# Stabbed in the back by a coworker!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 6, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004 "2008-06-06T12:17:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/1 "2008-06-06T12:17:14Z")
I’m so pissed right now I can hardly fucking _breathe_!
Yesterday at our group meeting we’re talking about a new procedure we all need to learn. I bring up that The Asshole showed me the new procedure after The Whiz Kid showed him. I did not mention that The Asshole showed me via a crappy Xerox of his crabbled scribblings, and he didn’t remember the last step and I had to figure it out and show _him_ how to finish it. Nope. Credit where credit’s due and all that. I told everyone in the group I was putting together a PowerPoint of the procedure and I would put it on the Server where everyone could see it, review it, add comments, etc. As I left for the day, I said to the cube, which I share with The Asshole and 2 others, “I’ll have that PowerPoint out first thing in the morning”.
So I get here this morning, and there, lying like a fresh steaming oozing diseased monitor lizard turd in my inbox, is **The Asshole’s fucking four-slide PowerPoint of the procedure!!!** :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Goddam it! I have a thirteen-slide
fuck. now i have to hijack my own fucking rant to explain that a powerpoint is a presentation tool comprised of slides with pictures and text and circles and arrows explaining how to do something and mine was real fucking purty and it had a whole lot of well-thought-out observations and warnings and details and bells and whistles and rickety-rack and did a much better job of explaining the fucking procedure that his slapped-together piece of crap
presentation that I worked on yesterday really reeelllly hard, and now it’s worthless. My presentations have been getting me big ups from the boss, and he’s (the boss) had me present them to his boss and his boss’s boss. I’m an engineering design technician, but in my real life I’m a fucking artist, and these presentations are one of the few ways I can create something while also getting kudos from the higher-ups. Everybody _knew_ I was working on this, and he popped this bitch out less than two hours after I left for the day. Not only that, he sent the thing not only to the other techs, but _every muthafuckin’ engineer and manager on the goodam floor_!!!
Now what the fuck am I supposed to do with mine?
Well, here’s what I _did_ do. I wrote him an email and said “This is great, Asshole! (although I reluctantly used his name). I have some extra info about things to watch out for in the one I made - do you want to combine these and put them on the server?”
I attached my Thing of Beauty and sent it to the other techs and the boss.
I did not say “thanks for throwing me and my work under the fucking trite-but-it-fits-the-situation-and-I’m-too-pissed-to-bother-thinking-up-another-metaphor bus, Asshole.” I can totally appreciate him saying to his fetid little hamster fart brain “Hmmmm…singular’s really gotten a lot of recognition this week with that PowerPoint thing - I should make one and soak up some of that.”
**But goddam it, you knew I was doing this and everybody in the fucking group knew it too!!! Get your own fucking presentation!!!**
Gah!
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### Author:  [@The\_Composer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Composer)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/2 "2008-06-06T12:26:12Z")
Although I understand your ire, that’s an awful lot of :mad: for the situation.
In fact, I think it only ranks one :mad: .
And maybe a spit in Asshole’s coffee mug, or something.
Sounds like you’ve already emailed copies of your powerpoint, so, if your bosses are smart, they’ll use the best version.
Hope the rest of your day gets better!
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/3 "2008-06-06T12:31:16Z")
The only thing you should do in a situation like this is distribute it to everybody too. They can all talk about how much better and comprehensive your’s is in front of Asshole.
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/4 "2008-06-06T12:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=singular1]
fuck. now i have to hijack my own fucking rant to explain that a powerpoint is a presentation tool comprised of slides with pictures and text and circles and arrows explaining how to do something and mine was real fucking purty and it had a whole lot of well-thought-out observations and warnings and details and bells and whistles and rickety-rack and did a much better job of explaining the fucking procedure that his slapped-together piece of crap
[/QUOTE]
…then he came to the realization that this was a typical case of American blind justice and he wasn’t gonna see the 27 8x10 color glossy photographs with the circles and the arrows and a brief description on the back of each one explaining what each one of them was to be used against us.
Just go up to him and sing a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walk out.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/5 "2008-06-06T12:32:54Z")
PowerPoint is for dweebs.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/6 "2008-06-06T13:04:36Z")
If everyone knew you were creating one, as you say, then stop worrying.
Your coworkers are not stupid they will see his attempt at one-up-manship for what it is.
Not only that but yousr is, no doubt, better and prettier. And everyone will see that, too.
I understand why this upset you but you need to calm yourself down. Give your coworkers and your bosses a little credit. They see this for what it is, rest assured. Getting all angry isn’t going to help your cause. Being calm in the face of such assholishness, on the other hand, definitely will.
Just shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh well, that’s just like him.” Damns him, makes you look like the bigger person, such things are not easily forgotten.
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/7 "2008-06-06T13:44:21Z")
Gah! I understand why you’re so upset, Singular, but I think the others are right … your talents are already well-known, and with your superior presentation, I’m sure it will be used rather than his!
(Aside to Airman: I’m SO glad you mentioned Alice’s Restaurant after quoting from it. I would have bugged me all day long about where the lines about the color glossies and the descriptions on the back came from.)
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/8 "2008-06-06T14:03:33Z")
I agree with **Elbows** : _Your coworkers are not stupid they will see his attempt at one-up-manship for what it is._
And give yourself a while to cool down and you can ask a few people around the office, “Oh, and did you see Asshole’s little supplement?” and give a fond little chuckle like you would for a five-year-old whose fingerpainting you were putting up on the refrigerator. Don’t overdo it.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/9 "2008-06-06T14:08:09Z")
Do you and Asshole share a boss? And even if you don’t…next time you have a one on one with your boss (or whatever sort of meeting time you have) you say…
“I’ve noticed something about how we work around here. I took the action item to have a presentation done for ABC - I thought I was fairly clear that I had accepted responsibility for the action item. I spent several hours that day working on the presentation, but had a few things left to do before I sent it out the next day. When I came in, I discovered that Asshole had done a presentation as well. As a company, I don’t think we really have time to do the same task twice - I know I don’t and I assume Asshole is just as busy as I am. If someone is going to take over responsibility for an action item I have, I’d appreciate it if I knew up front so I didn’t spend time on it.”
You don’t have to say “my presentation was better” or “Asshole is trying to stab me in the back” - to your boss the important thing is that Asshole spent time doing something you were already responsible for.
If this isn’t the first time this has happened, state that as well.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/10 "2008-06-06T14:31:56Z")
[QUOTE=friedo]
PowerPoint is for dweebs.
[/QUOTE]
Only if it’s [done wrong](http://paulharrisonline.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-not-to-use-powerpoint.htm).
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/11 "2008-06-06T14:45:07Z")
Co-workers screwing you over is the worst - especially when they’re nice to your face so you don’t know to walk on eggshells around them. People I don’t like know damn well that I don’t like them. I expect the same fucking courtesy.
I got ratted out this past week for going home to get some medicine on my lunch break (God forbid). One more “stunt like that” :rolleyes: and I’m out on my ass.
Me, to boss: "But isn’t my break time _my time_?
Boss: “NO! You are not to leave the building during a shift!”
Me: “But I can’t see any rational reason for that policy.”
Boss (the one who made said policy): “Too bad! One more time and you’re gone!”
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### Author:  [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/12 "2008-06-06T14:53:47Z")
[calm voice] I’m better now. I vented to a couple coworkers, who agreed it was a dick move. I will be the picture of diplomacy to The Asshole, but I will ask him Monday (since he’s not in today) how this happened. \*\*Dangerosa \*\*, I like that idea. I do have a review coming up in a couple weeks, and I think I will casually mention it to the boss. The fact that he has my polite reply and far superior presentation in front of him will help. The coworkers have been unanimous in their preference for mine, so that certainly softens the blow. That and the Valium a friend gave me so I could stop shaking.
I’d worry about them seeing the seething rage if one of them hadn’t immediately flown into a Level 9 rant over the size of her mailbox. Mine paled in comparison.[/calm voice]
**Airman Doors** , you get points for AR, but there’s another movie reference in there (although not as accurately - I think I didn’t get the phrase exactly right). A beautiful and well-executed PowerPoint will be developed for the first person that id’s it.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/13 "2008-06-06T14:55:06Z")
**Neutron Star** , my former employer used to have that policy and claimed it was liability: Because break time was paid, if you got on an accident on break time, you were still technically at work and could get worker’s comp, even if you were off premises. If you got in an accident at lunch, it was unpaid and you couldn’t get worker’s comp. Eventually somebody called bullshit.
That may be what your boss is trying to pull.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/14 "2008-06-06T15:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=singular1]
\*\*Dangerosa \*\*, I like that idea. I do have a review coming up in a couple weeks, and I think I will casually mention it to the boss. The fact that he has my polite reply and far superior presentation in front of him will help. The coworkers have been unanimous in their preference for mine, so that certainly softens the blow. That and the Valium a friend gave me so I could stop shaking.
[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t worry about emphasising the superiority of your presentation - in fact, if you are going to make an issue out of efficiency, the four page presentation may look more “efficient” than the 13 page beautiful one (which I’m sure was lovely and you probably did as quickly as he managed the four pages). If everyone knows you do great presentations, just leave that part sit.
The idea here is to take his dick move where he was trying to steal your thunder, and point out that it wasn’t a good move for the company. Play yourself up as thinking about the company - not about getting kudos for your work or wanting to hog tasks - and him as the guy who is so interested in self promotion that he plays both third base and pitch at the same time, causing lots of runs to score.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/15 "2008-06-06T15:27:52Z")
Wow, what a timely thread for me. I really sympathize because I have just today been informed and/or figured out that certain things that have been going wrong for me in my current job have gone wrong due to the intentional machinations of a coworker behind the scenes. (Without giving too much detail, she has successfully lobbied that I not assume certain tasks – without sharing her concerns with me – because she wants to have them assigned to her instead.) The only reason I’m not completely cheesed off is that I’ve found a new job and gave notice today. (Woohoo!) So she can have every fucking task she wants, as far as I’m concerned. I hope she chokes on them.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/16 "2008-06-06T15:40:24Z")
Congrats on the new job, Jodi.
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### Author:  [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/17 "2008-06-06T15:52:12Z")
Congrats from me too, Jodi, I’ve been noticing your job frustration posts lately and hoping that you’d find something better.
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/18 "2008-06-06T16:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=friedo]
PowerPoint is for dweebs.
[/QUOTE]
Most of the time, yeah. 97% of Powerpoint presentations I’ve seen could’ve been replaced with a single index card and an early lunch.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/19 "2008-06-06T16:02:42Z")
To the OP- don’t feel too bad. It could be a lot worse. Where I work, I call shit like the OP “Thursday.”
To Jodi- best of luck in the new job.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stabbed-in-the-back-by-a-coworker/452004/20 "2008-06-06T16:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF]
Most of the time, yeah. 97% of Powerpoint presentations I’ve seen could’ve been replaced with a single index card and an early lunch.
[/QUOTE]
My nephew invited me to his school for Veterans Day - seems the kids were encouraged to invite family members who were veterans, so my brother and I went with him.
The program included a speech by a soldier just back from Iraq, who sat next to me when he was done. One of the teachers then announced that they’d now be showing a Powerpoint presentation about veterans through history.
I whispered to the corporal beside me that probably the last thing an active-duty soldier wanted to see was a Powerpoint presentation, and the poor kid had a really hard time not interrupting the cursed thing by laughing so hard.
Overall a great day, but man, Powerpoint is awful - and nobody seems to rely on it more than the military.
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