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

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 31, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

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, they have myriad little tiny ways of getting under everyone's skin. 

At times, people just aren't aware of how other people may interpret their actions — like the people who love to microwave smelly food and let the aroma flow through the whole office. Others are more malignant, and will purposefully do their job so poorly that everyone else has to work harder to keep up with them. Management tends to be blissfully unaware of these people! So if you have a terrible coworker that you have to deal with, know that you're not alone — clearly, tons of other people are rolling their eyes at their fellow workers' antics as well. 

After that, check out a petty revenge story. 

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  • 01
    Font - 'He picked up the nickname "Thanksgiving dinner guy" for using the break room (full kitchen) to cook entire meals that wouldn't be out of place at a family gathering.'
    via Benjamin Child on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - r/AskReddit Posted by u/Fruntledumjam 34 34 20 39 39 Who was your coworker from h?
    via u/Fruntledumjam
  • 03
    Font - KingStowey One day, my shift manager rewarded us for getting through the rush with free milkshakes from next door...I was so happy, and couldn't wait to drink mine. I went out on a delivery (I work at a pizza joint) before I could drink the shake, so I put my name on it in sharpie and put it in the fridge. When I came back, I saw my co worker drinking it. Dude makes eye contact and finishes it right in front of me...jeeeezzzz
    via u/KingStowey
  • 04
    Font - Yo garfodie81 I fully acknowledge there are far worse things, but she microwaved salmon.
    via u/garfodie81
  • 05
    Font - mcderson9. S Had a colleague who genuinely enjoyed seeing people not do well and enjoyed when people felt uncomfortable. She's very manipulative, and is actually quite good at it. She would ask you questions and sympathize with whatever you've got going on, only to turn around and tell everyone what you just confessed to her.
    via u/mcderson9
  • 06
    Font - After about 2-3 months with the company, if she hasn't already somehow screwed you over, you've heard enough about her to know that if you don't want the rest of the room to find out, then you don't tell her. Yeah, I'm talking about you Carolina.
    via u/mcderson9
  • 07
    Font - Niblek 30 S We had a sysadmin who would come to work and run his real estate business from his desk while he was supposed to be working. The whole time coughing and sneezing and sniffling constantly. We called him "Itchy". He would also call friends and family and have hours long conversations with them while we all had to listen.
    via u/Niblek
  • 08
    Font - He picked up the nickname "Thanksgiving dinner guy" for using the break room (full kitchen) to cook entire meals that wouldn't be out of place at a family gathering. One of the offices in another wing had a sheet by the door for people to log when they saw him and what he was cooking that day. He didn't like any of us (the feeling was mutual) and left books like "Jerks at work." on his desk. When he finally got fired, they found out he never did any of his sysadmin work. No backups, no pa
    via u/Niblek
  • 09
    Font - [deleted] She almost got me fired because she wanted to find the weakest looking guy to be her little errand boy. When I told her politely to go screw herself, she told HR that I had been taking work out of her queue in the system. It wasn't a very good lie though, because why would I want to do more work than I have to? I even said this to HR in the disciplinary meeting.
    via u/deleted
  • 10
    Font - figaro-il-gatto Girl I worked with when I was a personal shopper. She tried to get me fired a couple of times because she saw I was moving up faster than her. We both got sent to work at a different location for a couple of months and she went around bad-mouthing me to anyone who would listen, so they thought I was a si employee and she was amazing. I proved myself with my work ethic and they realized she was a liar and it definitely changed their opinion of her.
    via u/figaro-il-gatto
  • 11
    Font - I ended up going to a different location and when she went back to our original location she continued to say horrid things about me. My co- workers took my side and called her out on her BS. She left not long after on a bad note with them.
    via u/figaro-il-gatto
  • 12
    Font - es adoptdontshop1 I work with a woman who is threatened by other women, especially if they are younger and have more education than her. She consistently tries to discourage women from furthering their education, and constantly tries to get women she is threatened by fired. She is a godd nightmare. Edit: after reading the comments, I am so sad to see that so many people have dealt with the same issue. I hope that you are all in better work environments now, or will be soon.
    via u/adoptdontshop1
  • 13
    Font - ralo229 I used to work part time at a shipping warehouse and at one point, we ended up hiring this sixteen year old kid. He made a ton of mistakes that we ended up having to fix for him, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first just because he was new. But not only did he never learn from his k-ups, but he was incredibly lazy and lacked any self- awareness. There were instances where he was given a task, but then he'd either d around on his phone most of the
    via u/ralo229
  • 14
    Font - time, hide out in the bathroom for like forty- five minutes and then hoped we wouldn't notice, or just whine to my supervisor that he didn't want to do whatever he was assigned. Because of that, he would often take half the day to do like thirty minutes of work and would then complain that he had too much work piled on top of him. It was ridiculous. He lasted maybe a month before my supervisor let him go.
    via u/ralo229
  • 15
    Font - Jackson_Wills Had a co-worker who always gossiped about others and would say horrible things about everyone in the office. It created a super toxic culture and caused many people to leave, not because they didn't like the work, they just hated the culture.
    via u/Jackson_Wills
  • 16
    Font - charlie2135 32 3 Had an assistant who plotted to get me fired and take my job. Some of my workers let me know because he tried to get them onboard with him. Eventually, due to politics I was demoted but asked to be put on the shift relieving him (we would work 12 hour shifts on weekends). After being relieved by phone a couple of times (against the rules) I intentionally came in 4 hours early and he was no where on site. I still got a call from him when he should have relieved me like he
    via u/charlie2135
  • 17
    Font - NedRed77 We had a middle aged lady that smelled like tuna. I was a manager and had to send her home one particularly hot day. I also had to put her chair outside after she left as it still smelled. It was such a shame as she was a really nice lady. She just fing stank.
    via u/NedRed77
  • 18
    Font - 01 Illidariislove a few years back at my old job we hired a web developer who on her first day on the job yelled at our CTO cause her mouse didnt work. she proceeded to be not just inpleasant but actively hostile to everyone she interacted with. I came in one morning at like 7am cause i needed to test some stuff and saw her at her desk eating a box of 711 wings and chugging a 2litre diet coke. she then threw the box of bones into a bin and missed, spilling it everywhere and she yelled rea
    via u/Illidariislove
  • 19
    Font - office. we all gave her the benefit of the doubt of extreme anti social programmer personality or maybe had personal problems to deal with and everyone tried to be nice. the last straw was when she berrated at the most beloved guy in the office, one of the IT personnel that everyone liked, and she gave him a sort of school master style talking down to infront of the whole office cause her internet was slow. she was fired within like 2 weeks of hiring. also she smelled like old eggs and mi
    via u/Illidariislove
  • 20
    Font - mint_jewel_lips This one coworker changed how I approached working. I was in the workforce for a decade when I decided to take a job with a very small, woman-owned company. It was just the owner and two employees, myself included. I worked my off and was very successful the first few months. And soon the other employee started to brazenly slack off, eventually calling in often (with what became the lamest excuses), weekly. Once she was out for almost a month al because of a vague family i
    via u/mint_jewel_lips
  • 21
    Font - Our boss was so lenient because my coworker had been there for years. I ended up working harder and extra hours (even weekends) to keep our clients happy and the business going strong, which I so realized just enabled my coworker's sh iness. I quickly burned out, got the h out, and never let any person or business ever exploit me and take advantage of me ever again. F you, Becca.
    via u/mint_jewel_lips
  • 22
    Font - 3 Say Co CatPawSoup S KC. KC forgot to show up for her interview, but was somehow still hired. KC seemed to have all the signs of adhd, and admitted she probably did, but her dad was a doctor and said it wasn't a real thing so she never got treatment. KC told long, rambling stories about things no one cared about, and would try to read personal items in your purse. KC worked the late rotation after the supervisors left, and would just read fan fiction leaving everyone else to work the joi
    via u/CatPawSoup
  • 23
    Font - KC bounced on a rubber exercise ball that squeaked. Everyone got theirs taken away because KC fell off hers and they were deemed a safety hazard. KC would kick her shoes off and rub her fingers between her bare toes at her desk. After everyone left, KC would raid their candy jars and snack drawers with her toe hands. The only nice thing the evil supervisor ever did was fire KC.
    via u/CatPawSoup
  • 24
    Font - bstyledevi throwaways, I hope F he sees this. I have a coworker right now that is his own special blend of h. For the record, I work in sales at a warehouse. Here's a list of some of his finer qualities: When the phone rings, he will literally put his hand on the receiver, stare at the caller ID, then look around the room to see if anyone else will answer it before he does. Doesn't matter how busy we are, he does this with Every. Single. Call. If a customer walks in the door, he tries to
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 25
    Font - So let's say he does engage the customer who walked in? Oh now he wants to answer all the phone calls that come in while he's supposed to be helping the guy WHO IS LITERALLY STANDING DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HIM. If its not a big order? He doesn't care. You ordered one thing that costs $15? He just forgets about it. Then when the customer calls back to complain, he just acts like he never talked to them. Oh, and did I forget that he won't look the product up himself? He makes the customer fin
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 26
    Font - Oh, that other customer called and talked to you, and you offered him product X for $200? When that customer calls back, if he gets the call, he will offer them the same product for $190, just so he can steal the sale from you. He constantly eats. Candy, chips, cupcakes, cookies, tacos, pop tarts, chili, you name it. This wouldn't normally be too bad, except when he eats, he doesn't work. This also has a separate side effect: he is heavy, but its all upper body weight, which means when he
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 27
    Font - He is somehow completely computer illiterate, even though he sits in front of the d thing for 10 hours a day. He actively refuses to learn new things or organization tactics for using the computer. An example: a customer calls up and asks for a copy of an invoice. In our program, you can generate a PDF copy to email directly to the customer without ever getting up. No, he's old school: he prints the invoice, walks across the room, puts it in the scanner, scans it, saves the scanned copy a
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 28
    Cheezburger Image 9769283072
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 29
    Font - and done them for him at that point because they're tired of waiting. He leaves handwritten notes for you to call customers back, but his handwriting is so bad you can't read what he wrote. He writes down account numbers that end up looking like line noise. For some reason, when there's just two of us in the office, he thinks that's the right time to make a long personal call about a hospital bill, or a call to his bank, or checking on parts he ordered online. So I end up doing all the wo
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 30
    Font - He won't ever actually ask for people to do things. Hypothetical: Instead of turning on a light switch, or asking someone to turn on a light switch, he would just sit there and say "man, kinda dark in here. Wish someone could get that light." Then he just stares at everyone else waiting for them to turn on the light. If there's a problem, he won't do anything about it. You need a return or exchange? Sorry, he doesn't care. Something defective? Don't call him, you'll never get an answer, m
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 31
    Font - I dread going to work every day just because I don't want to clean up after his bulls messes he leaves for customers every day.
    via u/bstyledevi
  • 32
    Font - lornstar7 2 yr. ago It's a close tie. 1st was the store manager who was supposed to be training me to get my own store but somehow decided I was a threat and proceeded to try and screw me over and and actively put a hamper on my training. 2nd was a dude who actively sandbagged his sales numbers in all categories except for one (to the detriment of his commission checks) so he could get praise in the district.
    via u/lornstar7
  • 33
    Font - TheRealOcsiban There was this one guy who had terrible breath, and he never shut up. Would seriously come over to your desk and talk nonstop about bulls for what seemed like forever. The whole time you're sitting there smelling his terrible breath, and of course on top of that he's never doing any actual work. Luckily he was eventually fired, but my company was one of those companies that took forever to fire someone
    via u/TheRealOcsiban
  • 34
    Font - Anne Frank_nstein oh i got one for you guys So i worked in sty gas station. I had a coworker we'll call "Jenny". Jenny was on "light duty" as ordered by her dr when i first started working there. Her injury was a heel spur and she never missed an opportunity to complain about it. She wasnt supposed to lift more than like 30 pounds or stand for more then a half hour at a time. Not a big deal right?
    via u/Anne Frank_nstein
  • 35
    Font - First time i came in to relieve her from a shift was a busy friday afternoon. She had two full pages of her coloring book colored in and thought it would be cute to write that on our task list for the day under "additional tasks completed"...alright, annoying but shes youngish. What do you really expect from a 20 something year old with a medical issue? Over time her antics became more and more ridiculous. A stray dog wandered over to the station and she brought it inside. Let it wander a
    via u/Anne Frank_nstein
  • 36
    Font - those things on the task list as if it were part of her job.... The thing that really drove home for me how useless this girl was was when the assistant manager finally told her she couldnt bring her coloring books to work anymore. She'd been off light duty for months but continued sitting at the desk coloring during all her shifts while neglecting all her cleaning duties. She cried and walked out mid shift when she was told and then filed a complaint with corporate claiming she was being
    via u/Anne Frank_nstein
  • 37
    Font - Q S fridayj1 This woman who hated me and always had to be better than me. It was awful. First time I have ever cried at work. One day, I caught her in a bold-faced lie. I had taken a day off. She said when I returned that the boss had asked questions about where I had been on my day off. My boss knew exactly where I had been (I knew because I had told her), so I knew this was a lie and she was just being nosy.
    via u/fridayj1
  • 38
    Font - Called her out, she had no response but tears about how I was mean to her (?), it was very satisfying to see her caught in a lie by the boss after years of lying to and manipulating her coworkers.
    via u/fridayj1
  • 39
    Font - ThePowerOfGeek On a contract job, I had to share a small cube with one of the most grattingly rude and obnoxious a s I have ever met. Even worse, she insisted on sitting on a huge yoga ball in there and rocking back and forth on it, so she was constantly bumping into my chair. She also constantly smacked her lips while eating, and she was always eating. I'm pretty sure the yoga ball and annoying eating habits were to try to force me quit so she could have the entire cube to herself. But a
    via u/ThePowerOfGeek
  • 40
    Font - Eventually I went to my manager to beg him to move me. And by then he had heard all about her terrible habits and shy attitude from other people. So he moved me as a kindness. I don't think she stayed there too much longer anyway, as by then she had pi ed off most of the people she came into contact with.
    via u/ThePowerOfGeek

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