In a perfect world, we'd all be able to put our differences aside and get along at work. But in this imperfect reality, sometimes personalities clash, and even tiny workplace disagreements and inconveniences can turn into some pretty wild office drama.
So when someone asked Reddit to share the little dramas that are unfolding in their offices, juicy replies came flooding in. Here are some of the most-upvoted stories:
1. "The old manager wrote a list of pros and cons for each employee for the new manager. She left it out where it could easily be read. There are three to five cons for each person and one to two pros. She hasn’t left yet. Everyone now hates her."
2. "My coworker was texting my old number thinking it was me, asking if I could cover a shift. The person who took over my old number replied to her saying, 'Gargle on my balls,' or something like that. I almost got fired for it."
3. "Someone's been eating people's sandwiches at work. They only take the sandwiches. I'm legit invested in this because I wanna know...why just the sandwiches?"
4. "Our operations manager fell through the ceiling of the conference room. He wasn't invited to the meeting and wanted to listen in."
5. "We've just received our pay increase and bonus figures for the year, except HR sent a number of letters to the wrong people. Some of whom work together, doing the same job, but with different rates of pay and bonuses. Bedlam."
6. "We just went back to the office. Some people forgot about the dress code, so my manager sent out a strongly worded email about it. One of the girls took it way, way too personally and confronted my manager about it during our re-entry onboarding meeting. It’s only been a week since we’ve been back."
7. "One of my coworkers came in three minutes late on Monday of last week, and my other coworker has been pissed at her ever since."
8. "So last October, our printer ran out of ink. More had already been ordered, but with COVID running rampant at the time, the shipment was super delayed. One of my coworkers got really mad over the fact that she couldn’t print the reports in the department and instead had to go upstairs to print them. She claimed that since I was the supervisor (I’m not) that I should’ve been the one to go up and print them despite the fact that it was 4 a.m. and my shift doesn’t start until 7 a.m. She still isn’t talking to me 🤷♀️."
9. "A guy was made redundant at work over a year ago, and he still laugh reacts to every post the company makes on Facebook."
10. "We have a serial toilet clogger. Someone uses a half a roll of toilet paper to wipe and clogs the damn toilet at least twice a week. It's gotten so bad that the poor maintenance man had signs made up that say, 'Please flush after two wipes.' Apparently, she can't read, because it keeps happening."
11. "Two coworkers applied to be supervisor. One has the right degree but is apathetic to everything. The other has good instincts and is highly motivated but doesn’t have the degree. Guess who got the job? Now the go-getter is learning to let the apathetic one fail."
12. "One coworker has an anal fistula and won't stop telling people about it. Another coworker was already in the office when I arrived, and I strongly believe she slept here after a night out. Another coworker is leaving and has spent the week making spreadsheet art instead of doing any work. I admire his creativity."
13. "A new hire lost the master set of keys for the entire building. If we can't find them, then we'll have to replace every single lock, which will cost thousands of dollars."
14. "Everyone just had their end-of-year reviews and received their pay raises starting next month. This week, everyone who's not in upper management is starting to take turns 'having the flu' as we do interviews at other companies. Everyone is looking for the door right now."
15. "Someone at my office is a note writer. You know, the kind that loves leaving laminated notes around the office saying things like, 'Please finish milk before opening new bottle.' They're everywhere, and a new one pops up every week. The kitchen is almost entirely made out of notes now. Now someone has started leaving reply notes on their notes with pictures of Dr. Evil from Austin Powers saying, 'NO.' I don't know who's doing either of them!"
16. "We have a jigsaw puzzle on one of the spare desks to give people the opportunity to sit down for five minutes and de-stress. However, there's a piece of this puzzle missing, and everyone is pointing fingers at each other and trying to work out who has stolen or hidden the piece. My two cents is that it's just a missing piece, but it's fun to sit and watch the madness unfold."
17. "The forks all vanished recently, so they were replaced with new ones. Now the second batch of forks are missing, and the white board notes are getting a little aggressive."
18. "One of my coworkers is always trying to one-up me. I brought in some homemade cookies for National Cookie Day, and she brought in a cake that was almost twice the size. I'm petty, so I brought in a cake twice the size the next day."
19. "One lady is getting married and invited everyone in her department to the wedding, except for one coworker. And she asked the others not to tell. So obviously everybody in the building knows."
20. "My boss rearranged all the tables so that he can see what we are doing on our computers from his office. Since it's an open office workspace, it's very loud, so we got noise barriers. These blocked his vision, so he said we don't need them anymore. It's 12 people in one big office room on the telephone talking at any time. I can barely understand my own words. Everyone is angry."
21. "My colleague with kids commented on me booking all of the Easter holidays off from work. FYI, I do not have kids. Just because he has kids doesn't means he has first pick on the school holiday weeks. If you want it off, then book it first."
22. "One colleague refused to sign another's birthday e-card, and now they won't speak to one another."
23. "Our department is struggling with retention, so the admin bought a popcorn machine to try to boost morale. Think movie-theater-popcorn-style popper. Guess what no one does? Clean the damn thing. Emails are being sent and checks are being made at the end of every shift to make sure it's been cleaned. It's a perfect example of a good plan backfiring, since now it's just one more thing to worry about. I give it a month before it gets put in storage."
24. And finally, this petty work-from-home feud: "My cat is mad at me that I won't let her climb on my work desk during office hours. She retaliates by sitting in my chair when I get up or drinking out of my water glass when she thinks I won't notice. I always notice."
Note: Comments have been edited for length and clarity.
What's the pettiest drama you've witnessed at work? Tell us all about it in the comments.
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