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30 Times People Tried To Sabotage Others, Only To Get Hit By Karma Themselves
Every nasty act eventually gets paid back. This idea pops up all over human culture. Even in 'realistic' fantasy like Game of Thrones, every villain ends up getting their comeuppance somehow. We’ve gotten so used to this that we now kinda expect karma to be a real thing in life.
Here’s the funny part: tons of stories from all kinds of people almost make us believe karma really works. So, here are about three dozen real-life stories where being a jerk backfired pretty hard.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Old coworker tried to get another guy fired by secretly recording him venting about management and sending it to HR. turns out the recording also captured her admitting to faking her timesheets for months. they both got canned but honestly watching her face when HR played back the full clip was chef's kiss.
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#2
I once saw a guy try to sabotage a coworker's code right before a major client demo just to make him look incompetent. he thought he was being slick, but he completely forgot about git commit history. when the app crashed, the lead dev just pulled up the logs and saw exactly who made the "fix" at 2am. he was escorted out by security before the meeting even started. absolute instant karma.
#3
Not a betrayal, but a backfire. I knew a woman who was furious at her landlord for not responding to her maintenance requests and all the problems in the building, so she called to city building department to make a complaint. They came to do an inspection and she was thrilled that her landlord was facing fines. Then they condemned the building and she found herself having to find a new apartment on very short notice.
Okay, we can sincerely admit that at least some of the stories told in various online threads are untrue or made up. Still, we tried to pick the most believable and real-sounding ones for you.
The very concept of "karma" comes to us from ancient Indian philosophy, which asserts that there is a single universal law that encourages people to do good, worthy deeds and punishes meanness and betrayal.
In some cultural traditions, karma operates alongside divine entities, while in others, it operates independently. But in everyday life, karma’s more like people getting back what they gave out - a sort of 'punishment from above.'
#4
Someone made an over the top work request of my team, not knowing they were being transferred to my team (not what I wanted, but management do as they do) the next week. When they started I instantly put them on that task as they were clearly best suited to it.
#5
My mom had relatives she helped out a lot, they paid her back by betraying her and lying to everyone about. Calling her greedy.
Mom stopped talking to them and to her they are gone. A storm hit their area and their house was wrecked and they didn't have the money to fix it. They asked mom for help but all she did was turn a deaf ear to them.
They had to sell their land and move to smaller place. .
#6
A coworker once tried to get me fired by going to our manager with a list of "mistakes" I had supposedly made over several months. Printed it out and everything, very official looking.
Turns out he had been keeping notes in a shared company folder that anyone with the right access could read. Our manager found it weeks before the "meeting" and had already been watching him.
The list of my mistakes was mostly fabricated. His browsing history on company devices was not.
He got walked out the same afternoon he came in with his printed list. Still had it in his hand.
Why do these stories pop up so much at work? Psychologists and sociologists say it’s no coincidence. Work teams are like little communities where negativity - whether obvious or sneaky - tends to bounce back to the person who started it.
The authors of this article on Slow Leadership introduce the concept of "work karma" in a statistical rather than mystical sense. In other words, meanness, humiliation, and sabotage by one or more team members only worsen the overall moral and ethical climate within the team, and other people begin to act similarly.
Sooner or later, those bad moves come back to bite the people who started them. The study sums it up like this: if you throw aggression and disrespect into the mix, it’ll come back to you - multiplied by how many people get involved.
#7
In the heat of an argument, my ex threatened a divorce to try to manipulate me into doing what he wanted. I said "Great! Let's get a divorce!"
He didn't know I had been working up the courage to tell him I wanted a divorce.
He tried to backpedal, but I moved out immediately, and initiated a divorce.
#8
Me and my mates were hitting the weight bench, I stepped out for a bit. Heard the distinct sound of extra weight being racked. Came back in to "oh its your turn now" with all of them looking smug as if I wouldn't notice all the weight plates they had on the bar. I didn't say anything and just jumped under the bar with all of them not hiding the looks on their faces at their excellent "prank".
Forced out 10 reps fueled by their faces dropping and staring as I crank the reps out (far too much weight but you have to prove a point). Finish and slide out and go "good times, you're next aren't you?" the next guy did not look happy, but ego and pride is a hell of a thing.
I wished I could of taken a picture of their faces, put it in a book and bring it out from time to time to warm me in my old age. Felt pretty good to be able to turn the tables and not be shown up.
#9
I remember reading about a coworker who tried to sabotage another person’s promotion by “accidentally” sending an important report late, hoping it would make the other person look bad. The twist? The manager noticed the late submission and traced it back not to the intended target, but to the coworker who was tampering with it. The coworker ended up not only missing the promotion but also getting a formal warning and losing trust in the office. It was a perfect example of that proverb in action: their plan to dig a pit for someone else completely backfired on them.
Of course, such a buildup of "systemic negativity" ultimately does nothing good for the company, because yes, the initiators will get what they deserve, but the team atmosphere will still be damaged. This is especially true if unethical behavior goes unpunished for a long time. The results of a study, conducted back in 2009, clearly confirm this.
"It is highly costly to organizations because it slows down efficiency and hurts morale, which is so key to organizational functioning," Kellogg Insight also quotes Cynthia Wang, a clinical professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School, as saying. So, the best way to dodge payback drama at work? Just keep your own bad behavior in check.
#10
My older cousin tried to turn the whole family against my dad over some inheritance dispute. Sent group texts, made calls, the works. Problem was she accidentally included my dad in the group chat. He never said a word about it. Just screenshotted everything and brought it to the lawyer. She lost her portion entirely.
#11
Lol my ex was telling my friend group behind my back that I was a lousy boyfriend and slandering me. Turns out she was cheating and projecting towards them.
They were my friend group from high school originally so they knew something was up because that’s not how I act towards people. She ended up losing all her friends because my friends were her main friends and after the cheating came out she got left all alone with no support system. Even her closest girl friends chose me over her. She even texted me on her birthday a year later asking how dare I not wish her a happy birthday. Nobody wished her happy birthday. I let her know we’re all purposely trying to forget her, why would we wish her a happy birthday.
#12
A division director who was underperforming was promoted (kicked upstairs) to department director to supervise the division he formerly occupied. The brass viewed the newly minted department director as more of an administrator.
They hired a new division director, but the new department director was interfering with, and undercutting his replacement's authority on a regular basis. The powers that be decided they had made a mistake, defunded the department, and fired all the department staff, including the department director. The brass kept the division as a functioning agency headed by the recently hired division director who finally had the freedom to perform his job now that his predecessor was fired.
However, many experts believe that karma doesn't actually operate in society, and that our stories about it are tied to magical thinking and the selective nature of our memory. That is, as a result of a general increase in aggression in a team, many people may experience negativity, but we will only remember the cases in which the perpetrator of the conflict was the victim.
Classical psychology recognizes the concept of "schadenfreude" (malevolent joy, in German). This article in Science News reasonably notes that people sometimes enjoy watching an aggressive or mean person face retaliation. We even tend to view this as justice being restored.
But hey, don’t get too carried away - too much gloating can turn into bullying and harassment of anyone we don’t vibe with. Like in the old fairy tale, where the brave knight, having slain the dragon, eventually became a new dragon himself...
#13
Had a tenant try to pull this exact thing on me a few years back. Guy stopped paying rent, then called code enforcement on his own unit claiming I was a slumlord who wouldn't fix anything. Problem was, I keep meticulous records of all maintenance requests and communications. Code enforcement showed up, saw the place was in great condition, and then discovered he'd actually been the one damaging stuff to stage photos. Ended up getting evicted faster than normal because the judge was pissed about him wasting everyone's time, plus he got hit with filing false reports.
#14
Was cleaning under my tables as the closer at my restaurant. A little kid left a toy millipede or something, and it scared the heck out of me. So I hatched a plan. I hid it at the service station for the opener to find the next morning.
I was the opener the next morning, and it scared the heck out of me again.
#15
A guy at my old job spent months trying to get his colleague fired by documenting every small mistake and reporting it to management. turned out management noticed his productivity had tanked because he was so focused on bringing the other guy down. they let him go instead.
However, these are all just words, and in real life, yes, gloating works, and we don't think about social dynamics when we see, say, the office bully finally get what they deserve. And honestly, isn’t it kinda nice? Like we’re some sort of karma delivery service.
We’re pretty sure you’ve got your own stories like this - so why not drop them in the comments? Just don’t spoil the fun - read through all our stories first!
#16
Not me but a colleague. She explained that before she worked in our company, she worked as a middle man of sorts between different parties. As part of her job she had to save mails and keep their schedules aligned, among other things, so other colleagues could continue tasks she hadn’t finished yet on her days off.
At some point the higher ups take her aside because things have been going absolutely sideways (people never invited to important meetings or jobs despite the other party notifying the company on time, important conversations missing so it’s impossible to follow up for other colleagues etc) and it was usually when she was the only one working. Logically it’d be her fault, right? Luckily for my colleague, she was meticulous in keeping receipts on everything and proof of what she did and when she did it.
They did some digging and found out it was someone else who just got hired and went out of her way to get my now colleague fired by coming earlier and deleting a lot of stuff before anyone else got there. Unfortunately for her she wasn’t that good in covering her tracks. Instead of succeeding and getting my colleague’s position, she got herself fired the same day.
#17
A long time ago. We had built a complex production planning system. The client didn't like it because it was new.
I was the junior dev on call when the whole system went down at night.
Couldn't get the database back to connect. Client escalates, angry production team at night, yelling management over phone.
I called the seasoned database admin out. It took him a few minutes to find out the hard drive was full. With adult content. And the database server was hooked to the internet instead of the secure internal network.
He had a field day. Changed the raid, fixed the network settings and everything worked.
Apparently, the night shift was bored and some guy managed to download adult content from the internet....
The database engineer kept the hard drive as evidence and we never heard another complaint. But this gave us a lot of laughs for months.
#18
I kid you not … was seeing this gal 1986-88. Hot as hell, was my first , suggested a forever arrangement. She hooked up with my best friend. Every thing went south. I let them go. Tried closure with her and met her OTHER partner. Needless to say, I let the traitor figure it out as I left town for something better. I married the better- don’t know what happened to that person I left behind, but I’m glad they did me dirty. I learned what was important in relationships and what I should have been looking for.
#19
Oh the usual, a workplace affair. One of them dissolved their marriage over it but the other one just didn’t.
Or the one where he told everyone what was going on but she thought it was a secret. Nobody had the heart to point out her denials were in vain.
#20
My business partner tried to betray me. I forced him to buy me out of the business, including our office space, and I moved on to a new partnership.
To buy me out he had to refinance his home on a variable rate mortgage. He then had to re-finance the office that we owned together at a variable rate.
He found out quickly that rising interest rates, and not having a business partner to share the costs with adds up. He had to sell his house to get rid of most of the debt and moved into a rental.
I paid off my mortgage with what I got out of the business. My new partners and I have absorbed about 55% of the book of business from the old shop.
#21
A job I had, employee A stole Employee B's work and tried to make it his own. Showed off, and when he gave them to his superiors, a USB and as they were going through it they found a file and it was some no no naughty thing, not bad but genuinely would have people question you.
Employee B owned up to it being his work but said the naught thing wasn't his and Employee A had to take seminars and was reprimanded. .
#22
This one time I had an enemy who dug a big hole in a shadow on a pathway. He placed a sign that said “This way” with an arrow, expecting me to follow the sign and fall in. Long story short, he fell into the very hole that he himself had dug, whilst I avoided it.
#23
Nintendo announced at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show that they had a new console with CD-ROM capabilities. They were developing it with Phillips.
The problem was that Sony had spent years working with Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES, and that add-on was starting to turn into its own console with lucrative possibilities. This very public announcement was how Sony found out that Nintendo was breaking the partnership.
Sony made lemons out of lemonade by developing the prototype into the PlayStation, the console that would be Nintendo's prime competitor for years to come.
#24
Guy comes back and was an asst coach for his high school head coach. Asst almost gets fired by AD for a post-game ejection but keeps job bc head coach vouches for him, says he's young/learning and a solid young coach. The guy keeps his job bc of the head coach going to bat for him.
Next year, asst goes to new school with his best friend and asst and well, just so happens that another coach who is leaving, his bff, has taken "educational custody" of head coach's best player. So, bails on his coach and the guy who first hired him and stuck up
for him. Takes the best player to his new school and now has the balls to tell coach he had "no idea" the kid was transferring to his new school, nor living with his best friend. Uh huh 🙄
A few years later the head coach resigns and guess who sends in his resume with the quickness, figuring he's going to be the man at his alma mater? Mr. Assistant
AND GUESS WHO NEVER EVEN GOT AN INTERVIEW WITH HIS ALMA MATER?
Yeah, that Benedict Arnold can thank me. I had meetings with the ADs and principals and told this story as I told it to you. Traitor got what he deserved--ignored like the useless, no good lying Judas he was. No vaseline.
#25
One time a coworker tried to set someone up to take the fall for a mistake, but it ended up exposing their own incompetence instead. karma hit hard and they got the boot instead. can’t mess with the universe like that.
#27
The best ones are when they don't realize you already know. just watch them work so hard for nothing and never say a word about it. incredibly satisfying tbf.
#28
I had a coworker who used to monitor other people's time (not her job - just a fun hobby, ig) and tell on us to the boss if we left early, arrived late or took a long lunch. One day, while the boss was out of town, she slipped on some wet pavement on her way into the office. She wasn't hurt, but needed to change out of her wet clothes, and thought she would just go home. But, we reminded her that because she fell on hospital property, we would need to file an incident report (baked into our annual training every year. She spent most of the day in Employee Health, waiting to be seen, was evaluated and screened (she was fine) and then review the footage with security to make sure no workman's comp claims could be made. I think it was after 2:00 when she finally got out of there. Oh and she spilled her coffee outside, and never got around to getting a new one.
#30
This was when I was in my early twenties, company hired a rough big-shot manager who after disagreement with subordinates use to use a subtle threat "do you want to be fired" all the time - he eventually got fired for discriminating against a customer.
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