Coworker tries to sabotage hardworking employee, they get revenge by simply doing their job: ‘[Now] she's getting a lot of heat from upper management to perform better’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Jun 7, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Have you ever had that one coworker who stopped at no lengths to make sure your work life was a living nightmare? That no matter what you did to try and be the best colleague you can be, they refused to see you as someone to work with and not against? Sometimes, you can't change the competitive (or immoral) nature of an individual, and you just have to keep swimming while ignoring the sharks out to get you. Easier said than done, of course, but what else can you do? The best revenge is the one that protects your peace the most.

In this next story, an employee's elder colleague repeatedly tries to sabotage their work by acting like they are behind on their tasks. The reality of the situation? Their colleague is trying to set them up for failure and, in turn, make themselves look better in the eyes of upper management. Luckily, the employee catches on very soon after this behavior starts, and ultimately scores big in the end. Scroll to read.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement

  • This employee is not paranoid—it's very clear that their colleague has some weird vendetta against them. These are the type of coworkers you need to look out for; they are the ones who will make sure everyone sinks just so they swim. There is no teamwork, only “me”-work. Of course, each employee should look after their best interests, but it's another issue if they are trying to create problems that don't exist. That is workplace harassment.

  • "The more she tries to sabotage me, the more it makes me want to go above and beyond to really highlight her incompetence."
    via TheStandingDesk for Unsplash

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "I think my boomer coworker has been trying to sabotage me, and I'm getting payback just by doing my job."

    TLDR: my boomer coworker is feeling the heat from upper management and trying to drag me down with her, but it's backfiring.
    via rachaubrey
  • My (35f) boomer coworker (60's/f) has a habit of trying to get me to slack off at work. For context, we both work remote and she's been getting in trouble
    via rachaubrey
  • lately with our higher-ups for poor work quality, claiming it's discrimination because I'm not getting in trouble, only her. But my work is solid and hers is shaky at best all the time.
    via rachaubrey
  • Here is a quick example: I was running slides for an important meeting and right as the meeting started we had a massive storm blow through our area. I chatted
    via rachaubrey
  • her quickly just as an FYI saying "Hey, can you just have the slide deck up and ready in case I lose power?" She agreed. The storm caused no issues, I finished
    via rachaubrey
  • running the slide deck, but, the meeting went over a bit and we were late for a meeting right afterwards. She calls me wanting to talk about the first meeting,
    via rachaubrey
  • and I tell her we can discuss it later since we're late for the next meeting. She immediately tries to get me to just bail on the meeting saying "Well I mean who's to say
    via rachaubrey
  • you didn't lose internet because of the storm and can't go to the meeting?" And I kept saying well I didn't lose internet so I'm going to go grab a cup of coffee and
    via rachaubrey
  • jump into this meeting, but she doubled down and said "Well I think I must have got your storm too so maybe my internet went out too so I guess we're both
    via rachaubrey
  • missing this meeting." And I just hung up with her, got my coffee and went into the meeting and she was there. I found it weird that she was trying so hard to get me to skip it by acting like she was going to skip it, but she went anyway?
    via rachaubrey
  • =84
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Which leads me to the point of this post. We are working on a fairly large report together, we split everything and work on different sections. Once we get
    via rachaubrey
  • the data, we have 2 weeks to complete the report. This coworker would constantly make comments about how much longer it was going to take "us"
    via rachaubrey
  • to finish the tasks, even though there was nothing causing us to fall behind. By Friday afternoon, I was ready to send off my section of the report to be reviewed by
    via rachaubrey
  • our boss. I had told my coworker that I would probably wait until Monday to send it, so it doesn't get buried in the boss' inbox. She told me her stuff wasn't going to be ready until Wednesday.
    via rachaubrey
  • So Monday comes and I send my stuff over to my boss for review. My boomer coworker immediately calls me with an attitude going "Yeah I'm just
    via rachaubrey
  • checking on you to see if everything is good in your neighborhood because we normally send our stuff at the same time." I just told her that my
    via rachaubrey
  • stuff was ready and it doesn't make sense for me to sit on it for two days waiting for her stuff before sending mine. The two items are in no way dependent on
    via rachaubrey
  • each other, completely separate sections, and it's never been a policy that we have to send our stuff to our boss at the same time. Well suddenly she was able to get her stuff out that same day and not Wednesday, so it just feels like she's mad I did it first?
    via rachaubrey
  • I have now officially finished all my tasks for this report and submitted everything up for review, while she's scrambling to get hers done, claiming she's
    via rachaubrey
  • trying to submit them but her files are too big and she's working with IT to fix the problem. (I believe this is just a blatant lie, her file sizes are smaller than mine and I had no issues sending them.)
    via rachaubrey
  • I could list dozens of other examples, but overall it just seems like she's been getting a lot of heat from upper management to perform better,
    via rachaubrey
  • and instead of just performing better, she's trying to bring me down and lower the bar for what the expectation is. Turns out just doing the bare minimum for my
    via rachaubrey
  • job is enough to make her look bad, and the more she tries to sabotage me, the more it makes me want to go above and beyond to really highlight her incompetence.
    via rachaubrey
  • Dos734 This is the "young people. are just lazy and dont want to work" type.
    via Dos734

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

terrible coworkers workplace-stories Professional At Work work coworkers reddit story petty revenge entitled people karma workplace reddit thread Reddit payback entitled people
Scroll Down For The Next Article