Colleague announces he’s having a baby—no one prepared for woman’s response

A video about a woman’s unexpected reaction to her co-worker’s announcement that he’s expecting a baby has gone viral on TikTok.

The incident was detailed in a video posted by @bethannbex and has amassed over 305,000 views.

The woman says in the clip: “I got off a meeting about half an hour ago where my colleague shared the exciting news that he was having a baby…”

She continued: “Instead of saying something normal like ‘congratulations,’ I actually said the words ‘well done’ followed by ‘thank you,’ to which he obviously nervously laughed and thought I was clinically insane…which is extremely valid.”

“So…I am going to be thinking about that for the rest of my life, and it will continue to haunt me furthermore,” the woman concludes, adding, “I hope you guys are having a better day than that.”

In a February 2012 study in Behaviour Research and Therapy, researchers noted that: “Although experience tells us that everyone endures social mishaps from time to time, their perceived meaning and impact appear to vary significantly depending on one’s level of social anxiety.”

The study’s findings suggested that “high socially anxious (HAS)” individuals are more likely than “low socially anxious LSA” individuals to be “consumed with feelings of embarrassment and shame about their blunders, and to worry about their potential social and interpersonal costs.”

The researchers explained that “the perceived consequences of social blunders among HSA individuals are driven by the belief that social standards are high, inflexible, or both.”

‘Cold Sweat’

Viewers on TikTok could relate to the mortifying incident in the viral clip, with several sharing their own stories of socially awkward moments.

User @weebamford said: “That’s the type of thing you suddenly wake up at 2 a.m. in cold sweat.”

User henna recalled: “I once accidentally said ‘oh noooo’ when my coworker told me she was pregnant. I felt horrible.”

Sharon Blyth noted: “I was working on reception once and told a wheelchair user to take a seat … still traumatized.”

User @obhlroxo said: “I said ‘good boy’ to the (female) cashier in B&M last night when she scanned my last item instead of saying thank you. I died inside.”

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.

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