Woman Says Her Coworker Filmed Her at a Bar to “Prove” She Wasn’t Really Disabled

A woman with chronic pain says she was already trying to manage a painful week at work when a coworker confronted her in the parking lot, showed her a video taken outside of work, and accused her of faking her need for a cane.

The woman explained in a Reddit post that she has chronic pain, but the severity changes from day to day. Some days are manageable. Other days are bad enough that she needs a cane. She said she is legally disabled, has the proper paperwork on file, and even has a handicap marker on her license plate and a placard in her car.

At her part-time job, she had recently been moved to a location closer to home. She liked the team and said her boss, Amy, was great. The one difficult person was a colleague named Casey, who had the same assistant coordinator role.

Casey, according to the poster, had wanted a promotion for a long time. The poster did not want one because she already had a full-time job and worked the part-time role to save money, stay busy, and help with anxiety.

Still, tension had been building.

The poster said Casey often talked over her, rushed to complete tasks before she could get to them, and then announced that she had “handled” things for her. At first, the poster was annoyed. Eventually, she spoke with Amy because she wanted to pull her weight and split the work fairly, not have Casey constantly racing ahead to prove something.

Then the poster came to work with her cane.

She had emailed Amy ahead of time, so her boss knew what was going on. With everyone else, she kept the explanation brief and said she had a condition that meant she sometimes needed a cane and sometimes did not. Amy accommodated her by assigning tasks that required little movement.

The poster said she got those tasks done early and asked over the radio if there was anything else she could do. Casey jumped in and said no, but the poster offered to work on the admin list instead. Casey again said she had it, but Amy confirmed the admin work would be helpful.

The next day was similar. The poster still needed the cane, completed most of the admin tasks, and Amy thanked her for coming in instead of calling out. Casey made a comment that she could have helped, and the poster thanked her for handling the more physical tasks.

Then came the first parking lot confrontation.

As they walked out together, Casey asked which car was hers. The poster pointed it out. Then Casey told her she knew she was not disabled.

The poster asked what she meant.

Casey repeated herself and reportedly said there should be “no cane tomorrow,” adding that she “wouldn’t tell.”

The poster was stunned, but she had plans to meet her best friend, Joy, so she left.

That evening, she went to a bar with Joy. She brought her cane but did not use it every second. She could walk a few steps to the bar. She could stand to hug her friend goodbye. None of that meant her chronic pain had vanished. It just meant disability and chronic pain do not always look the same from minute to minute.

But Casey apparently saw it differently.

The next day, the poster’s pain was still high, so she brought her cane to work again. When Casey saw it, the poster said she became visibly angry. Casey ignored her greeting, then later asked in a snide tone if she could handle her assignment “with your cane and all.”

Even Amy noticed the tone.

Throughout the shift, Casey kept jumping in to do tasks and making comments over the radio about not wanting the poster to strain herself. The poster was confused until the end of the day, when Casey again walked with her to the parking lot.

This time, Casey showed her a video.

It was footage of the poster at the bar with Joy.

The poster asked why Casey had a video of her, because that was weird. Casey said it was proof the poster was not disabled because she had acted “wounded” at work but did not need her cane at the bar.

The poster wanted to explain how chronic pain works. She wanted to say that walking a few steps for a drink is not the same as bending over, organizing a bottom drawer, or doing physical work for an entire shift. But Casey did not give her much room to explain.

Instead, Casey allegedly told her again: no cane tomorrow.

Then she threatened to go to Chad, Amy’s boss.

The poster was not worried about being “found out,” because there was nothing to find out. Her disability was documented, and Chad apparently had personal familiarity with chronic pain because his boyfriend also had it. What bothered her was the fact that a coworker had followed or watched her outside of work, filmed her at a bar, and then used that footage to try to control whether she brought a mobility aid to work.

She wrote that she was typing an email to Amy and copying Chad because the whole thing felt odd and invasive. Later, she updated the post to say she had sent the email and also texted both Amy and Chad.

By morning, she said Amy and Chad had both responded, and she was still at about a 7 on the pain scale because it was cold out. She planned to bring her cane again and had texted ahead so Amy could think through tasks for the day.

The situation was not just about one rude comment. Casey had been competing with her at work, taking over tasks, making public comments over the radio, accusing her of faking a disability, and then showing her private-time video as “proof.”

For the poster, the question was whether she was overreacting by documenting it before Casey could take the story to management first.

By the time people responded, the answer was pretty clear: no, she was not crazy for wanting a record. She was dealing with a coworker who had turned a cane into a workplace campaign.

Commenters overwhelmingly told her she was not overreacting. Many said Casey’s behavior looked like harassment, disability discrimination, and a hostile work environment.

Several people focused on the fact that Casey filmed her outside of work. They said that crossed a major line. One thing is a coworker being ignorant about disability; another is apparently following or observing someone after hours, recording them at a bar, and then using the video as leverage at work.

A lot of commenters urged her to use clear language with management and HR: harassment, disability-based discrimination, hostile work environment, invasion of privacy, and retaliation. They said she did not need perfect proof before making a report. She needed documentation that Casey was targeting her.

Others pointed out that Casey had already made comments in front of Amy and over the work radio, which meant there were witnesses to at least part of the pattern. Several people said Casey might eventually expose herself by bringing the video to management and admitting what she did.

Some commenters also explained that disability does not mean someone is unable to do every physical action at every moment. Chronic pain can fluctuate. Using a cane one day, part of a day, or only during certain tasks does not make the condition fake.

The strongest advice was for the poster to keep bringing the cane when she needed it, stop explaining herself to Casey, and let management handle the coworker who thought filming an employee off the clock was a smart way to win a workplace argument.