1-Year-Old Engineer Says His Closest Work Friend Is an 18-Year-Old Intern — Internet Says, ‘This Is a Walking Red Flag’

A Reddit user’s reflection on realizing that his closest friend at work is an 18-year-old intern sparked a discussion about age gaps, professional boundaries, and the optics of workplace relationships on r/BoyDinnerDiaries thread.

The thread describes a three-month bond between a 31-year-old employee and a much younger colleague that began when the company hired her to help him with an engineering project.

In the post, the original poster explains that the intern is “a very capable engineering student” and writes that they “started hanging out after work and have lots of fun all around.” Rumors began circulating about the closeness of their relationship, but they brushed those off because both were “fairly certain that there is nothing going on between us other than genuinely enjoying each other's company.”

The intern began sending him social-media reels about “work besties” that gradually shifted into “male-female friendship type of vibes,” prompting him to think more carefully about the nature of their relationship.

The poster decided to ask her whether she saw the friendship as more than just coworkers who get along. Her response “really caught [him] off guard,” he wrote, as she told him that “no one, not even her girl friends from school, has made her feel the kind of bond she feels when she's with me.”

He emphasizes that she is not “one of those ‘too mature for her age’ kind of girl,” and says he actively tries to avoid feeling like a father or big brother figure, instead treating her “like a person with her own valuable experiences” and looking for ways to relate to what she shares.

The Redditor felt strange and struggled at first to accept it and “felt sort of weird saying it out loud,” but then remembered having a similar cross-generational friendship when he was younger and asked the readers about their opinion.

Some commenters responded by focusing on the workplace context. One reply argued that the situation looks problematic, writing, “This is so bad from an optics standpoint for OP. The age gap, the superior/subordinate relationship, the fact that she’s an intern.”

Another user described the post as a “walking red flag”. That comment said, “This whole post is a walking red flag of inappropriate behaviors and I think if OP does not take heed he will be in an awful lot of hot water shortly. He needs to de-escalate the closeness of their friendship before he gets in major trouble at work or socially.”

Not every commenter saw the age gap itself as inherently problematic. One user shared their own experience spending time with older friends during their late teens, writing, “I mean when I was 17-18 most of my friends were in their 20s-30s we played board games together and had a lot of great times. I'm still friends with them years later.”

As of publication, the thread remains a discussion among Reddit users, and there is no indication in the post that the company has formally intervened or offered guidance on the situation. The Daily Dot couldn't independently verify any of the comments.