Waking Up Snoring Coworker: AITA for Interrupting His Rest?

AITA for waking up coworker for snoring during long, tiring day? Colleagues weigh in on whether the actions were justified or out of line.

Damjan

Published in Interesting
24 Dec 2025

Waking Up Snoring Coworker: AITA for Interrupting His Rest?

In today’s Reddit thread, we delve into a relatable workplace dilemma many have faced: balancing personal comfort with the needs of others. The original poster (OP) shares an experience from his daily van commute with coworkers, in which one coworker frequently falls asleep and snores.

[ADVERTISEMENT]

After a particularly exhausting workday spent in the rain, OP reached a breaking point and shouted at his snoring coworker to wake up, igniting a wave of awkwardness and guilt. While OP acknowledges that he might have overreacted, he grapples with feelings of remorse, especially considering his coworker’s challenging circumstances working two jobs to support his family.

[ADVERTISEMENT]

This scenario raises essential questions about empathy and workplace dynamics. Is it fair to expect others to adjust their behavior for our comfort, especially when they are battling their own exhaustion?

The community has chimed in with a range of perspectives, from those supporting OP’s frustration to others advocating for understanding and compassion. Join us as we unpack this incident and explore the nuances of workplace etiquette, the importance of communication, and the challenges we all face when navigating shared spaces.

What do you think - was OP justified in his reaction, or should he have shown more patience?

Original Post

Context: i work for this guy, theres me and 2 other guys. In the van every morning, my boss drives, i sit in the passenger seat and the other 2 guys sit behind.

The guy who always sits behind me works a night job as well as this one, so as soon as he gets in the van every morning and every afternoon when we're on our way home, he just falls straight to sleep. Nobody seems to care too much and tbh, i don't care either.

Us other 3 sometimes chat, sometimes play along with some game on the radio, sometimes I'll drive the van and all 3 of them go to sleep and i genuinely could not give a f**k. However, the guy who sleeps every single journey who sits directly behind me sometimes snores.

[ADVERTISEMENT]

Sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly and i can ignore it mostly but we had just done this job where we were out in the rain ALL day, we were all tired and cold and wet and just wanted to get home. We sit in the van and instantly this guy starts snoring.

I tolerated it for 10 minutes or so, but in the end I shouted out to him to wake up. Not aggressively, but definitely not a pleasent way to be woken up.

Another 10 goes by and he's snoring again and now I'm pissed off, so I shout out something along the lines of "if you're gonna snore like that, then you ain't going to f*****g sleep, just stay awake." Things were a bit awkward after that obviously and once we got out after the journey, I apologised to him and he said its cool, but given the fact this guy works 2 jobs to keep the lights on for his kids and his girlfriend, i feel like i should have just kept my mouth shut and let him rest after a long, shitty day at work. Basically, I feel terrible.

[ADVERTISEMENT]

Am i an a*****e?