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terrible coworkers

20 Coworkers who are difficult to work with

'I caught her in a bold-faced lie': 20 Incompetent coworkers who are impossible to work with

Some disgruntled workers are spilling the secrets of their worst coworkers ever. Some folks just aren't meant for work environments. It seems like there's at least one person at your job that makes you wonder, “How did this person ever get hired?” If they're anything like the people in the stories below,
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'We knew he was full of it': Lying one-upping coworker gets caught out in a lie that they can't live down

As human beings, we all develop interesting ticks and facets of our personalities that can manifest into very strange behavior. Often our desire to feel “good” and avoidance of feeling “bad” can cause us to make a series of consecutive decisions that see us walking too far down a particular path and becoming something we might never have anticipated. Take "Disney Adults" or any fandom as a prime example of this. You get exposed to something at some point in your life, say, Disney media and it m…
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'You all agreed to and signed off on [it]': Project Manager fends off moving goalpost trap with superior paper trail and process

Dealing with changing expectations from your boss or colleagues requires a strategic approach; after all, having all your t's crossed and i's dotted ensures that you have covered yourself when things inevitably hit the fan and they go looking for someone to blame, aiming to hang their own failure's of leadership on the neck of an unprepared scapegoat. Despite all of this, Hanlon's Razor still shines through; it's not as if these people are necessarily aware of what they're doing, and it's not a…
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Coworkers Try to Scapegoat the One Pulling All the Weight

What is it with people constantly trying to blame someone else for the thing that they themselves are most guilty of? This hypocritical finger-pointing is just a vapid means of projection that these narcissistic robots employ whenever they feel threatened. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/AITA (Am I the A--Hole) subreddit by the coworker scapegoated by the others, Redditor u/Maleficent_Shoe3791. She had been doing all of the work to make up for their lazy behavior, and they still tried to b…
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'AITA for not giving my coworker my day off?': Coworker demands guy's leave that he booked to play the new Zelda game

Let's be real… We've all had that one coworker who is always coming in late and leaving early to pick up their kids. No big deal, right? Everyone deserves to have a flexible working arrangement. But, when that flexibility and those considerations aren't offered to other workers, and it places more work or undesirable shifts on those workers' shoulders, it becomes a problem. Reddit especially champions the idea that those with kids shouldn't expect special treatment over their coworkers who are…
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'Have fun with unemployment': Karen coworker fires herself by refusing to do her job

When you have a job, it's usually best to do that job if you want to keep it… Not get embroiled in a war of petty acts against a coworker who wanted no part in that war in the first place. If you choose the latter pathway, you need to be prepared for any consequences that follow. Redditor u/Peach_Gfuel shared this story to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit about their coworker who insisted on getting revenge on them for a perceived slight. u/Peach_Gfuel had previously worked for the Qual…
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'I'm losing my sanity': Worker expresses frustration about their "office prankster" coworker, sparking online discussion

Being embroiled in an ongoing prank war sounds like a lot of fun—until you find yourself in one. It turns out there's not much that's desirable about constantly being on edge, wondering when the next strike will happen, especially when that strike is likely to come at the most inconvenient time. This is doubly true when you didn't consent to partake in the prank war, to begin with, and it always seems to come from that one clueless coworker who thinks they're hilarious despite being merely obno…
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'I eventually quit': Manager insists on doing things their way because of their age... despite having less experience

Just because you're in charge doesn't mean you know better or have more experience—that's not your job. It's your job to ensure that the people who know how to do that job are getting it done and have the resources and ability to do so. A lot of managers get this confused or let their gargantuan ego get in the way, and then they end up with situations like this. Bonus points in these situations apply if the experienced subordinate is also significantly younger than the manager, which will often…
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'My boss cancelled my interview': Worker quits when boss interferes with their internal promotion interview

Interviewing for a new role within a company or an internal promotion has its benefits, especially when compared to a normal interview process. For one, you'll typically already be at least somewhat familiar with the manager of the workgroup you're interviewing for, which means that they, in turn, have some knowledge of you and the work that you do. This means that you don't have to blindly convince a stranger of your qualities and capabilities like you would in a normal interview—playing the f…
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'She hired him': Legendary manager sticks up for scapegoated black sheep employee, helps them leave for major promotion

Have you ever entered a workplace, friend group, or any social group and been warned to watch out for one particular member? It's an unfortunate aspect of our social nature; we always need a group or individual to be “othered” to feel like we're “in." While it's important to keep an eye out for red flags and not make yourself too vulnerable to possible exploitative behavior from these people (if what people say is true), it's just as important to form your own opinions. You might find that this…
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'If I see them, I bin them': Coworker brings personal dishes in from home to make coworkers wash them, they end up in the trash

Sometimes an inappropriate action deserves the appropriate response; it's the simple laws of cause and effect acting out their parts. This is how it was when worker u/elena247 's coworker decided to execute the clever ploy of bringing their dirty dishes to work to have others wash them. When u/elena247 discovered what their coworker was up to, they decided the appropriate response was to introduce the dirty dishes to the trash can. Sounds like a reasonable course of action to us. It's hard to i…
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'I quit.' Manager quits after lazy Karen subordinate reports him to HR

It's incredibly frustrating when someone in your workplace gets away with downright obscene behavior, and no one is doing a thing about it. You might think that that's what the HR department is for, but in a lot of organizations, they're content to sit on their hands and let the worst offenders get away with anything but murder—just as long as they don't have to deal with any conflict or rocking boats. As a manager, this can present an incredibly difficult problem; you can be as accommodating a…
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Know-it-all part-time waiter insists on inferior method for billing guests, massive queues ensue

Everyone wants to think they have all the answers… but sometimes you don't know even half as much as you'd like to think. We would all do our best to listen to other people's thoughts and opinions before assuming that we have the best and only answer. This student and part-time waiter made the asinine assumption that his method for charging guests was superior to the method devised by his coworker. After claiming that her methods were making it more difficult for him, he insisted that they reve…
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'It’s cleaning up your messes not some huge thing': Coworker thinks they're clever causing disruption over a messy microwave, gets roasted

Getting roasted on your own Reddit post is a sure sign that you have messed up somewhere. You have every chance to twist the entire narrative of a chain of events in your own story to suit your own ends… and somehow, you still manage to turn everyone against you? It's certainly not something we see every day, and if it happens to you, you need to go home and rethink your life. This worker and Reddit user shared their story to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, thinking they had a clever story…
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'It's unfair': Worker forced to take a stand with boss after doing all of her lazy coworker's work

Doing your own job is tiring enough without having to do your coworker's job too. Unfortunately, the reality is you'll often find yourselves having to make up for your coworker's chain-dragging—hey, at least those group projects in school prepared us for something … right? Another unfortunate reality comes in the realization that most managers will be slow to do anything about this. Even if they say they're looking into it, you can bet on a sloth to show more urgency and keep a greater pace. No…
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'Where is your manager!?': Idiot coworker ironically self-reports grievous safety violation when demanding worker's manager

Idiots can become a huge problem in the workplace when the “Peter Principle” takes effect and elevates them into positions they should never have held in the first place. From their positions of authority, they wreak havoc with their wider-reaching idiocy, making ill-advised decisions and unleashing their stupid wrath on competent workers. Luckily, that same double-edged sword of dimwitted confidence that got them in the position in the first place can also be their downfall; all it takes is th…
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