What would you do if one of your best friends betrayed you? One moment you think you’re tight and the next you find out they’ve been bad-mouthing you behind your back. Just imagine you’re at work, forming a friendship with a coworker, sharing laughs, lunch breaks and some secrets together. You even cover for them when they’re in a tight spot, as you think they are genuinely your friend. This was the OP’s life (original poster) for almost a year, before she discovered she had been betrayed.

Buckle up, this story is the ultimate tale of betrayal, pettiness, with a sprinkle of sweet revenge.

More info: Reddit

Woman discovers her friend and coworker has been lying about her to the other employees for no reason and decides to take revenge on her

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)

The two women had been friends for one year when the friend left her job out of nowhere, leaving her broke and jobless

Image credits: Exciting_Mud5054

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)

The woman supports her friend by lending her money, buying food for her and even helping her get her job back

Image credits: Exciting_Mud5054

Image credits: Sam Dan Truong (not the actual photo)

The friend starts badmouthing the woman and spreading lies about her to their coworkers until she finds out and fake her tips for revenge

Image credits: Exciting_Mud5054

The friend throws a fit at work, smashing things and throwing stuff around, forcing the manager to intervene and she ends up leaving her job again

After working together for almost 1 year, the OP’s friend suddenly walked out on her job. No notice, just up and left. But because the OP thought this woman was her friend, she pulled some strings and got her job back. While she was jobless and broke, the OP even gave her friend money, bought her food and always defended her in front of others, only to find out one day that this so-called friend had been spreading lies about her.

Experts explain that “There could be many reasons or motivations why a friend betrays you. Some friendships aren’t healthy from the beginning. A friend who does not treat their friendships with respect and kindness has a higher chance of betraying their friend’s trust.”

While feeling hurt and disappointed when someone you thought was a friend betrays you is normal, taking your frustration out on the people around you is not the answer. “Feeling betrayed by a friend can lead to feelings of anger. If you aren’t in control of your anger, sometimes you can lash out, especially at people who have hurt you. Hurting others because you are hurt disrupts the healing process,” experts explain.

Feeling hurt by her friend’s betrayal, the OP decided to get a little petty, teaching the woman a lesson. One night, as the OP was closing up shop, she wrote down her tips, as she normally did. However, this was a special evening, as the OP wrote down $48 instead of the $8 she actually made, knowing very well that her friend would see it. That was the plan. The friend, who always got jealous of others’ tips because she was terrible with money, would see this and fume. And boy, did it work.

The next day, the friend texted the OP asking if she could go in early so she could take off early. Normally, she would’ve said yes, but not this time. The OP told her no, knowing she’d be fuming over her supposed big tips and the refusal to help her.

When the OP arrived at work, the friend was in full meltdown mode, slamming doors and throwing things around. She immediately texted her GM who watched the whole show from the security cameras. After seeing the woman’s tantrums, the general manager drove to work, on his day off, to see the chaos for himself. He promised to have a sit-down with the angry worker the following day and discuss her hostile behavior, hoping she would quit.

Image credits: Tim Douglas (not the actual photo)

Next day, the OP’s pre-work routine was the same: leave early, grab some dinner, and play Pokémon Go in the parking lot. But driving by work, she saw her ex-friend’s car still there. Unfortunately, she hadn’t quit and that night she was at it again, throwing things around. The OP texted her GM once again who immediately called the angry woman, but she denied everything, hung up on him and stormed out, leaving her key in the office. On her way out, she even threatened to sue the OP for defamation of character. Looks like karma finally caught up with her.

According to an article on how to handle toxic coworkers, “A toxic coworker is a colleague whose unprofessional or harmful conduct creates an unhealthy workplace environment for all stakeholders involved. [They] may exhibit a wide variety of behaviors that contribute to others feeling uncomfortable at work and make it challenging for a team to produce high-quality results.” This seems like the environment that the OP’s friend was creating by spreading lies and throwing tantrums at work.

“Being able to trust your coworkers can enable you to work more effectively in a team environment. When colleagues gossip and talk about others judgmentally, it can be challenging for teams to develop enough trust to work collaboratively,” the article explains.

While in some cases it is hard to completely avoid a difficult coworker, there are things people can do to protect themselves from their negativity. The first step is setting boundaries to make sure their behavior doesn’t affect your mood or work. If they start gossiping or harassing you, try to keep your distance from them.

Instead, think about practical ways to handle your interactions and keep control of your workspace. You could try to work in a different area or ask for a different schedule to reduce how much you have to be around them. If this doesn’t work, getting the manager involved can be another option, which is exactly what the OP did, when things escalated.

To find out more about how the OP has been doing since the incident, Bored Panda reached out to her for some comments. “I have had no contact with this co-worker since she quit. I have thought about reaching out to her, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I feel like our friendship has no chance at recovering. I really felt like I connected with her on a level I haven’t been able to connect with others. So the fact that she could go behind my back really shattered me,” she explained.

When asked if she thinks she may have missed any red flags during her friendship with her ex-friend, the OP admitted that there were a few warning signs she might have brushed off. Her ex-friend had always struggled with anger issues and keeping her emotions in check, but the OP didn’t think much of it. “I felt like she had a lot of good, so I overlooked the bad. Even the fact that she would yell at customers. I looked the other way,” the OP said.

While the ex-friend did reach out to the general manager and apologized for leaving him without her support, she never actually apologized for her actions. “It seems she is narcissistic and only feels bad because she feels like we lost a great crew member. When in fact, everyone at work has been so much more at ease,” the OP told us.

What’s your take on this rollercoaster of a story? Have you ever dealt with someone you thought was your friend but ended up betraying you? Share your stories in the comment section.

People online say that the woman should distance herself from her so-called friend as she is not looking out for her like she did when she needed her

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