‘The room went silent’: Backstabbing office employee drops the ball on a project, then throws their colleague under the bus, so the coworker reveals the truth in a company meeting

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Dec 2, 2025 6:00 PM EST

Office workers can be like eels. Eternally wriggling free of work's consequences and passing the blame onto someone else in their bureaucracy, office backstabbers avoid taking responsibility for their shortcomings. For this reason, when it comes to office work, the best revenge is in the receipts; that's why it's always advisable to keep a paper trail of emails, letters, or written word to back yourself up when the office space starts getting a little hot. 

Like all career folks, we're all just out here trying to build a name for ourselves, so when your coworker who's known for slacking off starts blaming you for letting the project deadlines slide, all anyone can do is save face. And when you have the email receipts (timestamped, of course) to clear your good name, the lazy, low-life, backstabbing employees of this world have nothing to do except beg forgiveness from the higher-ups. 

Maybe next time a project is due, this office employee will think twice before blaming everyone else for their failure, because the embarrassment from this company meeting was enough to memorably sting their ego for all time.

Advertisement
  • Woman embarrassed at work
    via Africa Images

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

  • My coworker tried to embarrass me in a meeting... so I let the truth do the work
    via Proof_Signal7468
  • I had a coworker who loved throwing people under the bus in meetings to make himself look good. One day, he claimed I "missed a deadline" in front of everyone and suggested I was unreliable. I didn't argue.
    via Proof_Signal7468
  • I just calmly shared my screen and opened the email where he emailed me late with the files... the night before the deadline. The room went silent.
    via Proof_Signal7468
  • Then the manager looked at him and said, "So you're the reason this was late?"
    via Proof_Signal7468
  • He never tried me again. Sometimes the best revenge is receipts.
    via Proof_Signal7468
  • Woman getting nervous about a work meeting
    via Africa Images

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

  • marugirl. Love it. Ive done similar with the regional manager at a job, who was lying to me about the company keeping my department open. Said all I had to do was communicate what I needed to make the
    via marugirl
  • department better and he'd be right on it. So I slid across sheets of printed out emails where I requested help, supplies and provided suggestions, not a single one had a reply. He spent the next few minutes staring silently out
    via marugirl
  • the window, Im sure he was fighting his temper lol. They tried their best for a year to get me to leave by creating a hostile workplace, but Im a stubborn bitch and made them make me redundant :)
    via marugirl
  • johngknightuk . Had a manager tell us that using loyalty cards to collect points when filling company cars up was steeling from the company and must stop immediately. Didn't say a thing, just pointed to his e-bike plugged into the wall
    via johngknightuk
  • Artyom_33. A long time ago, one might say 2 lifetimes ago: I had a manager try to throw me under the bus with a schedule that he redid while I was on my 2 days off.
    via Artyom_33
  • Yeah, it didn't look good for him when I produced a copy of the schedule when it came out on a Friday, showing me working the weekend & having monday & tuesday off. HR & his boss didn't appreciate the attempted gas lighting.
    via Artyom_33
  • SSJ72098 Yessss! This is my favorite thing to do. Especially when someone claims they never received documents and they cc everyone. Simply reply all with proof. And suddenly their reply is between the two of us. Nope I re-add everyone.
    via SSJ72098
  • Dorshe1104 My Sil dealt with a coworker like this. My sil isn't shy with her words and 99% of her colleagues love her just the way she is. She is damn good at her job, she is fun but she takes no crap. Her boss pulled crap like the guy in this story and she shut him up by sharing 1 email. God, I love that girl
    via Dorshe1104

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

Tags

meeting work coworkers petty revenge Office
Scroll Down For The Next Article