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Colleague Swoops In To Take Credit For Woman’s Hard Work, Woman Gets Ice-Cold Revenge 6 Months Later
Let’s be real, office politics can make going to work even more unpleasant than it has to be. Dealing with a toxic boss or a backstabbing coworker on top of trying to get through your exploding inbox is enough to make anyone yell, “I quit!”
One woman turned to an online community to share how one of her ex-colleagues took credit for the work that landed their agency one of its biggest clients. The only snag? It wasn’t hers to begin with. Six months later, though, karma came calling.
More info: Reddit
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Office politics can make work more miserable than it has to be, especially if you’re dealing with a toxic colleague
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
One woman worked hard to land her agency one of their biggest clients, only for her coworker to swoop in and take credit for the whole thing
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Frustrated, but not wanting to burn bridges, the woman didn’t make a scene, but ended up leaving the agency soon afterwards
Image credits: benzoix / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Six months later, the woman who’d stolen her thunder applied to a position at her new agency, but when her boss asked her what she was like, she told the truth
Image credits: ReasonableNet9454
Thanks to her honest reference, the woman never got hired, but ended up accusing her of sabotage, so she turned to an online community to ask if being frank was a jerk move
Workplace drama often starts quietly, and for the original poster (OP), an ad agency employee, it began with a coworker stealing the spotlight. OP shared how her former coworker, “Leah,” presented her award-winning campaign as her own during a major client pitch. Although the incident stung, she kept quiet to keep the peace and protect her career.
Months later, karma came calling with a professional twist. After moving to a new firm, OP discovered Leah had applied for a senior position on her team. When her creative director asked about Leah’s work ethic, she answered truthfully: Leah was talented but often exaggerated her role in group projects. No insults, just the facts.
Soon after, Leah reached out, furious. She’d learned through friends why she hadn’t gotten the job and blamed OP for “sabotaging her future.” She even accused her of holding a grudge and being “unprofessional,” arguing that she should’ve let the past go instead of bringing up one “misunderstanding” from their agency days.
Now, their mutual friends are divided. Some say OP was fair for giving an honest reference, especially after Leah misrepresented her work. Others argue she should’ve been more diplomatic to avoid personal bias. But workplace integrity is tricky, and sometimes, being truthful is the most professional thing you can do.
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
To be fair, OP didn’t set out to trash Leah’s reputation; she just gave an honest answer when her boss asked her for it. But here’s the real question: how could she have stopped Leah from claiming credit before she even bounced from the original agency? We went hunting for answers.
Melody Wilding over at Forbes explains that even in supposedly “collaborative” workplaces, some people take it way too far and greedily hoard kudos for projects that aren’t theirs. If you’re the victim of idea theft, you may be torn between wanting payback and just wanting to forget it ever happened. But the good news is that there are professional ways to cope.
If you confront the person directly, start by asking questions instead of making accusations. This flips the script; suddenly, they have to explain themselves. If you’ve got evidence that the idea was in fact yours, don’t be shy to take it to your leadership – that’s what documentation is for, at the end of the day.
The experts from Indeed suggest a few practical strategies for dealing with a coworker trying to grab your glory, including giving yourself time to manage your emotions and respond tactfully and trying to consider the circumstances from an unbiased viewpoint. Focus on calmly communicating with the credit burglar, rather than pointing fingers – the blame game is never a good look.
We think OP’s quiet clapback did the job it needed to, right? Here’s hoping Leah learned her lesson and won’t be so quick to claim credit for other people’s hard work in future. Because let’s be honest, nobody likes a thunder thief.
What do you think? Did OP cross a line with her honest opinion of Leah’s work ethic, or did her ex-colleague get exactly what was coming to her? Share your opinion in the comments!
In the comments, readers seemed to agree that the original poster was not the jerk in the situation, but her ex-colleague certainly was
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What do you think ?
Petra Peitsch 1 month ago
In Germany is also not really allowed to tell honestly if an ex-employee was a POS, if somebody asks for refferences. (It seems to slowly dying out over here, just really 'old-school' companies are doing till now i my industry. And it became a red flag). Although, when it happens, HR developed phrases, what indicates, the wannabe employee will be a POS. Like "X.Y.Z. always gave the highest performance and hardest work, expected from them". It means, they were at best an average, but more like you-have-to-tell-this-dude-how-to-make-it-every-time-even-if-you-said-it-already-1000s-time.
Janelle Collard 1 month ago
In California, HR is only able to confirm that a person worked at the company, in this job, from this date to that date + received XXX amount of money as salary. They're unable to provide a reference re: how well they did their job. OP was asked for a *personal* reference for Leah, as someone who had worked with her. HR would never have told anyone anything that would have gotten back to Leah, so not sure how someone found out what OP said.
KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
UK is not allowed to give a bad reference, but my last boss did when he moved to Australia and I interviewed for a job that I pretty had in the bag already because the guy already knew me. The bad reference came because he was angry at the person he sold me to in a somewhat dodgy deal and karma came calling in Australia in several forms. I got an apology 3 months later on a Sunday afternoon from the guy who didn't hire me and it was fairly telling in what he said. When ex decided to get personal with me a couple of months later, I sent him evidence of tax evasion that I had stumbled across and asked if he still wanted his GMC registration. That felt nice. What was even nicer was him then going to my boss and really telling him what he thought of me, so I told him after a disclaimer discussion what had happened. Little man in Australia never contacted us again.
Load More Replies... Petra Peitsch 1 month ago
In Germany is also not really allowed to tell honestly if an ex-employee was a POS, if somebody asks for refferences. (It seems to slowly dying out over here, just really 'old-school' companies are doing till now i my industry. And it became a red flag). Although, when it happens, HR developed phrases, what indicates, the wannabe employee will be a POS. Like "X.Y.Z. always gave the highest performance and hardest work, expected from them". It means, they were at best an average, but more like you-have-to-tell-this-dude-how-to-make-it-every-time-even-if-you-said-it-already-1000s-time.
Janelle Collard 1 month ago
In California, HR is only able to confirm that a person worked at the company, in this job, from this date to that date + received XXX amount of money as salary. They're unable to provide a reference re: how well they did their job. OP was asked for a *personal* reference for Leah, as someone who had worked with her. HR would never have told anyone anything that would have gotten back to Leah, so not sure how someone found out what OP said.
KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
UK is not allowed to give a bad reference, but my last boss did when he moved to Australia and I interviewed for a job that I pretty had in the bag already because the guy already knew me. The bad reference came because he was angry at the person he sold me to in a somewhat dodgy deal and karma came calling in Australia in several forms. I got an apology 3 months later on a Sunday afternoon from the guy who didn't hire me and it was fairly telling in what he said. When ex decided to get personal with me a couple of months later, I sent him evidence of tax evasion that I had stumbled across and asked if he still wanted his GMC registration. That felt nice. What was even nicer was him then going to my boss and really telling him what he thought of me, so I told him after a disclaimer discussion what had happened. Little man in Australia never contacted us again.
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