‘My father-in-law offered me a huge job – but there was one ridiculous condition’

Sophie Collins

That condition would receive a firm ‘no’ from us!

A woman has taken to the internet for advice after being offered a great job by her father-in-law, under one condition.

She said her name is rather unusual – in the realm of Princess, Ocean, Naveah or Moon – and that he thinks it’s inappropriate for his company.

The young woman wrote that despite being unwilling to change her name for the job, her husband’s family feel she should have been willing to compromise.

Explaining the situation and how this condition arose, she took to Reddit and wrote: “Recently FIL has mentioned how much he would love to have me work for him. I thought it was a very sweet thing to say but he started getting more serious about it after a few weeks.

“He ended up asking me if I would actually be interested and I said it would depend on certain factors but it would be nice to work for the family business.

“He didn’t say anything else right away but then a couple of days later he told me he was serious about wanting me to work there but I would need to change my name to something less “embarrassing” because the negative impact on his business was not something he was willing to risk and a ridiculous name is a sure way to harm your relationship with important business contacts.”

She went on to say that she told him that if her name didn’t fit with his business, then she didn’t want to be part of it: “I told him I understood if he felt my name could not fit in with his business but I would not change my name so we should just forget the offer.

“For the second time when talking to him he was taken aback. Another couple of days passed and my husband told his dad he was crappy for offering me a job with conditions, like my name, attached to it.”

Her mother-in-law then told her she was being “a little hasty to refuse without thinking it over.” In defence of her own name she said: “I told her the thing is I love my name and don’t want to change it for a job.”

Now, she says her in-laws are very offended by her not willing to compromise on this condition, so she asked for an outsiders opinion.

There was a resounding level of support for her in this situation, with one person responding saying: “I know someone this actually happened to, but it was a nickname. Think Billy for William. His boss thought he sounded like a kid and actually started calling him Will. Dude even changed the org chart to Will. It was so weird.”

Another wrote: “Changing your name isn’t a “small adjustment”, and this feels WAY TOO MUCH like a manipulative way to get you to change your name, simply because they don’t like it and are embarrassed by it.”

Among the hundreds of comments, a third person added: “He has such audacity even asking and furthermore – taking issue with you for politely declining due to his job requirement.”

What do you think? Let us know over on social media.