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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/cbrad3896 on 2023-07-04 02:45:06+00:00.

I, 27M, recently got my master’s degree in a field that I absolutely love! Like most, I applied to many companies to start my career at, prior to graduation. However, there was one company (DreamJob) that I really wanted. I had my eye on them since completing my undergraduate degree, applied to their internships 2x, & even previously applied for a position. This time they responded & gave me an offer. While I was weighing their offer against others’, my classmate “Evan” texted me. I was shocked bc there was some bad blood between us due to a previous argument.

Apparently, he heard about my offer from DreamJob & he was not happy. They also gave him an offer, which he already accepted. He accused me of being petty by applying there too & for trying to compete with his career interests.

At first, my response was civil. I congratulated & wished him well at DreamJob. I explained that I hadn’t accepted yet & was still exploring my options, but that my intent was never to compete w/ or sabotage other people’s careers as he was suggesting. I also explained how I honestly did not know he had gotten a position, as we weren’t talking at the time.

He responded by saying that I was fully aware of his plans to move to the city where DreamJob is located (which was true) & since they were the best company in that city for our job, he obviously applied there. This led to a few back-&-forth texts between us where I reminded him that I too had previously told him my plans to move there & even explicitly told him that my goal was to work for DreamJob since undergrad. The only difference was that I wasn’t the one trying to gatekeep an entire company (or city for that matter).

Things got heated until he told me that he didn’t think it was a good idea for me to accept the offer due to our history, as it may cause unneeded tension in the workplace. I was royally pissed & part of me wanted to accept the offer out of spite, but another part told me to move on so I decided to end it with “okay…whatever man, I have other offers anyway”.

When the other offers finally arrived, I was disappointed & underwhelmed. DreamJob’s offer was better on every level. I’d be an absolute fool to turn them down for any other offer. And for what? So that I could avoid some guy that didn’t like me? After talking with some friends, I decided that it was still in my best interest career-wise to accept the offer, despite the drama. I decided not to inform Evan.

After we started, we were assigned to 1 of 4 teams within the company. Luckily. I got my 1st choice. It was also Evan’s 1st choice, but he was assigned elsewhere.

After that day, he texted me accusing me of sabotaging his career plans, going behind his back by accepting the offer secretly, & pulling strings to get my 1st choice of teams. His girlfriend & other mutual friends also got involved and sent me texts saying that I was being bitter/petty & that I should’ve looked for another job/be the bigger man.

So, AITA for accepting?