'If you can’t do it my way, don’t do it at all': Boss reprimands obnoxious coworker over not being a team player after employee maliciously complies with her demands

Sometimes, the only way to communicate to an obnoxious coworker that they are acting out of line is to do absolutely nothing. This can be a challenge to actually follow through, but if you're able to sit back and let a bad idea manifest itself, it's the best way to prove that your coworker has no idea what they're talking about.

In this instance, we have a supposedly more seasoned employee who would only collaborate with the author of this story, who was a new hire at the time, provided that the author does exactly as the other employee says and that she follows her exact methodology. Of course, any sane human being knows that people tackle their deadlines and to-do lists differently. As long as the work gets done and as long as one's methodology isn't actively inconveniencing other people, the way in which people choose to get things done should be left up to them.

However, this coworker had the audacity to insist that the author apply her way of doing things despite the fact that they made absolutely no sense. She even went so far as to declare that she would rather the author do nothing at all if it meant that she couldn't follow her methodology. So… that's just what the author decided to do.

Naturally, a collaborative project came up, and the author chose to do no work. After all, her work was only going to be critiqued to shreds if she did anything. In the end, nothing got done. When their boss got involved and demanded answers, the author was prepared to tell the truth about what exactly went wrong here. Keep scrolling below for the full exchange and for the subsequent consequences!

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"Coworker said 'If you can’t do it my way, don’t do it at all.' So I didn’t."

via Resume Genius

_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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This story just goes to show that compromise is a key part of collaboration. You would think that this would not need to be emphasized to a fully grown adult, but unfortunately, that's exactly what this coworker needed to hear. People are inevitably going to have different working styles. You don't have to adopt their way of doing things if it doesn't make sense to you, but you do have to respect and, at the very least, attempt to work alongside someone else's potentially radically different approach. That's the only way things are going to get done in an office!
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