A woman has told how her colleagues got revenge after a male co-worker took it upon himself to describe the dos and don'ts of pregnancy to an expectant mother.
After deciding he knew a lot about pregnancy, the colleague named Michael, lectured his co-worker on how she should handle being pregnant - and it didn't go unnoticed.
Taking to Reddit, the pregnant woman explained how she was forced to listen to him drone on about what she should and should not be doing now that she is pregnant.
She claims Michael even started discussing her pregnancy with other co workers - and started commenting on how much she was eating.
After hearing the unsolicited 'advice' he was dishing out to his pregnant colleague, the other men and women in the office decided to rally around her in support.
They created a 'Mansplaining' award and presented it to him as a way to show their acknowledgement of his understanding of another human's personal experience.
Mansplaining is the explanation of something by a man, usually directed towards a woman, in a manner that is regarded as patronising or condescending.
The award reads: "Michael has earned this award for Successfully Mansplaining Pregnancy."
Sharing the award on Reddit, the pregnant woman said: "One of my co workers decided to mansplain how many calories I should be eating so the rest of the staff gave him an award.
"I didn’t hear him [explain this to me] as I was pointing at his middle-aged-man-gut and asking how many additional calories he was eating a day.
"When he started [sharing his advice] there was a lot of groaning and people telling him to stop but you know, the insatiable need to mansplain was too overwhelming."
While most users couldn't help but laugh at the team's witty response, others argued that Michael shouldn't have been embarrassed like this when he was "only trying to help".
In response, the pregnant woman explained how Michael wasn't actually trying to help her in anyway, just "flex his opinion" to the room.
She added: "A person who has never been pregnant gave me completely unsolicited and non factual opinions masquerading as 'advice' and continued to double down on said 'advice' after being told what he was saying was not only not true but unnecessary.
"I’d say you missed something with your weirdly defensive oversimplification of what should’ve been a humorous outcome to a terribly annoying situation pregnant women deal with all too often.
"I imagine we all work with a Michael and know he's not trying to help but he just wants to flex his opinion. You do not work with this person 40+ hours a week and I do."
The woman received an overwhelming amount of abuse when sharing her post on Reddit - but this only prompted others to share their own experiences of men offloading their unsolicited advice on to them.
One user said: "I mean, unless you work at an OB office (obstetrician) and he's a doctor, he has no reason to speak. Now pass the cake."
Another user added: "This reminded me of when I was eating McDonald's once in my first pregnancy and this boy in the staff room at work said, 'Ugh, if you were my baby mama I’d never let you eat that'. Thanks, Oliver."
A third user said: "If you think it's appropriate for anyone outside of her healthcare team to tell a pregnant woman how she should manage through pregnancy then you are missing something.
"Maybe, just maybe, spare a thought for the pregnant lady and how it might have been embarrassing for her to have her co worker give her a very public talking to about how much she should be eating."
Thankfully, this Michael is in the minority as none of her other colleagues - both male and female - deemed it appropriate to share their 'advice' on how she should navigate her pregnancy.
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
