'I made my coworkers’ favorite snacks disappear': Employee gets back at coworkers after getting constantly criticized and interrupted

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 17, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

When someone at work decides they don't like you for no reason, there usually is not much you can do to change their mind. You can try to reason with them or find common ground, but nine times out of ten, these are unreasonable people with a high school mentality. If they meet you with pettiness, sometimes the only thing you can do in return is to be petty right back.

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/pettyrevenge subreddit by u/MercerAcolyte42, who discovered her coworkers' complete distaste for her personality after their office lunch. Essentially, even during minor interactions like small talk, these two coworkers have a habit of critiquing every little thing the Redditor says. This ranges from work-related discussions to conversations about favorite movies and shows. It doesn't matter what the original poster's opinion is, chances are these two coworkers will find a reason to interrupt her mid-sentence, reject her position on something, or simply ignore everything she's saying. 

As we said, when this kind of dynamic forms, there isn't much you can do to change the minds of the people who have decided they despise you for literally no good reason. So how did this Redditor combat this? Well, she figured out what their favorite snacks were and made sure that they slowly but surely started to disappear from the office kitchenette. 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions in the comments section. When you're done, check out this post about three employees who banded together and quit simultaneously. 

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  • 01
    "I'll find ways to make the snack disappear"
    via Jason Goodman
  • 02
    Petty Revenge: I Made My Coworkers' Favorite Snacks Disappear For Over a Year Let me start by saying I L-O-V-E my job. The location, the benefits, what I do, and MOST of my coworkers. We're a medium- sized tech company, and our office is within walking distance from my home,
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 03
    and we're in my home city. I know my home city has plenty of problems, but I still love it to death as it is full of such wonderful memories for me, and I vastly prefer it over the other places I have lived around the country. During lunches, we all eat together in our office. I'm a person who has always struggled socially due to difficulties communicating, but I try to make an effort with small talk since people tend to like me more if they've gotten accustomed to my antics (yeah, I know, not i
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 04
    Two of my coworkers, though, seem to be in it to rain on my parade for everything I say. They constantly on the city, saying it's overrun with crime (it's not), the food is bad, the attractions, esp. if I ever mention something I like about it. No other thing I enjoy is safe from such conversation: the books I like, the food I enjoy, the movies I watch, the cartoons/anime I binge, they always find a reason to all over it, even if they brought up the topic and asked me what I liked. In their eyes
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 05
    One of them also will walk up whenever I'm telling a story and just loudly interrupt to ask a question to whomever I'm talking to. I'm definitely not good when it comes to interruption, and am working on improving my control, but this is just to an extent that I find . If I did that to someone, I'd hope they call me out on it, but I'm too cowardly to do so since I'm all too aware of how many social faux pas I commit on a daily basis.
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 06
    So none of this is anything I can really do much about to make it stop, at least not without causing myself to lose a lot more in the process. So I've started resorting to subtle sabotage & mind-fuckery to get some payback at these coworkers to make myself feel better. Our office is across the street from a grocery store where we buy snacks 2x a week. Whenever we do so, 3-5 of us go and get snacks for the whole office. I've noticed that these two coworkers enjoyed some snacks that no one else se
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 07
    About a year ago, whenever I was on one of these grocery runs I'd wait until they grabbed their preferred snacks and put them in the cart, then when no one was looking I'd throw them back onto the shelves. I know that these two coworkers often mentally go to another dimension when I start talking, so I'll start droning about some BS topic that I don't care about so they'll tune me out, then jerky & cheese are gone. the
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 08
    If I'm not doing the grocery run, I'll wait until they get back and the rest of us are helping put the snacks in the office fridge/cabinets, then I'll find ways to make the snacks disappear. Sometimes I'll just tuck them away and eat them before anyone else gets a chance. Sometimes I'll give them to the office on the floor below as a gift. Sometimes if I'm working late
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 09
    until the office cleaning people arrive, I'll give it to them while striking up a conversation. Literally anything to ensure that those two coworkers don't get their snacks. They've definitely noticed the absence, but I'm subtle enough that they haven't figured out its me. To leave some false breadcrumbs away from myself, I've made it so that sometimes when I'm one of the people shopping for groceries but they are not, their snacks arrive safely. Neither one thinks a person is doing it. At first
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 10
    This has been going on for just over a year, with their specific snacks disappearing about 75% of the time. I know I'm a person for this, but its my perfect little revenge for these coworkers who also inconvenience me in such a harmless yet hurtful way.
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 11
    This _Is_Beanz . 16 hr. ago TLDR, OP secretly removes annoying coworkers snacks from the office and they get upset. Fun little game you're playing. Glad it makes you feel better, they sound like AH. How long do you think you can keep going? 342 Reply Share
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 12
    MercerAcolyte42 OP. 16 hr. ago Indefinitely. I wasn't joking when I said they go to another dimension when I'm talking sometimes. The second time I did it, they were looking at me when I put the jerky on the shelf but didn't notice because they were so checked out. I joke to myself that my social ineptness is a superpower since it sometimes makes me invisible when I want to be :) 314 Reply Share
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 13
    Jboyes 14 hr. ago If the interruptions continue: "Excuse me. Did you mean to put the beginning of your sentence in the middle of mine?"
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 14
    MercerAcolyte42 OP 13 hr. ago Next time it happens, if I was saying something important, I am 100% going to clap back with this response. Thx!!!
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 15
    JetScreamerBaby - 15 hr. ago You should try the 'Ghost Mouse' trick. When no one is around, put a wireless USB mouse dongle in a slot at the rear of their PC, and keep the mouse in a junk drawer at your desk. Then once in a while, give the mouse a little jiggle...
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 16
    MercerAcolyte42 OP 13 hr. ago LOL I wish I could do that but they'd see through it instantly; everyone in the office is extremely tech savy.
    via u/MercerAcolyte42
  • 17
    coco_puffzzzz. 15 hr. ago Brilliant. I love it. You could leave some empty wrappers in or near their garbage cans for the other to find... maybe if one is off sick? Make them turn against each other. I did something similar once to a whiny baby who sat near a photocopier - people kept borrowing her stapler, I made it happen more often. So cathartic. I would stop giving them to the office staff downstairs as someone else pointed out - they may out you.
    via u/MercerAcolyte42

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terrible coworkers workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace petty-revenge-reddit job work coworkers petty revenge petty reddit thread Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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