We all know the workplace can be a challenging environment, with deadlines, pressure, and conflicting personalities. But sometimes, a co-worker takes things to a whole new level by behaving in a downright childish manner. In this collection of stories, employees share the most immature thing a co-worker has done to them.
So sit back, and enjoy these stories of workplace drama. Maybe you’ll even recognize a few of these situations from your own experiences, and learn how to handle them in a more mature way.
All content has been edited for clarity.
There Has To Be An Easier Way Than That
“30 seconds after I had instructed a certain former employee not to use our metalworker to punch hardened steel I heard a loud bang. I knew what it was immediately. The sound of the machine is distinct. The sound of mild steel being punched is distinct. I only heard one of those sounds before the bang.
I went back to the metal worker and could see the die was broken. The employee had tried to punch hardened steel and luckily the die didn’t come flying out and hit someone. The lathe operator pointed towards the tool bench. I looked and there was the piece of hardened steel. The employee walked back in from a piece of mild steel and claimed the die had broken on the mild steel. ‘on that piece of mild steel?’ I asked. ‘yup’ he replied. There was no mark on the steel. If he did break the die on the mild steel there would be marks.
I told him to grab his lunch pail and leave. His services were no longer required.
I didn’t know about it until later, The lathe operator told me the guy didn’t like running the punch…so that is why he broke it. So he could do something else.
It gets better. The former employee keyed the side of the lathe operator’s car when he left. We had it on video. The lathe operator was a frugal guy and he laughed when he told me that the only reason he could tell his car had been keyed was that the only patch of faded paint left on his 1980 Cutlass Supreme had been marked. I asked him if I could pay for the damage and he laughed. He said a can of Tremclad was worth more than his entire car.
I did show the local constabulary the video of the keying. They went to the former employee’s house to tell him he had been videotaped keying someone’s car. The owner of the car was not pressing charges. I wish they had told the guy he was too stupid to have a job if he didn’t see the cameras on the building in the 2 years he worked for us and the big sign that says the area is under video surveillance.”
Sounds Like A Fun Workplace
“I was a temp and had been with this company for about 6 months. The longest a temp had lasted before me was 2 months. The shortest was a girl who started her first day then at 11 am said she was going to get a coffee, went straight to our temping agency, and quit.
Our boss was a b*tch. She made every day painful.
One day, I was having gallstone issues, and had just vomited and she walked into the bathroom at some point. I came out of the stall and was shocked to see her and embarrassed that she would have heard me. I didn’t speak to her due to vomit breath but smiled and nodded as I washed my hands.
I get back to my desk and my phone rings. It’s the temp agency, I need to come in straight away (they were just 2 floors down from the company I was working with) so I went and gargled some mouthwash and went to see them.
I was fired for not saying hello to my boss in the bathroom.
Yep, she was that petty.”
Yep That’s A Crime
“We had a guy who was maybe 26 years old that was just a complete a*shole. We shall call him Matt (not his real name either). He was lazy, always half-a*ses anything he was working on, and never would take responsibility for any of his mistakes. He was a spoiled punk, period. He was a good-looking guy and came from an upper-middle-class family where you could tell he was raised to never be wrong, and never had to work for anything. Picture one of the guys from Jersey Shore, the TV show.
Well, Matt got p*ssed off one day when he got turned down for a promotion, which wasn’t surprising. It was becoming apparent his days at the company were limited as more and more people became aware of his lazy work ethic, and got tired of his attitude. I’m fairly certain Matt knew his days were numbered as well.
So what does Matt do? He returns to his cubicle and sends out an email company-wide resigning, but with some photos attached that had the company buzzing and people freaking out.
Apparently, he had hooked up with the owner’s granddaughter the summer of the year before she graduated when she was home visiting family for a break. The photos he sent out company-wide? They were extremely explicit photos of her, alone and doing things with him.
This d*ckhead was so petty he tried to ruin the reputation of a girl that had nothing to do with his promotion denial, all because she was the owner’s granddaughter.”
That’s Just A Waste
“All the programmers in the office took turns making pots of coffee throughout the day, in an ad hoc, informal rotation.
One particular programmer was unhappy about the arrangement. He felt he was always setting up the coffee maker on its brewing cycle, and while he waited at his desk for the coffee to be ready, he thought the other programmers would ‘swoop in’ and pour all the coffee for themselves.
He felt there was never any coffee left for him, even though he was the one who had gone to the trouble of making all the coffee, which others had selfishly taken.
One day he became fed up, and after he started the coffee maker brewing, he stood by as the pot slowly filled.
When the coffee was ready, he poured himself the first cup.
And then he poured the remaining coffee down the sink.
That was at my first post-graduate job. And the pettiest thing I saw in a 35-year software career.
Programmers aren’t known for their ‘people skills.'”
I Wonder If She Ever Did Any Actual Work
“I’ll call her ‘Sue.’ Sue was the worst co-worker I ever had. I tried to avoid her as much as possible because she told long, rambling stories that edged on the incoherent, and every single topic related back to her grandson.
Me: ‘Can I borrow your tape dispenser?’
Sue: ‘Johnny found our tape dispenser last week!’ [Followed by a twenty-minute story about the kid putting tape on stuff.]
‘Did you get the monthly report finished?’
‘Did I tell you? Johnny got his report card at preschool!’ [Followed by a twenty-minute monologue about each grade and why he got it.]
She was not a person who could take hints, no matter how blunt. I could look around, look at my watch, and edge my way out the door, but she would follow me and continue to talk.
I started taking the long way through the building to avoid passing Sue’s desk. I would hide in other parts of the building to do my work so she couldn’t find me and tell me the latest thing Johnny had done. (Years later, talking to another co-worker, I found out that she did the same things to avoid Sue.) She got pushier in response.
Eventually, I got sharp with her, cutting her off in mid-sentence and saying I had something I had to do immediately and scurrying away before she could reply. I have no excuse for this other than self-defense. I couldn’t take it anymore.
One day, she cornered me and insisted she had to tell me this story because it was so hilarious. I can’t even remember what it was about, but it starred Johnny and the punchline was that someone said, ‘This is nuts!’
I stared at her for a moment and said something like ‘Yeah, that’s really funny. I’ve got to go get a paper for [boss.]’
Boss actually came to find me and ask me what was up with Sue. I said I couldn’t stand there and listen to her Johnny stories all day. The boss told me she had gone to him to complain that I hadn’t laughed at her funny story and I wouldn’t talk to her.
Mind you, my boss knew about Sue so I wasn’t in trouble, but she tried to get me disciplined! I was flabbergasted by that.”
No One Likes A Tattle Tale
“One former co-worker, let’s call her Karen, who was, you know the type; ran to the manager over the slightest hint of an infraction. This was in a hospital and I sometimes wore T-shirts with the hospital logo. Out comes an email from the manager that ‘someone’ had complained to her saying she didn’t think we were allowed to wear those t-shirts. The manager quoted the official policy, which I was aware of, which said no logos were allowed. But why on earth, I figured, would that include the facility‘s own logo? I kept on wearing them and never heard another peep, but I’m sure it p*ssed Karen off to no end. Karen, if you’re reading this, I know you’re the one who shut down the baby pool, too, which I had already cleared with the manager.”
That Couldn’t Have Been A Coincidence
“I was on a team working mortgages in the crash period of 2008. Bad times but they had us working A+ paper.
We were not assigned a pipeline which is the usual way the industry worked. They taught everyone a step in the process as if we were putting Pontiacs together. But it worked.
One woman got possessive and kept files to herself. She was told not to but did. I worked on one she had ‘touched’ before and she threw a fit. I told her we were told to ‘work everything’ and I did. She slapped the file on my desk instead of the common pile and walked away.
She had previously gotten angry at me because she did not know Michigan was in the Eastern Time Zone.
I’m no rat but I reported it to the boss before she would make up a story as I am sure she was the type to do so.
We all got laid off 1 day later.”
Yeah That’s Just Insecurity
“I had just started my job and noticed what I thought was a typo on a senior manager’s profile. I mentioned it to his secretary. She told me he would really appreciate it if I emailed him and let him know, and strongly encouraged me to do so. I was not yet aware of her lack of basic office skills (including basic typing and saving a document to a flash drive), insecurities, and severe jealousy.
She replied and cc’d the manager that it was not a typo and it was inappropriate for me to do that. What?! My heart just sank. Fortunately, I was able to foster a strong working relationship with the manager, and he was aware of what she had done out of her own insecurity. He became a good mentor for me moving forward in my career when his secretary was unable to progress in hers.”
Nice One Bill
“I was a department head at the power company. Bill, one of my direct reports, thought he should have gotten my job. After workers had slaved all night analyzing outages, I took breakfast orders and picked up breakfast for everyone from a nice 24-hour restaurant. Steak and eggs, whatever they wanted. I parked by the door and ran upstairs with everyone’s breakfast, then went to move my car. When I got back three minutes later, everyone was chowing down. But Bill had given my breakfast, with my name on it, to someone who wandered in and hadn’t even worked all night, telling him it was an ‘extra.’ Thanks, Bill.”