‘We have the exact same job position, I’m not her helper’: 67-year-old coworker treats her peer like a “little helper,” publicly corrects every move, driving her millennial colleague to the brink quitting

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jun 18, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Every office has a legendary morale sink, but few rise to the level of the 67-year-old workplace oracle whose greatest skill is rebranding everyday tasks as grievous professional errors. Here we have a classic: the Queen of Complaint herself, who believes anything invented after the fax machine is witchcraft and that "saving a file" is a sacred ritual best left to her personal commandments. She lords over the shared printer with the grace of a DMV clerk missing her lunch break, issuing public verdicts on her colleague's email login procedures as if the fate of civilization is at stake.  

Advertisement

  • My 67 year old coworker is destroying my will to live.

    "Anything not done her way is 'wrong' according to her"
    via Milan Markovic

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

  • My 67 year old coworker is destroying my will to live.
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • She's negative, complains about everything, anything not done her way is "wrong" according to her.
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • Cheezburger Image 10518480640
    via Dianne Gralnick

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

  • Nothing triggers this office energy vampire quite like a millennial with a slightly more efficient way of doing things, which, in her mind, is just another opportunity to declare logging into Chrome a moral failing. Any chance to supervise, she’s there, checklist in hand. Any chance to correct, she’s front and center, audience assembled. Her pièce de résistance: constantly demoting her peer to “little helper” while occupying the exact same job title, conveniently forgetting that Napoleon never promoted his hat.  

  • Like when I first started working there she'd tell me I was opening chrome wrong, or logging in to my emails wrong, or saving a file
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • wrong just because I might do it a different (and usually simpler) way than she would. I'm an '86 millennial with a university
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • 101
    via maltero

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

  • degree, I know how to save a computer file. She will constantly check I have done tasks correctly, and call me out for doing things
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • "wrong" any chance she gets, especially if she can do it in front of colleagues. She refers to me as her "little helper" (we have the
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • exact same job position, I ain't her helper). She is also a massive "one-upper". If I'm cold, she is colder. If I had a busy weekend,
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • hers was busier. If both of my legs suddenly fell off, she would find a way to make it about her and how she has it worse.
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • I like to think that I'm a pretty tolerant and understanding person, but this lady is starting to make me question that, along with my sanity, and intellect.
    via Signal-Medium-3737
  • Puzzleheaded_Ant6653 Sounds like she may feel threantend by you, possabily taking over her job or some sh
    via Puzzleheaded_Ant6653
  • SpartanUnderscore Threatened with what? She is almost 70 years old
    via SpartanUnderscore

  • A day at work becomes a competitive sport, where every story, shiver, and inconvenience must be one-upped by her own tragic anecdote. Freezing? She’s glaciers. Swamped? She’s Noah’s ark. Missing limbs? She’s already hopped fifteen miles on one.  

  • Livid Cable_2723 Some people wrap themselves up in their work world because they lack meaning in their personal lives. This woman probably
    via Livid_Cable_2723
  • has a very small support system outside of work so she has to prop up herself at work. She has to make herself feel important and because she probably has
    via Livid_Cable_2723
  • driven away family and friends in her personal life. While she may be infuriating to deal with, try to look at it more from a humanitarian
    via Livid_Cable_2723
  • perspective. Realize she's probably hurting and doesn't have much in life. While it may be frustrating listening to her constant arrogance, it may be best to try to distance yourself best
    via Livid_Cable_2723
  • you can. My girl would often bring in a single headphone and listen to music in one ear while working with the other ear. Best of luck with this woman, it sounds like she's really hurting.
    via Livid_Cable_2723

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

Tags

management boss workplace-stories hr manager bosses work PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
Scroll Down For The Next Article