Man asks if he was wrong to lie to boss to get toxic coworker fired.
Workplace etiquette can be a doozy, especially if a coworker is grinding your gears. And look, everyone knows you're not supposed to lie in general, and it's definitely a no no to tell a fib to a coworker, or worse, to your boss.
But what if the lie you tell your boss could sabotage your toxic coworker that everyone hates and get them fired for good? When this shady man lied to his boss to get rid of the ever-so-hated JESSICA, he took to the popular Reddit forum to ask:
'AITA for lying at work and possibly getting a coworker fired?'
OP is the coworker who lied.
Throw away account so coworkers won't find this. I (40M) am a supervisor at my work. A different department screwed up & now my team is going to have to pull at least a week's worth of late nights to fix the mistake. My team is awesome & regularly has to bail out others. This time really annoyed me bc some of the people who screwed up were teasing my team about the late nights. -workitthrowaway
It's so annoying to have to work a late night because somebody else messed up. UGH.
I went to their supervisor Jessica (F44), to have her deal with these employees. Jessica has worked as a supervisor for 3 yrs. She's lazy, belittles employees & will throw anyone/everyone under the bus to advance or save herself.
While in Jessica's office talking about her employees & what they are doing, she said in a very rude tone, that she 'wasn't going to deal with anything.' She said most of my team is 'single anyway' so their time outside of work isn't a priority.
What???? That's so rude Jessica. I see why OP hates you.
Then she waves me off to dismiss me. I was just so angry that I said 'If you act this way at home, no wonder your husband left you.'
O M G. Shots fired. That wasn't really cool OP.
She looked up at me with her mouth open & just stared at me in silence. After a few secs I walked out. Later that day I get called into my/Jessica's boss's office. Inside are my boss, an HR rep & Jessica.
They want to talk about what happened earlier & what I said. I then did something I've never done in my life. I straight up lied to my boss. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about. I told him I went into Jessica's office to talk about her employees' inappropriate actions towards my team. I told them what she said about how single people aren't as important & that I was so shocked I just left.
Wow. Now I don't know whose side I'm on...
Jessica starts screaming that I'm lying. The HR rep & my boss stare at each other in silence bc neither knows what to do. Jessica said that I was an ass for bringing up her impending divorce.
I said I had no way of knowing she's getting divorced. She starts raising her voice again & my boss asks me to leave the office. He comes to my office about 10 mins later & asks me again if I said anything inappropriate. I kept up the lie & said no.
Wowwwwww. Lying about not even knowing about the divorce. Very shady. But did Jessica deserve it?
Now, this is where Jessica's past is catching up to her. My boss & others know Jessica has lied before, just not about anything like this. She's also made derogatory statements about single people in the past.
Add the fact that almost no one knew about her divorce. I only knew bc I overheard her on the phone with someone, maybe an attorney. She definitely didn't notice that I heard.
OMG OMG. JUICY.
Almost everyone believes me & all of the bosses in this scenario seem to be on my side. I'd say there is a 95% chance she will get fired. Jessica is going off the deep end yelling at the bosses & just not handling this well. I'm being calm & professional, but I let this go too far & if they find out I lied I'll be fired for sure.
But, why would they find out? AITA for keeping with the lie? The company would be better off without Jessica, but does that justify what's happening?
Well. Is this guy the AH? Reddit was all OVER the place with this one. Let's take a look.
ESH if you're being truthful about your assessment of Jessica, but tbh I'm leaning more toward YTA because by your own story you are willing to lie. I'm not sure exactly how much to believe about what you're saying of her. -marzopup
UMMMM. YTA! What kind of toxic workplace is this?? You had the high road, after she insulted your team. But you had to rub her face in a completely unrelated hurt. And you bet that HR will remember this re you, too. And if she sues the company (and she could), you really are in trouble. -bunnyball88
YTA. Jessica's conduct gave you a good shot at a provocation defense where Jessica would have been gone with you in the clear (or a small hit) and your integrity intact. As is, even if she is gone the company's simply traded one liar for another, one who's own past may catch up some day. - RDT64
YTA, but a justified one. No category for that, however. Lying is generally not a good thing, but in this instance I'd say admitting it isn't going to do any good.
She's lied before, she sounds like a nightmare to work with or for, and if she's fired, it'll be because of the totality of her fuckuppery, not this one instance where you're making her look like a liar. It's something she'd probably do to you, if she thought it would benefit her. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. -culturalambition449
Idk. She sounds like TA. Jessica for her unwillingness to do her job and for thinking less of your time because you're single, and you for the comment about her divorce and for lying. - glasssandwich1915
Then, this hilarious post.
NTA. Beautifully done. -jaythepenguin48
And this hysterical cherry on top of a weird thread.
You would have been a goner despite her deserving every bit of what you said. Now that it has gone down. Lie lie lie lie lie. Say that lie until you believe it's the truth. Shaggy....Say it wasn't you. - ridethewindforever