Back when I joined the corporate world as a fresher out of college, little did I know how toxic it could be. It seemed like there was a constant influx of people trying to pull me down before I could even give the ladder a shot.
Workplaces can never be short of such nasty people, and here’s proof of that. This woman shamelessly erased her coworker’s project and offered no apology at all, so netizens quickly jumped to conclusions about sabotage. Read on to find out what the coworker did, which further triggered her.
More info: Reddit
The corporate world can be brutal, as some people don't like to see you succeed and sabotage you
Image credits: DC Studio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The poster had been working on a client presentation for two weeks, but it suddenly disappeared from the shared work drive
Image credits: dimaberlin / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Turns out that a coworker had "accidentally" deleted it and expected the poster to be "fine" with it, as they could "redo" it
Image credits: benzoix / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The poster was utterly frustrated as the coworker expected them to redo the whole thing from scratch, as they "already knew what to do"
Image credits: Recent-Date-7229
Obviously, the poster refused, but she got defensive, and they felt like they were the one making things "difficult"
In today’s office drama, the original poster (OP) shares something anger-inducing that happened to them. They had been working on a client presentation for two whole weeks. It was not just slides, but also data pulled from different sources, formatting, and even all their notes. When they completed the presentation, OP saved it to the shared work drive.
Much to their horror, it was gone when they logged in the next day. They must have been frantic as they searched for whether it had been moved or renamed, but there was simply no trace of it. Obviously, they tried to find out what happened and asked their coworkers, when one woman piped up that she had deleted it. Moreover, she just casually expected OP to be fine with it.
Of course, the poster wasn’t, as it was their entire project, and they asked her to restore it. Apparently, she didn’t know how but expected the poster to “quickly redo it as they already knew what to do.” This really triggered the poster, as they had put in two weeks of effort on that project, and there was no apology and zero remorse on her behalf.
OP flat-out refused to redo the whole thing from scratch. In fact, they told her to figure out a way to recover it or go and tell their boss what happened. However, the woman got defensive, claiming it was just a mistake and that the poster was making a big deal out of it. Now, our protagonist was left feeling like they were the “difficult” one for not redoing it quietly.
Image credits: rawpixel.com / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Netizens couldn’t help but point out that the woman was purposely trying to sabotage OP. To get deeper insights into the matter, Bored Panda reached out to Apoorva Kale, an industrial and organizational psychology practitioner. She claimed that the woman’s suggestion to “redo it” minimizes the employee’s emotional labor and dismisses their effort required to produce the work.
“It’s not just about the hours lost; it’s about the total invisibility of the person’s effort. It can be like a massive blow to their self-efficacy. The worst part, though, is the social gaslighting, so she could be sabotaging them. By acting like OP is being ‘difficult,’ the coworker is trying to flip the script. She’s making the poster’s reaction the problem rather than her action,” Apoorva added.
She believes that this puts OP in an impossible double-burden situation. They are feeling bad about their lost work while simultaneously having to manage their feelings and their own reputation. Our expert claimed that this can be exhausting because OP isn’t just defending a file; they’re defending their right to be respected as a professional.
When we spoke with Apoorva about what someone should do in such a tricky situation, she mentioned that staying quiet can be dangerous. “There’s often a social stigma against ‘tattling.’ But involving management in this specific situation is less about getting a coworker in trouble and more about risk management and professional boundaries.”
“It’s the only way to ensure that the creator's time is respected and that the coworker understands the gravity of their cleanup habits,” Apoorva concluded. Well, I hope that OP didn’t stay silent but spoke to their boss about it. If you were in such a tricky situation, how would you handle things? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Netizens immediately claimed that the coworker was sabotaging the poster and suggested reporting her ASAP
