26-year-old woman breaks her ‘never befriend a coworker’ rule and later realizes she should’ve respected it: ‘On first glance, she seems really charming, talkative, loves to laugh and joke and I think she's super popular in the office’

Author image for Olivia Arocena
Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Sep 6, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

Is this story really proof you can't trust any coworker?

Workplaces aren't like any other place; if you have a nasty fallout with a friend from the gym, you can easily switch gyms. If you have a fallout with one of your bosses or coworkers, it's much harder to avoid them, and the fight comes with the anxiety of your income being at risk; ultimately, your survival ends up entangled in the work drama.

When we have a rigid belief system, and something happens in our life that reinforces those beliefs, we tend to write it off as the ultimate proof we needed to justify the way we're living.

I personally don't believe relationships in life should be so formulaic. A lot of people (myself included) have found amazing, lifelong friendships at the workplace.

You should definitely learn to spot behavioral red flags in people, in any place, not just at work, but that doesn't mean distrusting everyone; there are good people out there!

After reading this story, I was left with the impression that this employee already had trust issues, and this particular situation she went through only confirmed her bias, but the conclusion she drew from it is not the only one you can get to, in my opinion.

Maybe this experience isn't telling her to stop trusting coworkers, but telling her to stop trusting shady people.

Advertisement
  • Cheezburger Image 10661670400
    via Creatopy

    You can make good friends at the workplace too

    Representative only

  • I am never befriending a coworker ever again.

    Me (F26) and this specific coworker I'll call B (F34) started the same job a couple years ago. We both came out of uni so it was kind of both of our first "big girl job" and we bonded over that.
    via gfsimulator
  • I was told to not trust coworkers, so I always made sure to keep her at an arm's length. But she was extremely positive and sweet and I have a habit of keeping people out of my life due to trust issues so I genuinely
    via gfsimulator
  • thought I could give it a chance. We would hang sometimes with our partners. I even attended her wedding and prepared pastries for it (because she asked me). I gave her a good amount of money as a gift for the wedding.
    via gfsimulator
  • She later on told another person how her guests didn't even give her that much money for the wedding IN MY PRESENCE. I was sitting next to her and she literally said "People gave 100€ for a wedding back in
    via gfsimulator
  • 2010. They just don't get how expensive weddings are." That's exactly how much I gave her + another 100€ for my plus one. That was when I started pulling away. You have to know what
    via gfsimulator
  • kind of person B is. On first glance, she seems really charming, talkative, loves to laugh and joke and I think she's super popular in the office. She will literally go around the office greeting everyone and talking to them before
    via gfsimulator
  • even powering on her PC. She started pulling sh | didn't like. She started gossiping about others and I am not one to gossip with. I always felt like whoever gossips with me about someone else will gossip about me with
    via gfsimulator
  • another person as well, so I never participated. She talked about another coworker looking unhygienic and homeless BUT SHE AND THAT OTHER COWORKER ARE LIKE REALY CLOSE TOO.
    via gfsimulator
  • I also noticed she would take advantage of people and use them. For example, she'd have tasks she didn't want to do and then would start a conversation with another coworker, wrap them up and then hand the task
    via gfsimulator
  • over to them. I never understood why the others would allow this but whatever. What actually annoyed me was that she'd then come to me and tell me about her handing over the task to another person so proudly.
    via gfsimulator
  • She'd also brag about how some coworkers would compliment her, call her at sunshine and flirt with her. She's also someone to mention her ADHD like every day at least 2-3x. She uses it as an excuse to
    via gfsimulator
  • Cheezburger Image 10661670912
    via Lennart Rothe

    Hot take: Having trust issues is worse than actually being betrayed

    Model portrayal.



     

  • How I see it, it’s sadder to deal with trust issues than with what happened to her. Her coworker made a nasty remark about something related to her, ok, it’s really not that bad. She is allowed to dislike the attitude; she is allowed to put distance between her and her work bestie, but that doesn’t mean every coworker ever will be a bad person. Maybe she has to get better at recognizing good people; it’s part of life. Can you imagine if we’d closed our hearts after the first disillusionment? How many amazing experiences would we have lost?

  • not being able to focus on her tasks and why she can't get sh done. But she keeps tabs on everyone. She knows exactly who's on call with who, how long their call is, how long their shift, how much their workload is,
    via gfsimulator
  • etc. She also has different excuses on why she can't do certain tasks like "I just came back from vacation, I need some time to get into work." or "I am going on vacation next week, I possibly cannot do this.". It's always something up
    via gfsimulator
  • and it seems to just be accepted. She also is such a big spammer. Ever since she pulled those moves that I didn't like I distanced myself. She used to spam me on the work chat. And
    via gfsimulator
  • it didn't even matter that I would take my sweet time to respond, she'd just spam and spam and spam and ask me the same questions that I have already answered before and that show me she's just too lazy to look it up
    via gfsimulator
  • on the handbook, so I started acting stupid as well and told her Idk myself. She has asked me for templates and then when I'd share them with her, she'd criticize them to which I responded "Do yours however you please,
    via gfsimulator
  • then." She's so annoying that sometimes I wouldn't even respond to her 20 messages in a row but just "thumbs up" react something and then she'd TEXT EVEN MORE SH LIKE SHE IS WAITING IN THE CHAT FOR ME.
    via gfsimulator
  • I realized that keeping minimal contact wasn't enough so I actually started being colder and would tell her I am focusing on my tasks. About 2 months of me being more distant (since I can't tell her my honest
    via gfsimulator
  • opinion of her as I would've normally done, we're still coworkers) and she has just now gotten it and is (SO FAR) leaving me the f alone. I am feeling so much more at peace.
    via gfsimulator
  • Achaterbox1999 I wouldn't let this one person deter from making friends at work. She's a user and you figured it out. But there could be other coworkers who can be really good friends and not use you.
    via gfsimulator
  • mshayes17 I get it, but a former coworker was my realtor when I bought my house. She's family. People are people-no matter where they work, whether they're a good person isn't determined by this. Just stay away from bad people.
    via gfsimulator
  • Cheezburger Image 10661671168
    via Mushvig Niftaliyev

    The shady coworker greeting everybody

    Picture does not depict real parties



     

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

Tags

workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
Scroll Down For The Next Article