Travel agent hates on new coworker, gets caught out blaming him for mistake she made: 'She would criticize my attire, my work, if I was 20 seconds late from making lunch'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Nov 13, 2025 9:00 AM EST

It is a sad fact that sometimes the oldest colleagues in a job can be some of the worst to work with. If they happen to have been with the business for a million years, they can be even worse. There is a certain type of older, long-term coworker who always thinks that they are better than everyone else, and know how to do the job the best (even if that couldn't be further from the truth).

Being confronted with a fellow employee like that when you first start a new job can be disheartening. At their most terrible, they can make a job a truly miserable experience and quite often, they have established relationships with management that make it feel hard to complain. When somebody likes this takes a dislike to you, the only way to successfully foil their putrid behavior is to let them trip themselves up in front of the wrong person.

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  • an older businesswoman stands by a desk with a laptop while holding an open notebook
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • When one man started a job at a travel agency after moving across the country, he was unfortunate enough to encounter a relationship like this at work. One of his older, established colleagues decided she didn't like him and proceeded to do everything in her power to criticize him and disrupt his workday.

    Despite being fast to report to management anything about him that she didn't agree with, she was prone to mistakes, and one day, the stars aligned for her to expose her incompetence in front of the business owner themselves. She accused her hated colleague of messing up a booking for an important client, and he pointed out that he was actually fixing her mistake. He told the story.

     

  • I'm a travel agent with 20+ years of experience, something happened in my life which meant I had to relocate to a city nearly 900 miles away so I found myself working for a small corporate travel agents.
    via Silvertain
  • The first few days went OK however there was an employee there who took an instant dislike to me she was this miserable 65 odd yr old woman who went out of her way to make my life a misery.
    via Silvertain
  • She would constantly critise my attire, my work, if I was 20 seconds late from making tea or lunch she would report me, she would go through my emails (it was a joint office email) listen to my calls and would skuttle off and report me to the owner. She would say numerous times a day why dont I go to so and
    via Silvertain
  • so company I hear they are hiring etc. The thing is it actually started causing me to make mistakes I was double guessing everything every now and then booking a wrong time on a flight or wrong room type nothing that can't be fixed but giving her ammunition the stress was awful.
    via Silvertain
  • an older businesswoman sits at a desk looking severe
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • The thing is she made mistakes...lots of them and we never said anything she was the owners mate. One day a client rung in complaining the name was wrong on his flight unfortunately it happened to be a vip client of a huge contract we had just gotten. Not a issue I rung the airline corrected the name. T tface
    via Silvertain
  • Maggie the colleague happened to sit at her desk as I was ending the call she got the jist of the conversation it was a error in name for a big client etc. She was up like a shot got the owner in from her office and shouted at me infront of everyone and the owner I had fucked up a booking again.
    via Silvertain
  • Not believing my luck I said "actually Maggie | was sorting out the flight for vip client that YOU booked and got the name wrong, but don't worry it's fixed now!" Her face was a picture she was literally speechless the owner was actually pissed off too with her said
    via Silvertain
  • something like for gods sakes we can't afford to make stupid mistakes like this. I got to see her sit with a face like a slapped arse all afternoon which was amusing anyway
    via Silvertain
  • a man's hands type on a wireless keyboard
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

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

  • Commenters agreed it was satisfying to teach these kinds of people a lesson.

    lifegoeson5322 She sounds like a peach. Are you still working with her, or have you moved on to greener pastures?
    via lifegoeson5322
  • carlbernsen How about a chat with your boss? "I know she's your friend but she's a poisonous cow towards me. One who makes mistakes regularly and tries to blame me for them.
    via carlbernsen
  • I don't bring it to you because I'm a professional, and it would just waste your time every single day, I just get it done. But now that you've seen for yourself how she behaves towards me, can you please give her some instruction on teamwork and professionalism? Honestly I'm tired of covering for her and getting my face chewed off almost every day."
    via carlbernsen
  • Appropriate_Emu_6930 Every business has one of those. We had one who had been a bully for years. Luckily the new owners saw her for who she really was and fired her
    via Appropriate_Emu_6930
  • Effective-Log3583 Honestly this is a great opportunity to have a call with your manager. Not about harping over this mistake. But pointing out how she immediately tries to throw you under the bus without even knowing what is going on. Where you just fix things.
    via Effective-Log3583
  • SemperSimple i love that it ruined her day, allday lol
    via SemperSimple
  • CoffeeJunkie9903 That was a priceless FAFO moment
    via CoffieJunkie9903
  • oldskoolplayaR1 I have an English Bulldog called Maggie and she's as dense as the co worker you described
    via oldskoolplayaR1
  • KissKorner Lmao, karma hit her like a boomerang!
    via KissKorner
  • Pretend-Stomach-5290 I always say it. Humans are real evil.
    via Pretend-Stomach-5290
  • yugo_bot I've got a few tw tfaces at my work and it's definitely how I'm gonna refer to them now
    via yugo_bot

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travel agent work coworkers petty revenge workplace reddit thread Reddit mistake
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