AITA for undoing several hours of work on the spot after my friend gave me an ultimatum about taking a five minute break
a friend asked me to help with something that required real skill and actual effort to do properly. im not gonna get into specifics but it was a full day commitment and i agreed to do it for essentially nothing because they were short on money and i wanted to help them out
i showed up and worked for hours. no complaints. it was hot, tiring, the conditions werent ideal but i was there and i was doing it
about two thirds of the way through i needed like five minutes. i was overheated, hadnt eaten anything, just needed to step away briefly to function like a human being for a second
my friend told me i could either keep working or leave without being paid
i asked if they were sure
they said yes
so i undid the work i had done and left
not all of it was undoable. some of it had already been used. but the portion that could be undone i undid right there in front of them
then i left
they havent reached out since. some people connected to the situation have been asking questions publicly that arent getting answered and i think the consequences of my decision are starting to become clear to them
i think when someone gives you an ultimatum about whether youre allowed to take a five minute break after hours of underpaid work they've already decided what kind of transaction this is
AITA?