Coworker pretends not to know what Brooklyn is to get back at annoying colleague who constantly unplugged his computer: 'Oh is that some town in Ohio?'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jan 8, 2026 10:00 AM EST

Some people are so annoying about a certain aspect of their personality. They take one fact about them and base their whole life around it. This can be painful to witness as a bystander. Some people make their taste in music their entire personality. If you don't know the niche bands that they're into, then forget it. They will never take you seriously. Some make their dietary preferences their entire personality. Even if you're not eating with them, they will find a way to bring up the fact that they're on a strict carnivore diet. Who cares, bro? And some folks, especially from New York City (sorry, it's true), make that their entire personality. I know, man, you think it's the only place in the world. I hate to break it to you, though, there are a lot of great places out there. Just because you're from the Big Apple doesn't mean you have to bring it up every 4 seconds. But sometimes they just can't help it. 

All you hope is that one of these people isn't your coworker. Because you can't escape your coworkers, they are there every day, whether you want them to be or not. So you hope that they're easy to get along with. It makes the workday so much more pleasant and goes by so much faster. But if you just can't get along with them and you're a certain kind of person, you might start messing with them. Every Dwight needs their Jim. 

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  • Two coworkers have a discussion at a desk
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • That's what happened in this story, where a coworker who couldn't shut up about her home city got some revenge. Not only was she annoying about her upbringing, but she was also mean for no reason. She constantly turned in work late, leaving her coworker to scramble. Plus, she, either intentionally or not, constantly messed with her coworker by unplugging his computer before he got to work. For this kind of petty behavior, you can only respond with pettiness in kind. That's exactly what he did, after being fed up for too long. Scroll on to read the whole story and imagine what you would have done in his shoes. 

  • I pretended to not know what Brooklyn is.

    I used to work at a medical office and it was a chain. The culture was very corporate. I didn't really fit in there but I tried to just keep my head down and do my very best at my job. One girl there seems to really not like me. Which is fine. I'm not a $100 bill for everyone to like me. But she'd do petty things like unplug my monitor and keyboard before I'd get to my desk
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • in the morning. We also shared documentation responsibilities and she would neglect her end which I wouldn't know about until I'd get an ear full from my boss. So I decided to get back at her in the pettiest way I possibly could. Her entire personality was "being from Brooklyn" like oh believe me I'm from Brooklyn I know pizza" or "I'm from Brooklyn we don't stand for shit like that" yada yada.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • One day I was castigated for something she did and I got really mad. So for the rest of the day, I pretended not to know what Brooklyn is. I'd ask like oh is that some town in Ohio? Oh it's in New York? Is it like upstate? One of the five boroughs? Everyone knows there's only four boroughs in New
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • York. That's Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. When she showed me Brooklyn on the Internet, I just said that's not real. Brooklyn is an Internet hoax. She got so incredibly frustrated. She started crashing out. The best part is what's she gonna tell HR? I'm bullying her by pretending not to know what Brooklyn is?
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • This was a long time ago, but I figured it was a good place to share
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude

  • Commenters came in with questions and stories of their own.

    Issysunshine Did this fix the issue? Does she still do petty things to you?
    via u/Issysunshine
  • A woman holds her head in her hands, confused while a male coworker smiles next to her.
    via Aleksandra Sapozhnikova

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • OP RedefinedValleyDude No I quit almost immediately after. That place as a dumpster fire.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • MsUnderstandMe I'm from Brooklyn. My former boss was from India. He would say, "you're from the Bronx, right?" to taunt me and make me correct him. So after several times of this, I casually asked if he was from Pakistan! He was appalled and never said it again.
    via u/MsUnderstandMe
  • OP RedefinedValleyDude That's funny. I was once in glenade ca and an Armenian lady started speaking to me in Armenian. I am not Armenian but I'm a Russian Jew and can sometimes pass for Armenian. Especially in places with a bunch of Armenians. I told her in both English and Russian that I don't speak Armenian. She kept yelling at me in Armenian. A pointed to myself and said "Turk" she spat on the ground and walked away.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • Jeanne_hjk I did this once, but with McDonald's. My friend and I were from Florida, and visiting her sister in Virginia. These two guys kept trying to talk to us and somehow McDonald's came up and we pretended that we had never heard of it and there weren't any McDonald's in Florida. They took us there to eat and I tried to order a hot dog. We finally couldn't take it anymore and started laughing and said, "Of course we know what McDonald's is." They got so mad and walked away, which was all we
    via u/Jeanne_hjk
  • OP Redefined ValleyDude
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • Maleficent_End5852 I like to travel a lot, and I notice only Americans do this thing where when they tell you where they're from, they give you not their country or their state, but just their city. This bugs me, so I always play clueless as to where that is. Example: "I'm from D.C." Me: "Is that in California?" I ask this no matter where in the States they say they're from. Chicago? In California? Houston? In California? Unless it's actually a West Coast city. Then I ask if it's in New York. Ge
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • OP RedefinedValleyDude I would argue that's more reasonable. Where someone is from is not so much about where they are in terms of latitude and longitude but more about the identity of the place. Very often, famous cities within states are not indicative of the state as a whole. So if someone said oh I'm from New Orleans. You might not know a lot but maybe you have at least a picture in your head about jazz and spicy foods and a sort of European vibe. General Lafayette. Fleur de Lys. Blah blah b
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • Johnny_Carcinogenic I'm from Brooklyn and everybody has a little taste of whiskey during their shift.
    via u/Johnny_Carcinogenic
  • OP Redefined ValleyDude Brooklyn is not a real place. I've been there. Got mugged. Had a slice of pizza. Doesn't exist. Not a real place.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • WhenLeaves Fall Oh boy, you'd love Brighton Beach
    via u/WhenLeavesFall
  • OP RedefinedValleyDude I do love Brighton beach.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • comawizard Funny thing is Brooklyn is a neighborhood south southeast of Cleveland. Next to it is a neighborhood called Old Brooklyn. Technically you were right about it being a town in Ohio.
    via u/comawizard
  • OP RedefinedValleyDude There's also a Brookline in Massachusetts
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • JohnHenryHoliday Were you out of the NYC metro? It's be pretty hilarious if she was a transplant from Brooklyn to like NC and you trolled her like this, because there's some believability. I can't imagine this actually working if you were working in Manhattan, or Jersey as an example.
    via u/JohnHenryHoliday
  • OP Redefined ValleyDude Nah we live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • upperdecker32 I thought she left?
    via u/upperdecker32
  • OP Redefined ValleyDude No I left. And as a sort of icing on the cake on my last day I found out she was drinking whiskey at her desk. I reported her as my last official act. It wasn't part of the story because she that wasn't petty that was serious.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude
  • allenrfe I hated this guy in college his name was Derrick, I called Eric by accident one time and he went off. I rarley call people by thier name, but made sure every time I saw Derrick to call him Eric. Everyone in our group joined in, we even started introducing him to ther people as Eric. One day some one in our group introduced him to a girl as Eric, he went bat sh*t crazy. I told everyone we needed to stop he was going to come back with a gun. The next day when he sat down i said 'did guys
    via u/allenrfe
  • OP RedefinedValleyDude You menace. I love it.
    via u/RedefinedValleyDude

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terrible coworkers revenge coworkers petty revenge brooklyn colleague workplace funny
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