 year ago
srsly is there anything even in montana? other than some rocks.
Kitkat @preciouspackige * 1 year ago
Okay, that is offensive. You’re right, but that’s going too far.
Kitkat @preciouspackige * 1 year ago
There really is just a lot of hiking available. You could go see a movie. But you could do that at home.
HauntedCemetaries @hauntme
Find the cemeteries. Walk around.
Juicebat @thetrollamoungus * 1 year ago
ya, bet. Let me just go get my Ouija board so I can summon some haunted spirits, too.
TheRockGeneral @Leeeee * 1 year ago
Hypothetically, how hard do you think it would be to sneak into a national park?
JuiceBat @thetrollamoungus * 1 year ago
this intrigues me. Go on.
TheRockGeneral @Leeeee *1 year ago
DM me. I’ll talk details there.
Text Messages
Rose’s Phone
From: Oliver
We’re here. Where are you?
Hold on. I’m almost there. My mom wanted to talk about something, I don’t know. I had to get her out of the room before I snuck out of the hotel.
From: Oliver
Oh. What did she want?
Something about my brother? He feels sick or smthing. It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be here anymore. This always happens when we go on vacation. It can never be normal.
From: Oliver
Ugh. Parents suck. Once you graduate from college you can get away from that.
Yeah. Maybe? Seriously, it doesn’t matter. I just want to forget about it. We’re having a good night tonight!
From: Oliver
Yeah, exactly. We’re going to have a great time. /If/ you get your butt here. We can’t wait forever.
Yeah yeah. I’m coming. Don’t go in without me.
Seriously, I’ll know. I have a sixth sense.
From Oliver:
We would never.
We’ll save you a beer.
How much have you all had to drink?
Be careful, seriously. I’m okay with drinking but aren’t there dangerous animals out there.
From Oliver:
Stop being a worrywart. We haven’t seen anything dangerous.
Honestly, I don’t think any animals will be out tonight. It’s getting foggy. It hasn’t gotten near us but I can see it in the distance. So they’ll probably stay in their hidey-holes.
I don’t think that is how animals work, Oliver.
From Oliver:
Here is to hoping.
The Post
Four College Students Found Dead in Yellowstone Park. Murder?
Four unknown college students were found dead in Yellowstone park on Thursday evening. Police have not positively identified their bodies but are speculating they are college student because a college id was found near their bodies. Any information anyone has about the incident, police are asking them to come forward and report it to the police station.
The cause of death as of now is unknown.
Links to classmates