Irresponsible coworker offloads her error onto someone else, employee confronts her and forces her to fix her own mistake: 'I refused to do work for her!'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 26, 2025 4:00 PM EST

We've all had that one coworker who refuses to clean up their own messes.

This author recounted the story of a coworker who was working just a few feet away from her when a call came in from a concerned customer. This person needed to update their address for their homeowner's insurance policy, and the coworker had been their point person for prior communication. Apparently, updating the address involved filling out a new form and lots of silly logistical steps that the coworker did not feel like dealing with. 

So, she did exactly what she had been doing to other people in the office when they had to take on her customers on her behalf. She offloaded all the responsibility onto them, as if she were their superior. Spoiler alert: she wasn't.

This author knew that this coworker had tried to pull stunts like this in the past, and she wasn't having it this time around. Just when she asked for the author to take on all that extra work on top of her own To Do list, the author transferred the call her way so that the coworker had no choice but to pick up the phone and figure it out herself!

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  • Two employees put their heads in their hands while speaking to a coworker, obscured by a laptop monitor in an office.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

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

  • "Coworker [is] not happy I refused to do work for her."

    The address was wrong on a homeowners insurance policy she wrote for a customer. The mortgage called this morning they needs the updated insurance as they are closing this week.
    via Bowlpin16
  • I transferred the call to my coworker who said: "there's nothing I can do about it until it has gone through underwriting and issued."
    via Bowlpin16
  • We absolutely CAN. No we cannot make changes on a policy while it is being reviewed by underwriting. But we can send what is called an ACORD form.
    via Bowlpin16
  • It's a legally binding document that we write up with the correct information in the meantime. But they are tedious. She just didn't want to write one up.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Anyway, she tried to deflect the call. But I refused to let her. I said "I'm transferring the lender to you." She was NOT happy about that.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Afterwards she sent me a Teams chat, in all caps "THEY JUST NEEDED AN ACORD FORM." To which I just wrote "ok."
    via Bowlpin16
  • She sends back "ITS DONE DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT." I can assure you I'm not...
    via Bowlpin16
  • Then she went over to one of my other coworkers (who's her little gossip buddy) where she proceeded to whisper about me.
    via Bowlpin16
  • I don't care. She can stay mad. She does this shit all the time. A error on something she did comes up, and if I happen to answer the phone when people need the error fixed, she tries to get me to correct it.
    via Bowlpin16
  • No ma'am. You quoted the policy, you can see it through. In this case it was the customer that gave her the wrong address but it doesn't matter. I've fixed SO
    via Bowlpin16
  • many of her errors. If it were the other way around I would never expect my coworkers to finish my work for me, fix my mistakes, whatever...when I'm physically here and can do it myself. And I
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  • don't tolerate her trying to get me to do stuff for her all the time. I'm done. And she's about to find out.
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  • That passive aggressive "don't worry about it" sent me though. And the fact she said there was "nothing I can do about it" then THEY JUST NEED AN ACORD." Tell me you just don't want to do YOUR job without telling me.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Oh, and can you imagine if I tried to do this to her!? If I tried to push my work on her, at any point?!? Nope. Rules for thee but not for me. That is her motto for everything in this office. She tries to dictate us. And I stand up to her and it royally pisses her off.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Two coworkers argue with one another while sitting at a desk in an office.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

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

  • broken_softly • 2m ago I'm not in insurance, but my coworker does this nonsense. What's with incompetence and writing in all caps?
    via Bowlpin16
  • Back in September, I showed up to a meeting, only to find that she had never requested access to the kid. So I had to scramble, complete and present two forms that are not my job, while she just sat there.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Then we had a similar meeting this November and I wasn't falling for the same complaint twice. I got her access to the kid and reminded her of what she needed to get done all the way up to ten minutes before the meeting.
    via Bowlpin16
  • Did she do it? Nope. But neither did I. I walked her through filling it out in front of the parent. Now she's accusing me of treating her unprofessionally and without respect while withholding information she needs to do her job.
    via Bowlpin16

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terrible coworkers workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work coworkers company toxic-work-environment
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