'So I blocked her': Judgmental office Karen gets blackballed from company files after scrutinizing the security officer's tactics, so he password locks everythin

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Dec 9, 2024 9:00 AM EST

This security officer was tired of getting scrutinized by the office Karen–and apparently, so was everybody else–so he got payback by maliciously complying with her latest nitpicky request.

Nobody likes a micromanager at work, especially when alleged 'constructive criticism' comes from someone who has no business in your department. As if an outsider could do your job better than you can, right? However, we've all encountered our fair share of office Karens. For some reason, Karens feel entitled (or perhaps pridefully compelled) to touch everyone's work lives in the office… in a bad way. In the case of the security officer in our next story, his personal Karen became the bane of his existence when she started scrutinizing the way he worked, commenting on his 'colossal pitfalls,' which were just company policies that he'd followed for nearly a decade. 

Well, if you don't like the way things go around here, have it your way! 

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  • 01
    D PASSWORD *********
    via natasaadic

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Judge me doing my job, eh? S TL;DR passive aggressive bu y at work questioned how everyone does their job, so I did mine and blocked her access.
    via Armored_Souls
  • 03
    I work an office job in charge of finance for a European company. There's this mean single woman reaching her 50s at work that always feels the need and privilege to judge everyone else. Her
    via Armored_Souls
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    judging ranges from anything to how people do their jobs, their personal life choices, and even their personality and what they wear. The economy has been tough recently and pressure is high
    via Armored_Souls
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    within the team, and this has manifested into lots of friction and complaints in all directions, mostly coming from her. One of the many complaints directed at me was that I
    via Armored_Souls
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    wasn't protecting our sensitive data enough, saving our monthly reports in a sharedrive for others to access. It has been this way for decades before I joined and no one was any issues with it, with the said sensitive
    via Armored_Souls
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    data often printed out and stuck on walls anyway. Normally I just ignore the complaints and carry on my work, as both me and my boss are good at ignoring noisy complaints with no
    via Armored_Souls
  • 08
    reasoning behind. But this time I decided to maliciously comply, and now have set unique passwords for each and every file with remotely sensitive data. Now not only does she need to keep track of all the passwords I've set,
    via Armored_Souls
  • 09
    she also now has no access to some data that me and my boss decided was no longer appropriate for her to see, including what budget we have for some of her operating expenses, and now require proof of said costs otherwise that budget is gone.
    via Armored_Souls
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    Coder Joel If she leaves her computer unlocked, change her password while she's away.
    via CoderJoe1
  • 11
    EJ_Drake Set a policy requiring password change on a weekly basis, disallow previous used passwords.
    via EJ_Drake
  • 12
    ActurusMajoris You lack imagination, here's what you do: • Take a screenshot of the desktop, showing all the icons. • Hide all the icons. Flip the screenshot 180 degrees in an editor.
    via ActurusMajoris
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    • Put the screenshot as desktop background. Flip the screen 180 (in settings, not physically). Desktop now looks like normal, but you can't click on anything, and the mouse moves the wrong way. Enjoy.
    via ActurusMajoris
  • 14
    cperiod Back in the day, I changed a co-workers entire color scheme to black. Only black. Black text, icons, background, foreground, cursors... Everything on the screen was black.
    via cperiod
  • 15
    killallhumans12345 These responses all have a bitter anti-boomer feel to them. Maybe try to befriend the woman and try to figure out why she behaves like she does and show some compassion.
    via killallhumans12345
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    Maybe she is going through a rough period and just needs someone to talk to. If you all truly behave this way at work, you might just deserve the toxic environment you have added to.
    via killallhumans12345
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    subnautus Respectfully, no. It's not worth the effort. I'll provide a personal anecdote to explain. I worked with a guy, Army vet from the Transportation Corps, medically discharged after an accident in which he caught fire. You could tell his scars
    via subnautus
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    bothered him, both by simply being there and...well, keloid scars have their own issues. If the small ones I have get tight or itch if my skin gets dry or there's a sudden change in the weather, I can only imagine what a whole patch of them would feel like.
    via subnautus
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    Also, this guy had a mean streak. I can get that: my temper is short when I'm in pain, and from what I understand the long term effects of 3rd degree burns is no picnic. But here's the thing: I'm not petty when I'm in pain. I
    via subnautus
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    don't hound people to find faults in their work, I don't try to report people to my bosses, and I don't engage in back- biting gossip about others to anyone who'll even pretend to listen. He did. It led to his divorce, to no relationship
    via subnautus
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    afterward lasting more than a month, to him being tasked with a job where he was literally relegated to being in a corner in the back room, logging damaged merchandise out of inventory and figuring out if it was salvageable enough to be donated to local charities.
    via subnautus
  • 22
    Simply put, it doesn't matter if there's a backstory to unacceptable behavior. You still have to deal with the consequences for your actions.
    via subnautus
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    Hope Representative29 It is no one else's responsibility to regulate her emotions for her. Having something bad happen in your life could excuse antisocial behavior for a few hours perhaps as they are
    via HopeRepresentative29
  • 24
    still reeling, but no one has any excuse to harass their coworkers because life is hard. Other people go through hard times and don't berate the people around them. In fact many people become more connected with people around when they go through trauma. No one has any excuse for that.
    via HopeRepresentative29

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boss worker employee manager job revenge work coworkers working ceo employees petty supervisor workplace Reddit company coworker business karen
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