10 People Who Saw Their Coworkers’ True Colors Before It Was Too Late

Workplace red flags can appear in subtle ways, from overly helpful coworkers to strange tech habits that don’t add up. Spotting unusual behavior, hidden motives, or sudden shifts in attitude can help you recognize toxic dynamics and protect your boundaries at work.

1.

• I trained a new coworker for months. I covered his mistakes and even stayed late. When promotion time came, he smirked, “May the best one win.” To my shock, he got it.
  The next week, my boss called me, “You need to see this.” I froze when she showed me the printed email he’d sent about me saying I was “unstable” and “unreliable,” using my sick days as proof. He got the promotion because he lied. I left the company, but the betrayal still stings.

2.

• My teammate Carson had a habit of topping everyone’s experiences. If you got sick, he’d been sicker. If you traveled, he’d gone somewhere cooler. It was harmless, if a bit annoying.
  One day during a meeting, I shared a small win about fixing a bug that’d been haunting our team for a week. Before I even finished, he jumped in with a long explanation about how he’d already found a much better solution but “didn’t want to say anything.”
  Later that afternoon, our manager came over asking why Carson told him I had “taken credit for his idea.” That’s when I realized his one-upmanship wasn’t insecurity, it was strategy.

3.

• My team lead is the kindest person in office. If someone gets criticized, she steps in. If a deadline gets tight, she helps. So when she offered to submit my name for a promotion, I felt grateful. Weeks passed. Nothing.
  Then one day, I froze when I saw a spreadsheet open on her screen with my name under “Not Ready,” followed by comments like “too emotional” and “needs heavy guidance.”
  She noticed me, closed it fast, and smiled like nothing happened. I couldn’t believe it was the same woman who’d looked me in the eye and said I was ready, that she was proud of me.
  Standing there, I realized how easily someone can cheer for you to your face while quietly pulling you back behind your back. It was a brutal reminder of how two-faced coworkers can be.

4.

• “I worked at a certain coffee chain in California where I had a co-worker that would spit in people’s drinks and constantly ramble on about how she hates other women. I managed to videotape it and get her fired, but she apparently was doing this for literal months and no one had the guts to try to get her fired, or they’d say, ’Not my problem.’” © MidnightFireHuntress / Reddit

5.

• “I used to work at a family owned business with three family members and three ‘assistants’ who did all the work. The wife really hated me. Once I was 15 minutes late, and she followed me into the bathroom, cornered me next to the sinks, and berated me for the tardiness. I really wish I’d quit on the spot.” © blackcatsattack / Reddit

6.

• I had a coworker who made us delicious homemade treats every Friday. She was a great cook and we adored her.
  One day, I went over to her house for tea. I was sitting in her kitchen when I froze because I saw something that horrified me. Turns out she used the same sponge for everything, the dishes, utensils, all her cats’ bowls, and even the sink!
  I almost gagged just thinking about all the treats she had made for us. I immediately faked an emergency and left her house.
  The next Friday was so awkward because no one would touch her treats. When she found out why, she got upset and said we were all overreacting. A few months later, she transferred to another department.

7.

• “She was new and hated everything about me. One day she told somebody they were loud and I said so are you. She told me to shut up, and then went and told HR that I told her to shut up. It was a nightmare.
  She eventually left, I’m not sure if she was fired or not. This is just a condensed version of the whole situation, but I truly believe she was a demonic soul.” © blerrycat / Reddit

8.

• Our new intern, Ava, carried a little notebook everywhere. She scribbled constantly, during meetings, in the break room, even during casual conversations. She said it helped her “learn fast.”
  One afternoon I passed her empty desk and saw the notebook open. I shouldn’t have looked, but curiosity won. It wasn’t notes about the job.
  It was a full ranking system of every employee, loyalty score, complaint likelihood, vulnerability level, financial stress markers. She wasn’t an intern. She was part of a consultancy evaluating whether our branch should be shut down, cruel, right?

9.

• Everyone relied on Jenna because she was the only one who could get our cursed printer to work. She’d grumble and joke about how she should charge IT rates, but she always helped.
  One day, I caught her crouched behind the machine, adding a Wi-Fi device I’d never seen before. She panicked and begged me not to tell anyone. I thought it was some weird hack to help her fix jobs faster.
  Turns out she’d been forwarding certain print jobs to herself, mostly salary reports and HR memos. She didn’t know I was in the department that handled internal audits. She was walked out three days later, and she didn’t even say goodbye.

10.

• “I worked with someone in retail. He was my boss, and not a particularly bad guy, but he was a control freak who had to interject his opinion during every conversation anyone was having with a customer.
  This also went as far as him being in the middle of helping someone himself, stopping helping that customer to lean over to my till to ‘help’ me with my transaction even though there was no indication I needed help and had worked there for over 5 years.
  This ‘help’ would be in the form of him telling me what button to hit next on the till to telling a customer they were wrong to have any given opinion on a topic to telling customers that their choice of entertainment they were purchasing wasn’t what they were after, even if they specifically came into the store for that specific item.
  He was also laaaaazzzzy! Not a bad guy, but do I not miss working with him.” © Mendunbar / Reddit

Recognizing these subtle shifts can empower employees to trust their instincts and navigate workplace dynamics with confidence. Staying aware helps foster healthier teams, stronger communication, and a more supportive work environment.

Read next: 12 Coworker Tales So Crazy, They Could Be a Blockbuster Series