13 Unconventional Workplace Dramas You Might Not Expect

The workplace can be full of surprises, but some colleagues turn office drama into an art form. Here are 13 wild stories from our readers about the chaos they’ve encountered on the job.

1.

A coworker I barely spoke to invited me to a “surprise farewell party” for someone in our department. Excited, I showed up with a card and a small gift—only to realize the “farewell” was for me. I wasn’t leaving. Turns out, my coworker had mistakenly assumed I had put in my resignation and didn’t bother confirming before planning an entire event. The worst part? I had to awkwardly thank everyone for the kind words before explaining I was still very much employed.

2.

I kept getting unsolicited “advice” from a coworker who wasn’t even in my department. When I finally asked why, she revealed that her boss had assigned her to secretly “mentor” me to help me “succeed.” I’d had no idea, and neither had my manager!

3.

Our office had a casual “bring in treats” tradition, but one coworker always insisted on making homemade brownies. They were amazing—until one day, she ran out and casually mentioned she’d been using expired ingredients from her grandmother’s pantry to “reduce waste.”
When people started getting mysteriously queasy after office snacks, we realized she had no concept of food safety. She just shrugged and said, “Well, no one actually died.”

4.

A coworker kept a single drawer in his desk locked at all times. Nobody had ever seen inside it. Naturally, curiosity got the best of us, and we speculated wildly—did he keep snacks? Secret company documents? A pet?

One day, he left the key on his desk during lunch. We caved and opened it.

Inside? Just a single rubber duck. Nothing else. When he came back and saw our shocked faces, he just nodded and said, “You shouldn’t have looked.”

5.

Our office was giving out new ergonomic chairs, and one of my coworkers wanted one so badly, she stole mine while I was in the bathroom. I found her sitting at her desk with my new chair, her old one under my desk, and her expression completely neutral. When I pointed it out, she claimed it “came with her job title.”

6.

I’d find my coffee cup meticulously washed every morning, which was odd because I left it unwashed on purpose to finish my coffee the next day. After weeks of this mystery, I caught the intern in the act. She confessed that she thought coffee residue was “unprofessional” and took it upon herself to scrub it daily for the team. When I explained I preferred it “seasoned,” she was horrified, saying she thought it was my “forgetfulness” and wanted to “help me” without asking.

7.

I started noticing that every time I arrived at work, my coworker was already parked in the spot right next to mine, waiting for me. Then she’d follow me into the building, keeping an odd silence. Finally, I asked her about it, and she casually explained she’d been “monitoring” my arrival time because she felt I was “cutting it too close to 9 AM.” She had even compiled a spreadsheet.

When I reported it, she claimed it was a “team-building accountability tool.” HR had to give a company-wide statement about respecting personal space.

8.

I had a small cactus on my desk, and every Monday, I’d find it just a bit more shriveled than the week before. I started suspecting someone was overwatering it as a prank. I installed a hidden camera and found it wasn’t just one person—it was five different people, all watering my cactus “to help me out” because they thought it looked “lonely.” Turns out they were in a friendly competition to see who could make it flourish the most, without telling me, and accidentally caused it to wither from over-love.

9.

We had a monthly “lunch-and-learn” meeting where people would present on random topics while everyone ate. One day, someone volunteered to talk about “workplace efficiency.”
Instead, he gave a full 30-minute PowerPoint presentation on why our office should have an emotional support goat.
He came prepared with:

Research on stress reduction in livestock therapy
A “Goat Cost vs. Morale Boost” chart
A petition with 37 signatures
We did not get a goat. But honestly? We all wanted one.

10.

Our office “adopted” a stray cat that we all adored—until someone “stole” it one night. After days of searching and blaming each other, the janitor confessed he took it home because it reminded him of his late wife’s cat.

11.

A year ago, my Secret Santa coworker Sarah gave me a beautiful silver ring with a tiny emerald, a surprisingly thoughtful gift. We’d always been friendly, so I wore it often, thinking nothing of it. Then, after a year, I noticed a groove around the gem. I finally managed to twist it open.
Inside the hidden compartment was a note. Just two words: “Hate you.” I sat there, stunned. All year, I thought Sarah and I were getting along just fine. Now I couldn’t shake the questions: Was it a joke? Some kind of mistake? Or had she hidden this all along?

12.

I spent days preparing a presentation, but the morning of the meeting, my coworker started presenting the same topic ahead of me. When I asked her why, she said she thought my slides were just “ideas for her own presentation.” She hadn’t even bothered to change my name on one of the slides.

13.

I noticed my new coworker was starting to copy everything I did. I wore black on Monday; she wore black on Tuesday. I started taking my coffee black; she dropped her creamer the next day. It went from quirky to creepy fast—she even started repeating my phrases in meetings.

When I brought it up to her, she told me, “It’s just that you’re so good at everything; I thought I’d learn by doing everything exactly the way you do.” I later found out she was reporting back to HR, saying I was “imitating” her work to “undermine” her confidence.

Here are 12 stories of people who were caught off guard after unintentionally overhearing a conversation.