‘I finally got a shiny new spine!’: Employee has it with co-worker throwing her under the bus, maliciously complies and gives her a uno reverse

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Nov 10, 2025 10:00 AM EST

Bad employees are going to also complain that they have "bad co-workers." However, we all know that is not the truth. If you are a bad employee, it is inevitable that your co-workers are also going to be "bad" because why would they help you? You're just making their jobs harder for them. This is obvious in this employee's story of a needy co-worker who kept throwing her under the bus. It was over and over again, this needy co-worker would constantly message her, email her, call her, text her, always needing something from her. She obviously did not know how to do her job correctly and had to lean on this other employee for help. However, she wasn't grateful or trying to learn how to do her job correctly. She just wanted the praise and the cash for doing nothing. 

 

Well, obviously, this co-worker eventually reach her limits after being blamed for something that was not her fault. She had it! She was done helping this co-worker. And when the boss wasn't around, she completely ignored her. All the messages, calls, everything, it was like she didn't even exist. And if she had to communicate, she made sure it was always in writing. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10573172736
    via Unsplash+ (and Vitaly Gariev)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Cheezburger Image 10573172992
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • It truly just goes to show ya, if you are going to be an unhelpful and entitled co-worker, then you are going to get that same kind of energy back. It's called Karma, sweetie, look it up. 

  • So this happened years ago when I worked in a design team at a hospitality group.
    via Raggydoll
  • The work was pretty easy, but I had to contend with a boss (called Melissa) who was a micromanager and hoarded all the projects.
    via Raggydoll
  • I did my best to find small opportunities to make myself stand out and to get some variety on my CV.
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  • I had to keep on my guard as, through her own admittance, my manager didn't trust people easily.
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  • So big yikes! I kept her in the loop which she liked and - exhausting as it was - I managed to keep on her good side.
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  • I got requests from our sister company for posters, social media posts, proofreading etc. A colleague from that company (called Angela) had a bit of reputation where even Melissa had to be on her guard with her.
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  • I quickly understood why Angela was known as 'bit of a strange one.' I still don't understand why we had to prioritise work from her - it wasn't high- level urgent work.
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  • She would send a chat message simply saying 'hi'. And that's it. I waited a little to see the rest, but there would be nothing else and five minutes would pass.
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  • She would call me and the first thing she said in her Eeyore-voice was 'did you get my message?.' 'Err, yes...it just said hi?', 'You didn't read it or respond back,' was the response.
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  • It wasn't even 9.30am and I already started to dislike our interaction, so I just asked her what was up.
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  • She refused to email information because she was more comfortable explaining over the phone. But I still sent her an email which outlined her request and to cover my back.
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  • She'd call back (never emailing) and say 'no..that's not it...actually I changed my mind - I want XYZ.' We wasted a lot of time over her indecisiveness and this was pretty much how we communicated.
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  • I dealt with her requests/amendments quickly because I wanted her off my back. We tip-toed around her and she knew it; it felt like she had power over us.
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  • Until... One day she called me and asked me that she usually sent a simple email to clients about an offer and 'could she just send it?'.
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  • I told her to send the draft to me and Melissa (who was away from the office that day) so we can proofread before she sent it.
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  • She never did and I never thought to send my usual email recounting our conversation. Big mistake.
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  • The next morning Melissa had a hushed call over the phone with Angela. I could feel something was up.
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  • When Melissa finished, she was being cagey and asked me vague questions. Almost like she was trying to trap me?!
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  • Turns out Angela sent the email that day and got complaints because there were typos, grammar errors, and more.
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  • It was being escalated to senior management because it was so unprofessional. Apparently I gave Angela permission (?) to send the email.
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  • I showed my inbox to my manager - I swore that I'd never authorise anything without proofreading and letting my manager know (she really was a micromanager).
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  • I felt like I was on trial guilty before - found innocent. My manager eventually believed me and Angela was told off.
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  • I discovered much later (via my teammate who overheard the conversation) that Angela ACTUALLY did send my boss a copy of the email without cc'ing me in.
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  • The problem was that Melissa didn't see the email because she was out of the office.
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  • From then on, Angela was pretty sheepish when we chatted, and I was pretty stung from the ordeal.
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  • Petty revenge... Whenever my manager was out of the office, I'd ignore every phone call and chat message from Angela.
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  • I'd make sure that I was doing something more important at that time so I could back myself up if I was asked why I didn't take the call.
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  • And heck I'd even stare at the phone as it rang. Instead of calling her back, I'd ask her via chat to email her request and therefore create an official log.
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  • ... I kept her chat window prominently on my second screen so the moment I can see '...' in Angela's channel, I'd inform my teammates that I was taking photos for PR/doing something time consuming outside the office.
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  • My teammate would take a message which was simply 'call Angela back' and I would just email.
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  • I wasn't exactly timely so she some pretty big selling opportunities and therefore good commission for
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  • And even I managed to speak to her, I was so so sugary sweet and over the top.
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  • Angela went on travel expeditions and did write-ups for PR. They were usually terrible - typos, grammar errors, and had barely any information.
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  • When usually I'd just rewrite it and fill in the gaps, I turned the screw and wrote a firm and polite email to say that it wasn't fit for me to rewrite it and she should spend more time on the document.
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  • I cc'ed both our managers, too. I finally got a shiny new spine! I really don't miss working for that company.
    via Raggydoll

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