'You can answer my calls for a while': Coworker turns the tables when Karen nominates her to be her unwitting assistant

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Nov 23, 2023 9:00 AM EST

Navigating a troublesome coworker in the workplace is a daunting experience. With them creating trouble at every turn and drowning you and your teammates in false reports to managers and HR, it's sometimes hard to know where to turn, constantly treading on broken glass-covered thin ice as you all wait for the coworker to either resign or get fired so that you can all return to a peaceable existence. It's wild how the presence of this one person can turn a team on its head, which kinda makes you realize why, as ridiculous as it is, workplaces can be so emphatically pedantic in their hiring processes.

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  • This worker had one of these coworkers, a Karen, who she had to endure painfully, even from her remote working arrangement. Karen repeatedly falsely claimed leadership over her tasks, referring to her as her assistant and taking credit for her work. This fantasy was shattered for Karen when IT offered the worker a work phone, which Karen already had. Karen regarded this work phone as a symbol of her seniority over her coworker, and so the fact that the worker was getting a phone kind of shattered her delusion of supremacy. Growing ever frustrated with Karen's antics, the worker forwarded her original landline office phone to Karen's cell, turning the tables and making Karen the assistant.

     

  • 01
    Annoying coworker who thinks I'm HER assistant can take ALL my calls My coworker who I'll call Karen (she really IS a Karen) is super nosey and always feels the need to insert herself into situations that have literally nothing to do with her or her job. Karen is not my direct supervisor... That position is currently vacant, but Karen has made it a point to try and score points off my work by insinuating that she is and that everything I do is under her leadership. She has also, more than once s
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 02
    Honestly idc. This is the kind of job where none of us concern ourselves with who gets credit. The gigantic upside is we are fully remote so I don't have to deal with her in person (this is important) Recently the IT folks sent a message that because we were fully remote they want to know if they can ditch our landline numbers. Option a. We didn't have to (some people still do go in the office to work or take in person meetings). Option b. We could ditch it or c. They could send us a work phone.
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 03
    I don't get a ton of calls, but opted for C so as not to have to use my personal number for anything. My actual bosses and the IT people signed off on it. Well when Karen found out she was flabbergasted. She demanded to know why I was getting a phone and who approved it. I told her and then she tried to argue it was too expensive (the IT person already told me it's the same price to maintain the landline). Crazy part is... This woman and her job have literally nothing to do with procurement or b
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 04
    On top of that...SHE has a work phone. So I could not figure out why this was any of her business. She literally brought it up every day for several days until I told her the phone was already being sent to me. The phone arrives, but I notice the landline is still active (I was still receiving voicemails via email) note-- for about a month leading into the whole phone thing, I had been getting a TON of robo calls on my work landline. This is when I decide to get my petty revenge... I
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 05
    forwarded my landline number to her work phone number. The way those phones work all inbound calls just show up on caller ID with the main office number (so that you know it's an outside call). Since you're so concerned Karen you can answer my calls for awhile. It's been a few weeks and she's been complaining about spam calls to her phone-- listening to her be completely annoyed by it has been satisfying. Maybe she should hire an "assistant" to help with that.
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  • 06
    Of note, she has her number listed as the contact on some of our outgoing material so she'll never figure out why all these spammers keep calling.
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  • 07
    failed-celebrity She has also, more than once slipped in conversation and called me her assistant. Honestly idc. This is the kind of job where none of us concern ourselves with who gets credit. Hey OP, I just want to warn you that maybe you want to go to HR about this and nip her in the bud now. I saw something similar happen to a friend of mine where a different guy started asserting himself as the supervisor
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  • 08
    over my friend because there was a position vacancy. The guy was an absolute and my friend hated it but didn't want to rock the boat, so to speak. The company wasn't actively hiring for the position and when they realized they needed a supervisor for my friend's group, they made the other guy the supervisor because he'd already been calling himself that. They figured it was
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 09
    easier to just give him the pay raise because he'd been doing the work. The guy laid my friend off from his job like six months later. OP, if that lady is not your supervisor, don't let her get away with calling herself that. Talk to HR ASAP. 4 1.8k ♡ Reply Share
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  • 10
    Significant-Toe3680 OP I already did, but my HR person was useless and a bit gas lighty and made it seem as if I was overreacting so I'm playing the game...for now. If nothing else I have it on record. I'm actually planning to put in for the vacant space as soon as they officially open it. Edit to add: I'm absolutely positive Karen won't put in for it because her job and that job are not in the same areas and she's working towards retirement 919 Reply Share
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  • 11
    churnbabychurn80 Nice work "calling" her out without her knowing! Too bad it won't stop her from putting her nose where it doesn't belong. 300 Reply Share
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  • 12
    SheWho LovesToDraw Why doesn't anyone with authority remind Karen that you're NOT her assistant? Sounds like grounds for workplace harassment for her constantly doing that and failing to properly handle her own work. 204 Reply Share 57 Eckieflump Quite likely because no one high enough up the food chain to know this knows about Karen's antics. ●●● Reply Share
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  • 13
    Significant-Toe3680 OP. They do. Other people have seen it, but as I mentioned below HR has been useless thus far. ↑ 86 Reply Share
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  • 14
    igankcheetos I had this guy try to pull some with me in a similar manner. We have a ticketing system at my work where we can open bugs and assign them to people or ourselves for our tasks. He was just a coworker at the same level as me, but he would always try to assert himself as the team lead in meetings and even try to get in on interviews of new employees when he had only been at my company for a week.
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 15
    It took me awhile to figure out what he was doing, but his scam was to accept a bug from our queue, then he would write a new bug and assign it to me. Then when I would complete the work, he would just close my bug then respond to the original bug taking credit for fixing the issue.
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 16
    Once I got wise to what he was doing, I started searching his bug queue whenever he would assign me a bug. I would then close the bug he wrote for me, labeling it as a duplicate of the original, then I would wait awhile and then fix the issue, and then respond to the original bug as fixed. So it not only looked like he was lagging on the issues, but it made me look good because it would seem like I fixed the issue as soon as I took ownership of the problem. Eventually he was let go because he wa
    via u/Significant-Toe3680
  • 17
    Zinfandel_Red1914 Well played. I wouldn't keep working with her but if one has to, this is acceptable conduct, fight fire with fire. Want to see her eyes pop out of her face? Tell her you're getting a company car next. ↑ 14 Reply Share
    via u/Significant-Toe3680

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terrible coworkers workplace discussion karens workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance work coworkers petty revenge karen coworker workplace coworker karen employment in the workplace
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