Nothing perks up a dull office life other than an “office drama.” Admit it or not, it makes everyday life in a workplace much more interesting. But not all the time, because once you are the one involved, it may become a tale of disaster.
These Redditors share the controversies inside their workplace. We will all learn that there are so many things happening behind closed doors. Come take a look at these!
1. Beverage Cost Conundrum
Our Food and beverage department was having a hard time figuring out beverage costs. I as the bar manager calculated a total of 23% for July, but our corporate management has us at a total of 27%. They reamed our asses. There were a lot of words said and threats made at our most recent department head meeting because of this previous assessment we made.
The Food and beverage department director and I started investigating because we thought something was fishy. We met with the property's accountant to reassess the total cost of our beverage and went through every invoice and sales report for the month meticulously making sure we weren’t missing any single detail. By the end of our assessment, it put us at a total of 22.3% beverage cost.
At this point, either there are unreported costs, overstated revenue, loss, theft, or even software malfunction that happened. Unreported costs are unlikely since costs are recorded in duplicate: by me and the accountant. Overstated revenue is unlikely since Micros, Opera, and M3 are all reporting consistent sales. Loss and theft have been ruled out, because a discrepancy this large would have made itself apparent when inventory was done at the end of every month.
But, corporate management refuses to believe that software malfunction could be giving them these numbers, saying (not verbatim), "Your costs are horrible! Fix it!" Now everyone on the property thinks corporate has been lying to us, and that they've fabricated this story to force us to be more profitable for them. Otherwise, why wouldn't they be willing to look at the software as a possibility? Especially since the Food and beverage department director, bar manager, and accountant are asking them to double-check their numbers.
Oh, and one of the bartenders is fooling around with a waitress.
Mcsonofabitch
2. Brewing Coup in Corporate Quarters
Using a throwaway for privacy.
There's a coup shaping up right now. About 4 years ago we were purchased by a foreign company that cleaned house at the top ranks and decided to promote a new CEO internally to try and keep some stability. The final two candidates were the VP of Engineering, VP of Sales, and VP of Business Development. The VP of Engineering ended up being promoted and has done an abysmal job running the company. The VP of Business Development ended up working at a competitor after getting passed over for the promotion.
The company has not grown as expected since the acquisition, and now the company that owns us is showing signs that they're ready for a shakeup. The VP of Sales here was previously the CEO at a different company, so the company that owns us is starting to ask him a lot of questions about what's going on since he has executive experience. He's been going behind the CEO's back to give the company that owns us the story of what's happening, as the CEO is getting desperate to save his skin.
Where this goes off the rails is that at a tradeshow several of us were at, a few of us overheard the CEO talking to some competitors about jumping ship and joining them. It was completely coincidental. We all went to the same bar after the show without knowing each other was going to be there, and the CEO didn't realize we were the next table over.
Someone and I don't know who, there were five of us who overheard that conversation, secretly told the company that owns us that the CEO is getting ready to sell out the company and work with competition despite having a non-compete. The company that owns us doesn't know what to think about it because they don't know who to trust. Things are going to be interesting in the next couple of months.
Friendly_Gur
3. Unveiling The Cult
I recently found out our receptionist is in a doomsday cult. Over the last 6 months, I've slowly put the pieces together. I knew she was very religious but something always seemed a bit off. She was always inviting me to "bible studies" and offering to teach me things about myself, and about the world through the bible. She told me all these things were predicted in the bible like WW2 and 9/11 that kind of stuff.
I repeatedly politely informed her I'm an atheist, I grew up in a church, I've read the bible, and that kind of stuff isn't for me. Then I noticed that in another tab on her browser, there is ALWAYS some sort of news article about impending nuclear war with North Korea or Iran or something like that.
So one day I just straight up asked her what church she goes to, trying to make conversation. She told me "The Church of God" the full name is "The World Mission Church of God." Now, if you google this, the first 15 results will be ex-members calling it a cult and that sort of thing. So immediately I knew something was up.
I started researching it and everything added up. They recruit members, similar to Mormons but more extreme. The approach (usually) minority college-aged girls on campuses. This makes sense because she is Dominican, and she told me she was shown this at college. This group is also banned from a lot of College campuses around the US.
So, they come up to these girls, when they are at a very vulnerable time in their life, off at college for the first time, they don't know anyone, and they tell them about how the bible predicted all these awful things and then to get them on the hook they inform them that God is not only a man but there is a father God and a mother God. So then they get them to start coming to the church every Saturday all day.
The crazy thing is the nearest sect to us is 2 hours away so she travels 2 hours to church every single week, that's a commitment. So they slowly brainwash them, they convince them to give them 10% of their income, (which she does and she is already barely scraping by financially), they require them to dress conservatively (which she does), and they require them to bring new members as often as possible, almost like a pyramid scheme.
So this church is relatively new in the US and it started in Korea when a dude named Ahn-Sang Hong claimed to be the second incarnation of Jesus Christ and his wife was the female God. He passed away around 20 years ago so according to their beliefs, Christ has now come and gone a second time so we are in revelations, which means the world will be ending any day now and they will go to heaven to hang out with Korean Jesus.
EL_DIABLOW
4. Balancing Workload And Boundaries
Not "drama" per se. Just not a great time at the moment.
I'm the third man in a three-man building company. Two brothers and myself. I am the least proficient in my skills out of us. Recently, one of the brothers has gotten a DUI (his 2nd). He'd been doing projects in his neighborhood, seeing as his license was suspended. Meanwhile, I and the other brother have been working toward finishing the main summer build outside of town, about an hour away from me.
Now that we're pushing to finish out the contract, we need all hands on deck. Since I live closer to the brother with the DUI, I willingly volunteered to drive him for the last week of the building. That means 45 minutes west to his house, 1 and 1/2 hours east (in major crosstown traffic) to the job site, 8 to 10 hours on-site, and then back the same route.
It's so tiring. Meanwhile, since I don't know as much about every aspect of the building as my boss, I constantly get slight scoffs and moments of being talked down to. That's a little bit beside the point, but makes it sting harder when I find out the next bit of info. Since our next project (that is way closer to my house) is being hung up with permits, we're going to be continuing to button up things for our current client.
So once the brother with a DUI gets a leg monitor, there's a potential that he will want to keep going out to the site, via my driving. Which is not what I had agreed to and will not be supporting. I have a week of vacation to consider the way I will frame my future conversations and remind myself why I enjoy carpentry and the company I work with. That is all.
Nodnarb400
5. Flirting To Frightening
Well at my old job at a supermarket, there was a relationship between a manager and a cashier.
The manager (technically front-end coordinator), let's call him Rick, uses the company system to look up a cashier's information to stalk the heck out of her social media. Rick is 1 level above all the cashiers. We will call this cashier “The Girl.” So Rick is a bit of a creeper and eventually added Girl on her social media account to start messaging.
The girl finds Rick somewhat attractive enough to go out on a date with. They go on a few dates and kiss and hook up, and it's going fine but Rick steps it up with the creepiness and DROPS THE L BOMB two weeks into when they first started talking. The girl gets creeped out and refuses to say it back for a little bit.
The girl also tells Rick multiple times she is not looking for anything serious because of life and she is leaving for college soon. The girl specifically says "I do not want a boyfriend" and Rick says "I know." A day later two other managers (one level above The girl) say "Hey, I heard you are Rick's girlfriend" and she gets teased and is annoyed. The girl is unhappy but continues to see Rick because she doesn't know how to end it without it affecting her job.
Rick becomes more possessive and schedules The girl every time he calls her every night and says “I love you” in every conversation. Refuses to meet up at places, picks her up, and drives her wherever. He shows up at the apartment building she lives in to surprise her. Generally, creepy possessive person.
Finally, a month into the mayhem girl is pressured to say "I love you" and does, while Rick is an ass. The girl leaves for college about a week later. Rick calls her every night and gets mad when the girl goes to a party or hangs out in a group with a male. The girl stops talking to Rick and blocks his number.
The girl gets Rick out of her mind and starts to date a guy she met. The girl gets a call from a restricted number and it's Rick who is drunk and says he is sorry but he is unable to surprise visit in a month. Also, he is the father of a kid he originally claimed was a nephew. The girl hangs up, continues the date she is on, and pretends Rick doesn't exist.
The next day, Rick gets angry and messages on every social media platform and blocks the girl so she can't respond to the messages. When the girl comes back from college, the girl quits her cashier job and gets a better job.
Snowsnowey
6. Workplace Turmoil
So at the job I quit the other security guards have been harassing my friend who stayed. She has caught them selling illegal substances, messing with the sensitivity that triggers the cameras so they can sleep without being caught, bringing a weapon, and being threatened by both guys, one where he got in her face on camera and the other where he left crazy religious stuff that was threatening.
She told the security company repeatedly, every step of the way. Now the person who signed the contract just found out what the guards have been up to. She's also let him know that her supervisor for the company has been aware since day one and hasn't done anything.
I'm hoping the security company loses this contract. They allowed me and a lot of other people to be harassed by another guard and didn't do anything for a year and a half. At least 5 other people complained about that guy.
[deleted]
7. Dodging Romance
A female coworker is mad at me because I told her best friend I don't date coworkers. I came to find out the girl liked me and I rejected her. Later on, someone asked if I was fired if I and the girl would date. I said no. I'm not about to get fired to date a girl when I have bills to pay. It has been bad every day since then.
I wanted to add today's interaction and just show how pissed she is. She works morning and night. I may work an hour or 2 with her a day. Well, every day I ask how the previous night's close was to make sure it was perfect and everything was good. Well got no answer from her so I figured she didn't hear me and she walked away. Later on, asked her again, and nothing. Another coworker comes in and she is steadily talking to him asking how his day is and all that. No issue, but she refuses to talk to me. You win some you lose some. It is what it is.
FuzeJokeste
8. A Mid-life Resignation
I suppose I'm the drama. I'm resigning from a position I've held for 20 years to move across the country due to an epic nervous breakdown/midlife crisis. I've worked at this family-owned company longer than the current owner! I've helped train or mentor every person who's walked through the door over the past 15 years.
My boss took the news harder than my mother. We've had a recent exodus of trained and experienced employees and our supplier, the local community college, has dropped the program that taught our people. It shouldn't have been a surprise. The boss and I nearly came to blows several times a few years back because I had gone back to school and he purposely messed with my schedule and duties while I was in school.
This generally led to 1 day a week where I was awake for 36 hours straight, plus another day that was like 22 hours of class then work then class again then work. It's important to note, that sleeping wasn't guaranteed at work, but it is encouraged on overnights. Fatigue is dangerous in my line of work, but understaffing is a matter of survival for the business. So sleeping is a luxury on the night shift.
I finished school a year ago, but due to certain civic duties. I was unable to accept the only local job offer I've received. Now I've worked there for 20 years, but I haven't been primarily employed by them the entire time. I'm on my 7th full-time job with them. I often get frustrated with issues beyond my/my employer's control, drop to part-time, and pick up a full-time elsewhere for a while.
So now the big drama is, "Has he finally lost it, or is he coming back in 6 months?" Little do they know I'm letting my certification that takes 2 years to earn expire, and hope to never with this level of physical, emotional, or psychological stress and abuse ever again!
FlipZer0
9. Boss Trouble
I work in an office department but only report directly to one guy.
A coworker just retired and I was given a share of their responsibilities along with a small raise and also the most substantial one I've received since signing on with this company, slightly altering the hierarchy.
I still report to the one guy primarily for my original job, but was first informed of it all by the department heads who did not inform my direct boss at all. Now he's acting hurt about it and being kind of passive-aggressive towards me.
It's not a big deal and I'm not too worried about it, but it's happening.
ApathyEngage
10. Worst Judgment
Two tradies had a fistfight over a girl both of them rooted. The issue wasn't cheating, it was who had intimacy with her better.
Also, the apprentice switched out the almost flat battery packs in our drills and impact guns to completely flat ones because the boss forgot to charge them and that caused a storm mid-job to the point the apprentice quit over the boss's mess.
The last one would be the same boss wanting to hire back the perve that served time in prison because "He fucking and doesn't ask questions.” I pointed out that our site is right next to a school and that would cause legal issues; he responded, "What those people in the school and the popo don't know and won't hurt them.” I decided I wasn't sticking around for that mess and quit myself.
Suck_astolfos_dick
11. Escaping The Toxicity
My top post is about a coworker who threatened me twice for things that only happened in his imagination.
I could go on and on about the details of his awful behavior, though there's a lot I left out. A few weeks after I posted about him he got moved to a new desk, and another coworker became the main target of his horrible behavior. He found just another target to screw her everyday life with. Those who believe in karma will be amused to know his new target was a witness to his previous threats against me but refused to go to HR with me about it.
A crazy coworker seems to call down. He's still the same incompetent worker he was and a time I had to help him a few weeks ago, he was never grateful for what I did for him. I guess very natural to his awful attitude. He just made these weird tittering noises at me rather than saying "thank you," but he stayed the heck out of my way and I was good at that.
Not too long before I left work Friday a friend from another department contacted me. The douche contacted her, saying she's been talking awful things about him. She barely knows he exists, much less cares about him and makes some veiled threats. She's 5'3" and in late middle age, and he's 6'3", young and ripped, you can see why he feels physically threatened and needs to know he'll fight her. He also made references to me, but just to let her know I'm normally the source of all his problems, but he "knows" what's going on is all on her.
I have to talk to her today about going to HR, but she seems to be not taking it seriously.
AsexualNinja
12. A Difficult Colleague’s Return
The woman at my work is recently back from an extended sick leave from a physical injury she had been suffering. She's still not 100% well and she really isn't yet suited to return to work given her limited ability and the physical nature of the job. But I can understand why she would like to stop sitting in her home all day and if she would really want to just take a rest.
She was off for a long time, people have come and gone without ever knowing she works here, and things have changed quite a lot, but she is adamant about doing things the same way as before she left, even though it is no longer efficient or necessary to do them that way. She's lazy far beyond the scope of her injury, rude to customers, and very gossipy. She doesn't have a single nice word to say about anyone.
I don't think it's occurred to her that we also speak to each other after she's been slagging us off behind our backs. But now on top of everything she's unexpectedly pregnant by her partner who also works here. She's constantly using morning sickness as an excuse to not do things, but apparently, it's never bad enough to just go home cause that's unpaid.
No one wants to deal with her additional mood swings to boot. She's only been back for like 2 months and she has created an awful, hostile atmosphere across the entire place. People are quitting left right and centre, including myself soon enough. I feel really bad for our manager because no one wants to deal with the backlash of complaining about her formally and cause she's “disabled” and now knocked up they can't do much so it's easier for us all to jump ship.
[deleted]
13. Parish Library Predicament
I work at a church and there has been a really big issue with people giving out the parish library after-hours code to people who are not members of our church. It's free to become a member of our church but you have to sign up. Somehow, a word got out to some homeless people and they started taking advantage of this opportunity.
One of the homeless people even set up a little motel in one of the back study rooms, it almost became his home where he did all kinds of stuff there. Somehow it went unnoticed for about a week, he just kept mooching off by using that part of the library.
Until he got careless and the members saw some cigarette butts started appearing in trashcans throughout the library building. It's not a very big building for us not to figure out who the culprit is. So now there's this huge all-staff email thread going on and on and people replying all about whose fault it is and how to fix this issue, etc.
The people who set up the motel were not there when the evidence was discovered so we couldn't talk to them to help them. Our church has a very good relationship with the homeless and low income in our town. Short of running a homeless shelter we are more than happy to assist them.
We have almost daily free meals in our parish center, weekly free food boxes with dry goods and fresh produce, and a weekly poor fund anyone can apply for to help with rental assistance or unforeseen bills. There are only a handful of other organizations in our town that provide services to the homeless so we try our best to keep up with the demand but we don't have the budget for a shelter.
Chalter
14. When A Scandal Unfolds
This event didn't happen today, but a few years ago when I was still working for a 100-person contact centre in New Zealand. It was pretty obvious at that time that my manager (M) at the time had a bit of a thing with another manager (F). There was a lot of flirting happening in the workplace, and while my manager normally had a bit of a personal space radius, that completely dissolved when the other manager was around, but for the most part they kept it professional.
Their personal lives were never the topic of conversation. It was something they tended to avoid whenever we chatted about things going on with our work lives. it was just a bit of an elephant in the room. The occasional talk of the office was the, "Hey did you see M & F arrived at the same time this morning" comment, but nothing too outlandish.”So one day, my manager doesn't show up to work. That's not too out of the ordinary, except for around 11 in the morning when a random female visitor we'd never seen before stormed into the office, and before our receptionist could ask her who she was or who she was here to see, she screamed out "Where's the woman that's been fooling around my husband?"
Manager (F) was out of the office at the time, and while I don't think Manager (M)'s wife knew who she was looking for, it took a few moments for staff to calm her down, convince her to give up her search and find her a quiet room to sit down in before leaving on her own terms. Manager M came back to work after about a week, and Manager F resigned a month later. I'm not sure if it was related, but likely.
Rick0r
15. Passing Of A Bright Fella
It's not that kind of juicy but almost three months ago my coworker all of a sudden passed away Everyone was shocked by this turn of events. He was diagnosed with a mild form of cancer the year before but he had just declared cancer-free so everyone was wondering why his passing happened so fast. Two days before he passed away, I saw him for the last time. I'm currently on maternity leave and visited my workplace with my baby.
His family never said what is the reason for his passing, they kept their mouths shut regarding this matter and never had any tiny international to talk about it. So the rumors started to spread that he didn’t pass away from cancer, it is rumored he harmed himself instead.
I was very close with him and one of the people in our work I enjoy working with. He was 61 and could've been my father and I guess to some degree I saw him as a fatherly figure. He was my role model when it came to work and ever since I started working there six years ago I've made it my goal to become like him one day.
I'm starting work in three weeks again and I can't even imagine how it'll be without him being there. We were always the first ones at the office, we used the quiet time in the morning to talk about our day and private life over a cup of coffee. We've always worked Christmas Eve together as the only people at the office, he always wrapped his wife's presents at the office. We were not just colleagues but friends. I don't know if he really harmed himself or if he was lying about the cancer. It doesn't really matter to me, I just miss him horribly.
Imoshen
16. Scandals And Shenanigans
It was military.
A company’s 1st Sergeant was found to be falsifying her physical fitness test results. The same 1st Sergeant was found to be fooling around with the E3 whose account was being used to falsify and submit them. They got caught when a score was entered on a weekend when "no one was in the shop" and it was noticed
Another 1st Sergeant got relieved by the CO and sent elsewhere because he wouldn't punish anyone caught on a drug test that had below a certain threshold of THC in their system.
The company clerk was also fooling around with half the barracks, but that's not a surprise now, is it? The clap also hit the barracks pretty hard for a while. They have to love that free "medical.”
Someone I know was tricked by some 18-year-old girl into putting her up in a hotel for a week. She made an email account and pretended to be a Colonel's Daughter and said she was in danger or some awful situation. I only half listened to the guy when he told me about it because he always did dumb things. Anyway, she drained him and moved on.
There was "the squad" in the barracks. Basically, that group of 19-going on-14-year-olds who do stupid things and then wonder why they get busted down to private every six months. Apparently, there were a few chicks they ran trains on all the time but the best was a navy chick.
One of the guys was fooling around with her by himself in the choo-choo circle and got her pregnant. He also had another girl out in town pregnant. He ALSO had a girl back home pregnant, all at the same time. Once his sergeant made a joke to me about the chick he had pregnant and I asked which one. I played it off like I was mistaken but the guy's face was priceless. Not many people know even though he openly bragged about it. I've got quite a few about that guy.
Alcohol_n_Hate
17. Explosive Email
So this happened years ago, but it was interesting. So years back, I started working in this office and soon came to hear the local juicy gossip that is that the very married head of another department I wasn't working for was having a long-term affair with the CEO. It was one of those secrets that everybody knew, we just didn't talk about. But everyone sniggered over anytime they both took days off at the same time, they didn't work particularly hard to keep it a secret. It should be noted that both the manager and the CEO had been at this place for around 20 years.
So cut to around 2 years into my employment, it's around 10 pm, I'm at home and my email pings. Now it's worth noting, at this time, our email server was based at work and pretty much the only way people accessed their emails was through a work computer. Having access to them outside of work wasn't something people at my company did back then, mostly because they didn't know how. I knew how.
So it's 10 pm, I'm at home and I'm reading an email from our CEO. The email had been sent to all staff to inform us that the manager was having an affair. That he was going to be leaving to move on to other things and his last day was tomorrow.
Come in the next day to the office being a furor over all of this (though I believe his own office was in much more of a furor since they were suddenly and very abruptly leaderless). Rumors come down that said manager's wife found out about the affair and forced him to resign or she'd leave him. He puts in his resignation and, as a way of having the last word, the CEO decides that rather than have him work through his notice, he'd be done the next day.
Fun fact, remember when I said no one else could access their emails outside of work apart from me? Well, it appears that I knew that his last day was going to be tomorrow before anyone else did including the said manager. Yep, he found out it was going to be his last day at work, on his last day at work.
Joshi38
18. Leaving Chaos In Wake
I work for a government contractor and we all have secret clearances, so clearly, I'm not using my original account for privacy purposes you know.
We have one guy who was assigned to a military base in the Southwest of the US. He was supposed to be there working for our network support and a few other services that we provide. The main role he played was he would call in on just about all of the conference calls that we had and make and send in his reports like he was supposed to.
Well, turned out he hadn't shown up to work in about a year, charging to the contract, never did his job and his main functions for our company. There were so many repercussions because of the mess he made. We were using a trailer as an office on base which was confiscated due to it being derelict and no one using it. The military cleaned out all of our tools and test equipment (that were assigned to this guy) and auctioned them off.
The military unit that he was supposed to support had never met him. He got a second job, got a serious girlfriend, and worked that job long enough to qualify for a job transfer to be with his girlfriend, and then, only after moving, did he quit his job with my company.
I'm just a low man on the totem pole, so I don't have any say., but I think his security clearance should be revoked and he should be sued for all lost equipment. On a side note, a few years prior, while working with my company, the same guy was arrested for a DUI, domestic violence, running from the police, and destroying a rental vehicle on a government contract all in one night.
NotMyRedditAcct69
19. Military To Civilian Work
I just got out of the Navy, I started working at a very nice workplace that genuinely cares about its employees and is all-around a great place to work. I was hired a week before another person who just got out of the Army.
We both got along well for the first day. I quickly realized he wouldn’t stop talking about the Army and always found a way to compare everything he learned in training to things he experienced in the Army. After a while it got old. Being in the military as well I quickly realized he didn’t shake off his old personal habits that certain people (the brown nosers) seem to have in the military i.e. Being pushy, excessive, arrogant, stealing ideas, completely knowing it (I mean cutting off the instructor before they even finish showing them what to do),
Of course, they’re never wrong. Like I said earlier this workplace is a very nice one, lots of healthy-minded people not very used to the dark-humored and grungy mentality, that some if not most veterans tend to have. His way of interacting raised a few eyebrows and I think he noticed. He turned it down a notch or two once he noticed nobody was out to cut each other’s throats and nobody was hostile in the workplace.
Everyone has each other's backs here. After a few times of putting him in his place by calling him out or making comments like “It’s okay to ask for help” or ‘It’s okay to be wrong.” I always did it in front of the instructors that he was trying to interrupt, he’d turn red and I knew he hated it.
He noticed I was getting along with some of the instructors pretty well just because I was being genuine, he must’ve overheard me talking about a book I read about the company because the next day he had the same book and was walking around with it. This was drama I thought I had escaped from in the military but I guess it followed me here of all places.
Independent-Agent-39
20. Pay Discrepancies
I was being asked to work longer hours when my contract clearly stated that I should be working 40 hours a week. I was already getting lower pay for my position and these extra hours are putting me at an hourly pay similar to what I was making before I got promoted. It was not really a great deal for me, more of like a demotion in terms of salary.
I much rather take my old position back because that’s where my pay was worth it and I could shed all the extra responsibility that I took on with the promotion which was not totally worth it. Our company also had a bunch lay layoffs about a month ago which added more work to my plate.
Now my coworker and right-hand man is in the hospital and will probably be off the job for a month or more; might not return at all. Also found out that the next project I will be working on will be with my boss's son and my boss already doesn't get along so I don't anticipate that change going well.
I haven't worked directly with his son too much but I haven't heard good things from those who have. Also, one of my employees is quitting for the same position at a different company but they're offering $5 more an hour and now others are starting to ask where he is going because they want to do the same.
We were already short on labor before this and will struggle if they don't fill his position immediately but I already know they will take their sweet ass time doing so if they do so at all. This place feels like it's falling apart and nickel and diming wherever they can to save a buck.
DB_Coooper
21. The Troublesome Cafe
Omg, so I work in a haunted house that has many different businesses inside it. One of which is a cafe that recently got a new manager within the past 6 months and everything went downhill. This cafe stopped paying their bills and electricity BEFORE COVID-19. Now the people in charge of the business center had enough. Their rent is about £450 a month because it's a big space and they use a lot of electricity.
The cafe's lease was up and they had made no claims to renew it so the managers asked the cafe to leave because they had that many complaints about the cafe and they weren't paying bills. They refused to leave so the managers took the cafe to court and the only reason they'd leave was that if the business centre took on the cafe staff. I don't know any more than this.
Because they had been to court the cleaners had been told to stop cleaning the cafe toilets. Fair right?
Well, the cafe started stealing things from the normal toilets like toilet rolls. I'm not going to expose where I work name so I'm using BC for the business center, not the house's name. So one of the cleaners in black sharpie wrote BC inside the toilet rolls and when she went to check the toilets and they were gone she went to look in the cafe toilets and there they were. Toilet rolls marked BC.
Now, two months since they refused to leave they left on April 1st after the managers sent a mass email out to everyone EXCEPT the cafe. Explaining that the cafe had not been paying their bills and had refused to leave their studio upon being asked.
This email was sent to the Head of the company in charge of the cafe. The PRIVATE email to the 45 studio holders. The manager of the cafe then threatened to take the manager of the business center to court for sharing the information. The information anyone could have found out by looking at the public records.
When the cafe finally left they left notes on the doors saying that they were closed. With things along the lines of "It was not our decision to leave" and "The decision was withheld from our staff."
But they left. Bad-mouthing the people in charge. So they had till Wednesday the 6th of April to remove all their stuff from the studio. Except when the cleaner went upstairs to clean their toilets. There was writing on the window. Things like, "Cafe closed. House fault," "Cafe closed local jobs lost," and "Cafe closed. House fault. Ask House why."
And yeah they left and that's been the drama for 4 months.
PineappleLow2479
22. Sick Kids And Sitter Struggles
I babysit a couple of kids twice a week. The mom keeps bringing them here sick and purposely not telling me ahead of time. The most recent issue this week is her son has a stomach virus. I’m not catching that as I’m 8 weeks pregnant and ALREADY puking enough. Plus my son is barely over the croup she brought into this house two weeks ago. He still hasn’t gotten his voice back.
I know kids pass sickness around a lot and I know daycares are notorious for this. But I’m not a daycare. I charge her way less than I should and she has zero respect for me or my family. I told her she couldn’t bring the kids here this time until they’d both recovered. She lied and said the doctor told her the kid was fine. But earlier in the day she said she never brought him in and didn’t know if he had a fever because “the thermometer is off, but he feels fine.” She lies a lot.
I’m just tired of her pushing and pressuring. She knew her son had croup two weeks ago and also knew we were going to visit my husband’s grandma that weekend and STILL dropped them off sick as heck. What really got me is we had to cancel a visit to Grandma’s a couple of weeks earlier bc she did this same thing. Gma just had the big virus back in February, so we can’t risk making her sick with an RSV-type cold. But does this woman care? No.
I’m torn between telling her to find a new sitter and continuing this whole thing bc my son has fun with the kids. To add to it, her 4-year-old isn’t fully potty trained and it just makes things harder. And it takes over an hour to get her 2-year-old to nap. But she is so rude about how she thinks I can just leave my kid up in his crib crying bc hers won’t go down. She gets really mad if he gets a late nap.
So I guess that’s my current “work” drama. As a stay-at-home mom who watches some kids. Ugh.
NinjaHermit
23. Unequal Treatment And Toxic Colleague Combo
My boss owns two bookstores. I work in the one where he doesn't.
Over the last few years, my boss's incompetence became clearer every day. A former colleague started with 40 hours/week and was cut down to 20 hours, because of "financial reasons. He just wanted him to go and instead of firing him, he wanted my colleague to quit. It worked.
Then he hired someone new. She's competent, knows what she's doing, and has a very high position in her former job. Instead of working with her to accomplish new things he uses her as a help for both stores. Sometimes she works in bookstore A, sometimes she works in B. He quickly shut her down by just don't give a heck of what she has to say.
Then there's the money. The people in bookstore A (that's where my boss works too) get more money and vacation and a Christmas Bonus. We don't. In bookstore B we don't have a manager or something like that. We are on our own. When we need something like toilet paper we have to call him and ask for it.
In November our heating system broke. LAST WEEK it finally got repaired. I have one colleague who is using all of that to her advantage. She wants to be the boss and acts like it. My boss knows about that. I once called him to warn him, that I am currently her target and that he shouldn't believe everything she says. His response was "Ah yeah, that again Well, what should I do?"
She's unfriendly to our customers, she takes her private phone calls when she's at work and sometimes gets so angry (on the phone) to the point where customers come to me to voice their concerns about that. She doesn't do anything. She takes the smallest issues and makes the biggest problem out of it and acts like she just solved climate change. She is a real douche.
Everyone is annoyed by her. We talked about how we all don't want to go to work when she's there. I collect as much work as I can find to do at the basement (where my office is) over the week so I can be down there when she's here.
It's exhausting and she's one of the many reasons I quit. And why another colleague is going to quit too.
Kaleroin
24. Rectifying Mismanagement
Just hired a new manager and a bunch of stuff is coming to the surface about the old manager allowing a lot of awful behavior at work as well as one person who took over training a new staff (who is now three months in) and told them at some point when X person is working with you they can do all the work.
We work at a group home for adults with developmental disabilities. Among things to have come up with the old manager is allowing staff to smoke/vape inside the home of the people we support when we aren’t even supposed to do it on the clock let alone on or inside company property and around people who can’t communicate that they’d prefer it to stop or not. Letting staff clock in and immediately leave for hours at a time for personal errands like car repairs or tattoos.
The old manager straight-up failed to train staff over the last two or three months. The old manager came to work drunk her entire final week. the old manager letting staff take (steal) property from the people we support and probably telling those staff to do it in a way that makes it look like it isn’t stealing (actually under investigation right now).
They disrespect the new manager by a few staff who were babied by the old manager, possibly neglectful practices that have led to a new or series of new bruises each time I return to work after my weekend (also under investigation) that happened because our old manager told people they could do certain things certain wrong ways.
Probably more, I’ve tried to not be so involved in some of the drama and just make sure the people I care for are taken care of and happy, but our new manager seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel as they rope in the bad apples and take the appropriate actions to prevent these things from happening again.
Aregisteredusername
25. High Stakes Showdown
This may not be what anyone wants to hear, but I'm gonna tell it anyway.
When my office manager B, started working with me, I told her that when she was at the office, if she ever felt uncomfortable with anyone in the office to send me a 911 text and I would drop everything and get there.
Fast forward 4 years. B had left and then returned to work with me again. I had just clocked out, and as part of my routine, I went to the gas station down the street to get coffee for the ride home. My work phone dings. "Are you close by?" I told her I was at the gas station getting coffee.
She texted me again, "Can you come back after?" I said yes, thinking a tenant had a last-minute problem that wouldn't wait until tomorrow. "I don't feel safe," she said, then I replied, "Just act normal."
I paid as quickly as I could and acted out the chase scene from Smokey and the Bandit, casually pulling into a parking space 2 minutes later. She had a guy in the office, wearing just sweats and shoes, pacing around and talking just a little crazy. She had gotten an application ready while I sat down and pretended to order parts. While he was looking out the window, I took my Taser out of the drawer and armed it, keeping it in my lap.
She texted that he kept looking out the window like he was looking for someone. Then she thought he was high. I took my phone out and said I needed to text my friend that I'd be running late, by using the 911 text service. This allows people who are in situations where they can't speak to contact authorities and get help without talking.
We closed the office and told this guy he had to leave since we were closing. He went to his car, I took B to hers and carefully took pictures of his plates as he backed out. B then left and I took my taser back to my desk. The phone rang and she asked, "Did he leave?" I thought he'd pulled out in front of her. I answered, "He parked by the front building."
I left to go look, acting like I was getting something from my car, when he backed up, turned, and drove over to park in front of me. At this time the cavalry arrives. Turns out, yes he was high, and had a warrant out for his arrest. So 6 police cars, 1 transport van, and a tow truck, I got to go home.
That's drama for the week.
SD-Caller
26. Navigating Network Woes
I am a software developer and maintain a business-critical system that generates and uploads data to a third-party service.
A few weeks ago, this system and its redundant backup stopped uploading that data, so cue the alerts and panicked emails about the data not being populated/available.
I worked for 14 hours from 7 am to 11 pm. I'm on a fixed salary, so no overtime, but I did take some time off once things stabilized. I was trying to diagnose and fix the problem, while also keeping my boss informed and sending/receiving emails between corporate system admins and networking.
Everybody went silent around 4 pm, they all went home, while I continued to work. The next day I got an email from networking about them making some configuration changes to their systems. . and then they proceeded to blame the improper configuration of my system. They comment on how my system should never have worked in the first place. (it had been working for about 6 months at this point)
I don't take that crap from anybody, so I went looking into it. They made an undocumented change to the network security about a week before this happened, which in turn caused my upload processes to be blocked when it finally propagated to my systems, although the upload process still somehow returned a successful response. (HTTP 200 OK)
Yeah, my boss didn't blame me. We've had issues with these inept people before but it was still my responsibility for about a week afterward to repair/regenerate and upload approximately 48 hours of missing data by the time it was fixed, which was a pain in the ass. Manual database edits to make the software correctly think the data hadn't been uploaded, but also ensuring the data existed only once in the third-party service.
I'm still receiving near-daily emails about how data from XYZ is missing, which is there now but takes a while to be reflected in other systems that use it.
xAdakis
27. Unconventional Choices
So, not mine exactly, but my former employer.
I worked a big-box retail job for 5 years. I didn’t really care for my position, but that’s on me. However, I did meet some of my best friends to this day, who still happen to work there currently.
My original department manager, Mike, was a kind of “off” guy but otherwise cool. In his early 30s, he had already been working at the company for about 5 years when I came on, trying to work his way into upper management.
One night while scrolling through a dating app, I clicked on a profile of a girl basically naked. I’m in my early 20s, and she’s maybe late 20s to early 30s. I clicked on the profile to learn more, and it’s a “seeking +1” profile with a picture of Mike buried after a few risqué pictures of her. Whatever, they’re adults, and whatever they’re into is cool. It's not my place to judge or talk about it with coworkers.
Earlier this year, as I was preparing to leave, I was tasked with going to a store a state over to help with inventory. I’m paired up with a couple of buddies, and inventory is usually a 9 pm -3 am kind of deal. Mike also comes on this trip with his wife. So after we’re finished, my two buddies and I have a couple of celebratory drinks. One of them isn't a fan of Mike, and after a bit of probing, I tell them both about Mike and his wife’s “arrangement.”
Fast forward to March. The store is in a complete tailspin for a medley of different reasons. An assistant manager was hired in June of 2021, universally hated by staff. The head manager who was quite popular left in November, his replacement had been a horrible hiring decision, and one of the other assistant managers decided to leave to be a bartender. So a store that’s supposed to have one head manager and 5 assistant store managers now has one flaky head manager and 2 assistant managers, one being Mike after he was promoted probably in 2018 or so.
I occasionally ask how things are going, as one of the buddies I know had been promoted to one of the 2 assistant managers. The store, in general, is just kind of a mess of crazy with shoplifters and crackheads occasionally doing something wild. He tells me that they think the current head manager is going to be fired for lack of attendance and that Mike is also “leaving,” which would be odd seeing as he would be the most senior person on staff. But whatever; he’s got a family and maybe is just tired of it like I and so many others were.
I got a call from their HR department about a week ago and asked if I knew him and could provide any kind of insight on my time working under him.
Turns out, Mike was being let go by the company because in January, it was found out that he and his wife did find someone to be their +1, and she was later hired by Mike to work directly under him in one of the departments he manages. They were caught after someone eavesdropped while she was taking a video call from him and his wife on the clock, and “lewd” things were apparently said and done. So he threw away probably a 10-12 year career at a company because he hired his college-aged pseudo-girlfriend."
FreezersAndWeezers
28. Classroom Struggles To Triumph
I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. I teach at a very prominent and famous school here in Brazil. The owner of the school was always an inheritance boy, getting the school from Daddy Dearest, who was one of the first to get a franchise when the school opened and basically was a horrible manager. Fast forward like 20 years later, and the school's renown nationwide is not enough to keep it open, so it sinks like a brick during the pandemic. We all lost our jobs back in September.
But there was a saving grace! cue holy noises The other school he owned was bought out by the previous coordinator, and we all got transferred there, hurray! Except he took away all of our classes and students to "manage" and basically strangled our classes he couldn't take away so that we quit ourselves.
I've been looking for a new job for about a month now since I first started realizing this BS. It was not going as smoothly as I hoped. Except last Monday, I sent a CV, got contacted the same day, interviewed the next day, and instantly hired thanks to skill, experience, and one of my ex-students being a teacher there!
Now I was able to give him the middle finger and start at a place that pays more and starts me with more hours than I had before, so yay!
So where is the drama here? Sounds like an awesome story and it is! I am over the moon! The drama is that I am American. Well, not yet (getting papers), but I grew up in the States as a kid, so I am a fully fluent AMERICAN English teacher. EVERYONE foams at the mouth here the second I open it; students love it.
Anyone in the field here knows: that ESL teachers are like hairdressers. You lose the worker, you lose the client. Guess who had a mass exodus of students because I left? Serves him right! Also, sorry for the bragging; I'm still on Cloud 9 right now. I haven't felt valued in years, and I love teaching with all my heart and soul.
Yami_ryushi
29. Behind The Shelter Doors
I work at a well-known animal shelter in a large city. The management is absolute trash. The COO, let us call her Kris, makes the worst decisions like wanting to adopt out a cat with heart failure with an estimate of about 6 months to a year because “he could live longer” and knowingly taking a dog with a contagious ailment to an event with all healthy animal because “she’s not sick it’s just because her snout is squished like a pug.” She’s currently receiving a summons for one of these decisions which she definitely deserves.
Anyways Kris made the head of our department of files and internal affairs who’s been working with the shelter for 15 years quit just bc Kris didn’t like her. Kris made her feel like she wasn’t an essential part of the team. She trusts me.
After the head left the rest of the department put in their two weeks as well. I know Kris will push all that department’s responsibilities onto the rest of the other departments which they will NOT stand for. The directors of the other departments will gladly kiss her ass tho. I can sense a walkout of employees or an increase in people quitting about to happen.
Kris is the epitome of an entitled white woman/Karen. Really out here thinking people respect her, well we don’t. About to start job hunting to get out of this toxic environment. I could make a series on all of the toxic things that go on, including how the shelter only cares about numbers and donations while ALL teams are understaffed, underpaid, and overworked. Manipulating the teams by using the “we all want these animals to be happy, healthy, and safe” but they don’t give two craps. Anyway, that was the end of my rant.
N0_Descripti0n
30. A Tale Of Mismanagement
The company hired a new director, passing over many others who were more qualified and had been with the company more than for 10 years. This led to people quitting, including our other director who had been with the company for 20 years. The new director was rude and sent many emails about how we were “gossiping,” when, in reality, everyone was just asking questions trying to figure out what was going on.
Within a month, she hired a new guy, and she only interacted with him. It seemed suspicious as she conducted only Zoom meetings with him present. Even in a conference room, she would stay in her office and join through Zoom. During our first meeting with her, she expressed being “tired of introducing herself,” creating a super awkward atmosphere.
Fast forward, and more people quit. One person who was overly qualified for the position this man was hired for quit because the company chose him instead. The new director continued to send hostile emails and even tried to get us to do illegal substances that would be insurance fraud because she didn’t understand what our company did.
More people quit due to her attitude and refusal to get to know anyone or our positions. She continued to only speak to this one man, making everyone more suspicious of what was happening. During our monthly meeting, she accused us of being rude, and unwelcoming, and said we needed to stop comparing her to the other director who had worked for 20 years and quit. The silence that followed was incredibly awkward, leading to more tension in the office.
I decided to snoop and found out that the man she hired after being there for a month was her baby daddy. I discovered their registry, indicating she was pregnant. However, she didn't tell anyone that her supervisee was the father, which was a significant violation. They owned a marketing company together but didn't disclose that she owned a part of it as well. She pushed aggressively for the company to hire his company for our marketing. Around this time, more people quit, and word quickly spread.
The company ended up firing them a month later, but due to everything, a few more people quit. We lost 10 to 12 employees because of this, most of whom had been with the company for more than years. This occurred in the mental health department, and most people in other departments had no idea it happened. Although it was a couple of months ago, we recently lost two more employees due to how the situation was handled.
-1anonymous
31. Fast Food Fiasco
This is very high school drama, but it’s a fast-food place with mostly teenagers, so it doesn’t surprise me that much. However, this dude, who asked me to start working here, got extremely jealous of me when I started dating this girl apparently he was in love with this girl but he knew for a fact that he had no chance with her. Well, our relationship was quick to develop, we had dated for a while, and it ended, and then she left the place after we ended our relationship.
The whole time we were together, this dude was talking awful things about me, saying how he wanted to punch my face in and how I was a weak boy who needed myself rocked. I did not do a single thing to this dude, strictly because he’s so in love with this girl.
Well, this all started a year ago, and I texted him about it, telling him to either fight me or stop calling me a sissy. He stared at the message on a message for like 20 minutes, then blocked me on there. Well, a year later, he’s still talking, so I sent him a text message pretty much saying the same crap but again, and I was more disrespectful this time because I’m tired of it. He didn’t respond this time either and just showed up to work every day after acting mad at everyone.
Also, note that he’s been exposed for talking crap about every single person that works there several times, and every time he gets exposed, he gets mad at everyone instead of owning up to it and apologizing. I could write a whole book on this dude; he’s like a character straight out of a sitcom with all the ridiculous things he says and does, I swear.
DonkeyyThong
32. Mystery Dirt Dropper
We have noticed small mysterious changes over the last month in our office. A square of brand-new carpet is being torn up and replaced in a hallway. The runner in front of the cafeteria disappeared and a few weeks later we got a brand new one. Parts of the hallways have been strangely roped off. We also just had security cameras installed in all of the walkways.
The situation was finally brought up and discussed in a private meeting. An employee has been pooping randomly throughout the building during business hours. These have been rather large piles of poop that people have narrowly missed stepping in. This very professional workplace makes this entire situation all the more perplexing. This person is still on the loose and it could be anyone.
CaucasianRemoval
33. Managerial Dynamics
My boss hired a woman to manage a team of women because he couldn't stand listening to women talk about women's things. However, the woman he hired is significantly older than she should be for a job that requires intense physical activity. She claimed to have "retired" from being a bank teller.
Regardless, she doesn't meet the hiring criteria specified in the job posting, as I have confirmed. She can barely use a computer, has never used Excel, possesses no knowledge about the products we sell (and customer service with genuine expertise is a key factor in retaining customers), and is unable to lift 50 lbs. Maintaining product inventory, recording product issues, and handling orders without extensive Excel knowledge will be challenging. The lack of product knowledge is a major issue, as acquiring it takes years of experience and trial and error. There is no training program for this job; one must know the products and their issues firsthand.
I've had to assist her every time she interacts with a customer over the past week. She knows absolutely nothing. Although I've provided her with tools to help customers navigate our 380,000 sqft facility, that is about the extent of what she can do.
Originally, the manager position was supposed to be mine. My boss and I discussed it, but the main owner, who is my boss's dad, did not want to hire someone to replace me. I hold a unique position in the company, working for the main boss during the winter. While my winter duties are not particularly difficult, they are tedious.
I am one of three people (the main owner, the maintenance guy, and myself) who can operate the machines we rely on in the winter. The company has experienced a high turnover of people who quit over those machines, and they couldn't risk losing me at a critical time of the year.
In addition to my regular and winter duties, I manage all the social media accounts, handle general email, give facility tours, am the spokesperson for radio spots, and oversee all design work. My boss was concerned that I wouldn't be able to manage everything in addition to the manager position. I managed 1200 employees five years ago, so handling 12 employees now is nothing.
Unlike my coworkers, I still report to my regular boss, not the new manager. However, the new manager turned to me to assign daily job duties to employees. There has been no change in job title, pay, or any acknowledgment of my expanded responsibilities.
I genuinely love my job, and I would have been perfectly fine with a knowledgeable and capable manager. However, the current situation feels like a significant insult.
Guinnypig
34. Unintended Rumous And Workplace Sabotage
Ugh. Two big things--one of them, annoyingly enough, involving me.
A little back story, my direct supervisor and I are pretty friendly with each other. It's widely known I'm the best on his team. You will know that instantly just by looking at my numbers, and the fact that I am a mentor to other members of my team. It's going to be a Personal Evaluation so it must be true. I'm the qualified sub when he's not here and I can do almost all of the work.
Anyway. He's a perpetual bachelor and about 10 years my senior. Everyone at my company is lush, it's the culture. So the office often goes out for drinks after a day of work, and he and I are usually neck and neck for who can drink who under the table. He's a funny guy and I like him a lot as a person.
I always joke and tell him that he needs a wife because he seems to be sort of helpless about the most mundane things. I came back from training last week and the whole office was abuzz while we were talking over coffee in the break room. Turns out everyone is now calling us work spouses and thinks that we're secretly dating or sleeping together because of some offhand comment he made about me missing a meeting last week. Still not sure what he said.
The other big drama right now is that a fairly senior person who is very well respected and very good at her job was trying to apply and our manager basically sabotaged her pretty savagely and openly and she didn't get her dream job and is now stuck here until another opening comes up. She's been loudly and openly sour about it all this week.
HarleySyndrome
35. Weekend Mishap
I'm on the topic of office drama and gossip right now! I work the third shift as an unarmed security guard at a healthcare call center that closes around 7 pm, so I'm alone. They are mostly closed on weekends too, with the occasional person working overtime or something. Anyway, on weekends, I work 12-hour shifts, from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am. There's another woman who works that same shift just reversed, so the weekend shift is just us.
I did not call and did not show up on Sunday. It was not done on purpose at all, and I seriously regret it. I have already talked to my boss about it, and luckily, he is very understanding. I got a bad case of food poisoning from the Mexican food I ate on Saturday night throughout my shift. I woke up at around 10 am hurling and expelling everything I had ever eaten.
Luckily, I was at my mom's house, who is a doctor. I was already pretty dehydrated, so this just made that worse. My mom says I was delirious and just not fully aware of anything. She said she told me to go ahead and call my boss to let him know I would be out that night. I continued to throw up every hour or so and was just a delirious mess.
I honestly thought I called my boss. I clearly remember talking to him and telling him what I ate, and I clearly remember him telling me to feel better soon. Apparently, that didn't actually happen, and I only dreamed it. My mom had given me some medicines to stop the vomiting and help me sleep. So basically, I was in a coma in her bed since she had a bathroom in her room.
My phone was on vibrate, I was in a coma, my mom thought I had already called, and so she had no reason to check or anything. So the poor morning guard was stuck there, and my boss, who had already worked a 12-hour shift at the other building we guard, ended up having to cover for me and work 24 hours. At about 9:30, my mom says she saw my phone light up and happened to check it and saw a text from my boss, so she texted him back telling him what was going on.
My normal nights off are Monday and Tuesday, so I was set to return to work Wednesday night. I pretty much lost all of Monday and most of Tuesday, so the only thing he had heard from me was me sending a weak-ass apology text on Tuesday. So I just go ahead and plan I'm working my normal shift Wednesday at 10:30 pm and didn't think anything at all about texting him Wednesday to let him know I was actually gonna show, so he had called someone in to cover for me in case I didn't show.
Basically, I was the worst. I messed up everyone's day and made my poor boss work 24 hours. Luckily, he is a super nice dude, and we talked Thursday morning, and I explained and apologized profusely and genuinely meant it. I do like my job and felt terrible that I had messed up so badly, especially since I'm still kinda new.
My boss saw that I was genuinely sorry and felt honest guilt and shame, so he was nice and understanding, but I am still on probation for the next 90 days, which is understandable and could have been worse. But yeah, now everyone is talking about "that new girl that didn't show up."
Shadowshea
36. Office Turmoil: Project At Stake
The Director has been on sick leave for three months with two more months left. She left three managers in charge. One of them (let's call her manager 2) has to finish a significant project, somewhat similar to a smaller one I completed a month ago, involving a lot of Excel work. Manager2 is not my direct boss; that's manager1. Manager 2 asked me to help her figure out the project. However, minutes later, Manager 1 (who has the power to fire me) tells me not to help Manager 2 at all.
The Director is a good person, and I know that if the project is not finished soon, there could be financial consequences, and she might have to let some people go. Despite the significant risk, I informed Manager 2 that I would help her but only after finishing my shift so that Manager 1 doesn't mind. I attempt to wait until Manager 1 leaves, but she hasn't left yet, and Manager 2 comes to my cubicle loudly asking for the help I promised. I go to her office as quietly as I can and assist her a bit. Manager 3 sees me going in.
The next day, Manager 3 called me into Manager 1's office, and they BOTH asked me about the help Manager 2 needed, spoke negatively about Manager 2, and told me I shouldn't help her at all. I had given Manager 2 the basics of Excel and every step she needed to finish the project, thinking she would be able to complete it without further assistance.
That afternoon, Manager 2 asked me to actually do all the Excel work in her project, which constitutes 85% of the work. I informed her that my boss, Manager 1, wouldn't allow me to do additional work during my regular hours. Since the project is urgent, I suggest she finish with what I taught her the day before. She agrees but asks me to stay after hours again and complete the Excel work.
At that moment, Manager 1 passed by, asked Manager 2 what she needed, and when told it was help with the project, Manager 1 and Manager 3 bash Manager 2. This happens right in front of me and everyone. Currently, Manager 2 is not speaking to Manager 1 and Manager 3. She has expressed disappointment, expecting more loyalty to the Director. She blames me, stating that if the project falls apart, it's my fault. Manager 1 and Manager 3 tell me they will vouch for me if something happens, but I'm skeptical and don't believe a word.
[deleted]
37. Office Rom-Com
It's not labeled as drama yet because no one in the office knows about it except the people involved in the situation, but I was sort of in a love triangle at work until yesterday.
I had been hanging out with a girl for a while now and it’s been going great so far. So, since our relationship was going pretty well, we had talked about the possibility of dating, and moving into the next level of our friendship. But, she told me that she wanted to know me better first, get into the details about my life and other stuff before getting into anything. As for now, we decided to stay just friends for the moment until we get more of an opportunity to get to know each other.
About two weeks after that, I thought it was going well but she told me all of a sudden that she didn't want to lead me on, but I found out that she is now seeing someone else. I'm fine with that, so we just continue being friends. She didn’t really talk about it beyond that, and she didn’t tell me anything about him, and I didn't ask. I'm still interested and don't really want to give up, but I'm not pushing it.
Two weeks later, yesterday, she dropped less than subtle hints that she wanted to tell me who it was. I ask and apparently, it's a coworker of ours. The trick of it is, she's 21 and he's over 40. She's looking for serious long-term commitments, too. I try to break it to her that it's really unlikely that she's going to find what she's looking for with this guy. She takes it incredibly poorly. We're now no longer friends. I ran into the guy in the hall today and he stared daggers at me.
BEEFTANK_Jr
38. The Chronicles Of Office Fabulist
I'm a bit late regarding this story, but we have a pathological liar colleague in our company. As background, we were actually working at the bank.
She was just an intern on call, a newbie in our New York City office. She said that in her college days, she went to Yale to get her bachelor’s degree. We noticed about that detail that she mentioned that she was already lying about it. Girl, I have already seen your resume and it’s not clearly Yale. It is the local state school, I don’t even have an idea why you are clearly denying it and there is no shame in that. Whatever school you went through as long as it's a quality education, that’s fine! Plus you know lots of people here in our company know people from that Ivy school, right? Or even some of the people in the company went there and they are undeniably excellent.
She told us that she was dating a brain surgeon, who also according to her, has cancer. Girl, we found his picture, the one you have sent us. We found the person you are talking to on a dating website and one of us matched with him. But you know what’s the catch? He doesn't know you.
She told us that she has been accepted to Harvard Business School but instead, she is accepting an offer from a big consulting firm, a bit sketchy on that part. She told us that she was in an abusive relationship and was thrown through a glass wall, injuring her wrist, which healed somehow without scars. Another thing to think about
She was called into the MD's office. The Legal was there too. They had confronted her with her lies. Now, she had tonsillitis surgery and was too unwell to come in for the remaining two weeks of her internship. And this is how you messed up your chance of getting an offer.
Vampaway
39. Car Lot Capers
Well, I have a co-worker who always finds a way to mess up his job every single time he gets a customer. He was always scrolling through his social media account to make it seem that he was busy. He was always trying to argue with the manager every time he checked up on us and all in all, he did not pay attention to the lot. They are trying to fire him but sometimes the manager gets caught up in this guy's antics and they always end up arguing.
Normally, when you set up an appointment with a customer you have to tell the General Manager so he knows what's going on and he can help set up the meeting. Well, this man sets up an appointment with a guy for a luxury car and then a week later the guy shows up to take a look at the car, lo and behold, no luxury car on our lot. This guy is pissed and my co-worker tried to blame our regular manager that also had no idea about the appointment. In the end, the manager saves the sale and makes a switch because the first guy messed up.
This is just one of many, he can't even present his pencil correctly. I have been here for 2 months and have sold more cars. He would also tell the owner of the company every time we messed up, like really little things. He also talks about bringing lawyers whenever we mention firing the dude. He has till the end of the month to sell 6 cars and if not, he's gone. He's also a compulsive liar but don't get me started on that. I don't know if this counts as work drama but yeah. The manager and co-worker currently arguing sometimes it's really funny to listen.
PM-ME-PUP-PICS
40. Web Of Lies
I'm out of the office all week next week, and the moron who was supposed to be covering for me has been here four months and knows nothing about the work that we are doing. On top of that, she always lies or loves to throw other people under the bus to cover up her myriad mistakes on simple things that she should know by now.
The case in point is that she forgot to pay in a cheque at the bank one day. That was obviously her fault of course. But, Instead of holding her hands up and admitting her mistake when she was asked why that happened in the first place, she denied ever having written the cheque, ever having the checkbook, and ever leaving the office that day to go to the bank.
We have a freaking sign-in and out sheet that she wrote her times down on. Turns out she tore the cheque AND THE STUB out of the checkbook and shredded both. We found them in the accounts shredder. Which is really bad if we ever get audited.
This week, I guess she was having a super rough day and ended up crying at the bottom of the stairs to our office. Guess who had to go talk to her off the ledge. She genuinely feels victimized and bullied by the other person in Accounts, yet all of the horrible examples she was giving to me literally did not happen. I sit right next to her all day. My Operations Manager has no idea what to do about her.
And I'm trying to maintain my zen about the fact that she'll be covering my job all next week, along with my line manager, and I'll be coming back to a dumpster fire that will take me days to sort out.
Kaybird296
41. Compassion Versus Workplace Responsibilities
This office drama is sad and annoying at the same time.
My colleague got a degenerative neural disease diagnosis that affects his body’s activities which are moving, talking, and even his heart function. Coincidentally, it actually turns out that another member of the team also suffers from it and he is a few decades further along than his case.
After taking an initial year off, he was making all the ways to take advantage of the situation he was in. It would seem like he was now deliberately trying to get the company to just lay him off the work he was in. No matter what was happening, he would not quit because it was to his disadvantage, it would clearly affect his pension if he did so.
I'm very sympathetic but I have been covering his job for 2 years now which is not what I was hired to do but I was tasked to do it and I was left with no choice. He has negotiated a reduced working pattern but always arranges his appointments on working days so he can just not turn them in, and has put in several additional sick notes this year, over 2 months' worth.
The phased return to work is meant to last a short while and then go back up to full-time hours but he has managed to luck it out for close to a year because the company doctor changed and the duration got reset. It's partly the company's fault as they won't let him work from home and is just a sad situation all around as it's limiting for him but I dislike the dishonesty of the situation.
It's a desk job, nothing stopping him physically doing it, he just has some issues walking which would be true if he was at home instead of at work.
Slanderous
42. Hair Salon Saga
I work at a hair salon, and boy, do some women love the drama that it is like their lives revolve around here.
The “Assistant Manager” is the most unprofessional person I have ever met in my entire life working in an office. She not only boldly says lewd things in front of clients like she is not professional at all, but she also dishes the worst attitude to them which is a petty act because she does this if their tone is even remotely different.
Another drama in our office is one of our female coworkers has 2 boyfriends at the same time. One of them she was living with in one apartment and he is the main financial provider who covers all of their expenses as a live-in partner. He works overnight so the girl is the only one who stays in their apartment at night.
So, while he is working hard, she is fooling around with her second boyfriend who is her main boyfriend’s arch-nemesis from high school and she knows about that. BF whom she lives with has no idea what is happening every night, and the side piece boyfriend does not know that she moved into a house with the main boyfriend. She would often leave work early because “She doesn’t feel good” to go and see her side piece at his mom's house.
Another female coworker cheated on her baby daddy with a friend of 15 years. The friend of the girlfriend found out and now makes fake client accounts to fill her book up with non-existent clients just to mess with her.
Another female coworker got married after 3 months of knowing the guy because they’re both super religious and waited until marriage. They have now been together for around 5 years and have never once been intimate with the lights on.
Bobabean_27
43. Office Mystery That Lingers In the Air
A director was sitting in an office by himself behind my desk. He walks out of the office and runs out so that he can get lunch. I got an urgent phone call and it was a company I was interviewing with. I had to take the call as soon as possible and I needed to find a quiet place where no one could hear me talking about my interview, so I ran into his office since it was the only room in the office which is empty and I know for a fact that his lunch usually takes time.
He won’t be back any time soon so I took the chance to use his office. So anyways, I’m in there taking this call and talking with their human resource personnel about the interview process and other stuff like the responsibilities of the position I was applying to, when all of a sudden, the Tinga Tostada I had for lunch starts putting in the work on my gut. I just get the urge to fart. So I squat-farted and finished the call. I walked out to my desk like nothing happened and I made sure to close the door behind me to his office.
He comes back from lunch, has his chop bag in his hand, and asks how we’re doing and walking into his office when he gets a call from his wife; and all of a sudden I just hear him going “What the hell, who crapped in my desk?!” He coughed a lot and puked out his kale salad, the corn, dried tomatoes, and pieces of chicken just everywhere.
The drama is trying to find who farted, so for the past three months I’ve been going into his office and asking “You ever find out who farted in your office that one time.”
Squat_fart
44. School Bus Sideshow
I work in the transportation department where we handle and operate school buses of my town's public school district. A lot of the drivers are currently very annoyed because of a sudden decision they just made. The higher-ranking employee in the district has suddenly decided that elementary school students cannot be let off of the busses in the morning until the school bell rings.
So, we have got to wait in front of their schools before opening the door so that they can enter the gate. Before this decision was made, the drivers were allowed to just let their students off of the bus as soon as they pulled up to the school and there wasn’t any problem that occurred because of that. It wasn't an issue till now, but for some strange reason, they just dropped that decision which affected a lot of drivers' work routines.
As a result of this, some of the drivers are now choosing to start their morning run a little bit later. It actually makes sense that way because rather than waiting for long minutes, they normally would just to avoid having to sit in front of the elementary school for more than 10 minutes with a bunch of anxious grade schoolers.
A few parents drove their kids themselves because they thought they had missed the bus because it hadn’t arrived at the usual time that it does. They were not aware of the change in the policy. While our boss agrees with the drivers who are upset about the sudden change, his hands are kind of tied.
Oh, and there is also the whole thing with the school wanting extra busses for sports trips despite our boss constantly reminding them that we only have so many drivers who are able or willing to do said trips.
Zakku_88
45. Striking A Discordant Note
I work as a private lesson teacher at a local music school. I live in a rural spot so teachers are in high demand. One of my bosses is the one I see the most and he has some very controversial political views.
During the height of the pandemic, he was the only one who made it very clear to me how much he believed the pandemic wasn’t real at all. Even though he was also seeing everything on the news. He tried to get me to not follow county guidelines for wearing masks or even wearing anti-COVID gear for the wind instruments.
One day, I was waiting for a student who routinely shows up late. Once he saw me, he decided to lecture me for about 30 minutes on how the pandemic is not real at all, how the mask mandate is akin to fascism, how he saw a video on a social media platform that proves the one brand of vaccine magnetizes the recipients, and how Bill Gates is trying to “Cull the global population to 500 million.”
Anyway, he promised to send me some sources where he learned all of this stuff and proceeded to send me a tremendous list of videos and articles. I was not even interested in all of that and I responded in an email that was probably a tad aggressive, which is totally my fault, but I told him that I was not interested in his politics.
He has been passive-aggressive to me ever since that incident and otherwise awkward towards me. He couldn’t do anything to me if he wanted to though because I have two other bosses who have promised to come to my aid if he gets in my face over politics, so that is cool. Overall a pretty awkward situation.
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