Employee forced to pass messages between two coworkers who refused to talk to each other, then he starts trolling them both: 'I started making up messages to give each of them on behalf of the other'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Feb 10, 2026 8:00 AM EST

This group of coworkers displayed a shocking lack of professionalism. 

Then again, this should have been such a surprise, given the fact that this was a poorly managed comic book store.

For some context, the author points out that before he signed on to work at a store he used to frequent regularly as a customer, the manager of the store recently purged his entire staff to start anew. That was probably the first red flag that should never have been ignored. The second red flag was the fact that the manager decided it would be a good idea to replace his staff with a team of regular customers. That likely was not the smartest move either. After all, if the professional relationship doesn't work out, who's to say that these customers won't just start shopping at a competitor?

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  • When the author was hired, he and two coworkers on the team got along well, but only for a short amount of time. Drama ensued after one of the coworkers began seeing the other coworker's girlfriend. The manager was aware of this but thought it would all blow over quickly. That turned out to be a grave miscalculation on his part.

    Instead, these two coworkers stopped speaking to one another entirely. Even at work, they would use the author as a messenger between the two of them. On top of completing his regular duties, the author was tasked with passing an endless string of passive-aggressive Post-It notes between the two fully grown men.

    Eventually, the author got tired of both of their behavioral ticks. He thought they were both in the wrong and wanted to make their lives all the more frustrating. So, he started to instigate a series of pranks as he passed messages to the men that were fully written by him and no one else. He knew that the two men would inevitably figure it out. 

    However, what the author did not anticipate was the fact that they would end up resolving their ongoing dispute as a result of these silly pranks. I guess that adds some justification for the author's clever meddling.

  • A group of male coworkers working alongside one another while sharing a computer.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A group of male coworkers working alongside one another while sharing a computer.

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

  • Two coworkers refused to talk to each other. They stuck me in the middle. I am goofy.

    Way too many years ago, I worked in a specialty shop serving geeks and nerds. Comics, Anime, Collectibles, etc. The boss didn't know what he was doing in general and when a position opened he would just hire random regular customers.
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  • (Sidenote: If you do this, be aware that firing an employee means also losing a regular customer.)
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  • After a "house cleaning" where the boss got rid of everyone working for him, I was one of these ill- advised customer hires,
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  • along with two others. He took us out to dinner as a group, no expense spared, touted a new era for the business, etc.
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  • Employee #1 was a local musician, or wanted to be one. He'd play random gigs wherever he could,
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  • and would come into the shop h over. He would hide under the comic box tables and sleep for hours during the work day. I
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  • can't think of a single thing he did in-store other than sleep and run the register so poorly that he could often be overheard saying things like, "Eh, just take it, it's only $2."
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  • Employee #2 was a college student with theater kid energy. He patterned himself after The Crow (Brandon Lee version) and put on a general "don't come to school tomorrow" vibe.
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  • He self-published a typo- riddled novel about two S Ik is having a contest to see who could S Ik the most, and literally touted himself as being better than "hacks"
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  • like [insert every single horror author he could think of]. Employee #1 slept with Employee #2's girlfriend three days into employment. Employee
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  • #2 destroyed a bunch of the girlfriend's property and let her cat out. From that point forward these two would not interact with each other in any regard.
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  • I was blissfully unaware of all of this, finding out after-the-fact when the boss let me know there was going to be trouble at the start of the work day.
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  • He insisted things would blow over quickly and they'd make up, but he was probably just coping over another likely employee wipe.
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  • Cue several weeks of #1 and #2 refusing to talk to anyone but me – to the - point they started asking me to give each other messages, like this was middle school. These two wouldn't even stand or sit in proximity of each other.
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  • To be clear, I was absolutely not comfortable with this and told them to "tell him yourself" multiple times,
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  • only to be met with "so you're on his side", "some help you are", and s Just garbage responses. These dudes were adults. 5+ years older than me.
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  • I had my own job, my own work to do, this wasn't really something I was interested in taking on.
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  • However, I was a new hire at one of my first jobs, so after voicing my concerns, I caved immediately and did what I was told.
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  • At first I took this seriously, making sure to dutifully serve my purpose as a living post-it note. However, as the days went on, nothing changed.
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  • #2 would tell me to let #1 know he didn't clean up properly, and #1 would slam a chair around and yell at me about it.
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  • #1 would tell me to get #2 to explain where $20 went out of the register, and #2 would just ignore me for minutes on end, as if I wasn't even there, until I walked away with no answer.
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  • Eventually, being stupid got the better of me, and I started making up messages to give each of them on behalf of the other.
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  • Random, small stuff at first, like hitting one of them with "Uhh, hey, he wants to know if you're done using that pen..." in the middle of him actively writing.
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  • "He wants to know if you're the one who blew up the bathroom. No? Cool, I'll let him know right away." Dumb stuff.
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  • The problem with most master criminals, however, is that deep down they want to be caught.
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  • A bunch of comics on display in a comic book store.
    via Mick Haupt

    A bunch of comics on display in a comic book store.

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

  • Time pressed on and I got weird with it. I made sure to stagger the requests, maybe one or two per day, so as to not arouse too much suspicion.
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  • "There's a customer with a question by the board games, and #1 doesn't know the answer." - There's no customer. Go chase a ghost, my friend.
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  • "#2 said someone spilled a blueberry Icee and he's too busy clean it up right now. I can't find it." - Look around. Maybe it's over there? Maybe under there? Psst - there is no spill.
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  • "Hey, #1? He wants you to put this sign up." "Hey, #2? He wants you to move this sign." "Hey, #1? Someone moved the sign."
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  • "Hey, #2? Someone moved the sign back." Repeat. Eventually, it had to end.
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  • By my hand. Mostly because the real message-passing was getting massively annoying no matter how much I tried to play with the situation.
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  • The most devious thing I could think of was telling each of them that the other wanted to apologize.
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  • This lead to them finally sitting down together, in the same room, in private, each expecting the other one to eat humble pie and admit they were a piece of s despite both of them being pieces of
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  • Naturally, when I next saw them, they had compared notes and put together the clues. They knew I had been exploiting the situation for my own amusement like the smug b R tor I am.
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  • The best part? They ACTUALLY MADE UP-over the agreement to ostracize me for lying to them. Oh, no... not leaving me alone all day... nooo...
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  • Anyway all three of us got fired in a matter of months.
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terrible coworkers work drama employee comic books petty revenge funny work stories
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