Attention-seeking colleague treated woman as 'unnamed assistant' — until she got called out in front of the management
'It made me feel mad at myself. Why am I letting a grown woman treat me like an unnamed assistant?'
The better rapport between coworkers, the better teamwork and efficiency. Unfortunately, a woman who goes by u/TrinitySignal was frustrated by a ruthless colleague who kept forgetting her name on purpose. In a since-removed post shared recently, the employee mentioned that the coworker was just trying to gain attention while making her look insignificant, Bored Panda reports. After she repeatedly kept “forgetting” her name, the woman decided to respond in her own clever way. She called her out in the middle of an important meeting, in front of management, and the colleague finally got a taste of what she deserved.
The woman explained how initially it seemed like an honest error when the colleague kept forgetting her name. Despite having a small office and working within a few feet’s distance from her, she still let the mishap slide multiple times. After that, she started correcting her, reminding her of her name time and again, but all in vain. The employee got more and more ridiculous, calling her “girl,” “honey,” or using no name at all to address her. Slowly, she even started addressing her without a name in emails, meetings, and every second conversation, making it a toxic “pattern.”
Seeing how insignificant she made her look in the eyes of everyone, the woman started to “feel small.” “It made me feel mad at myself. Why am I letting a grown woman treat me like an unnamed assistant?” she remarked. That’s when she put her foot down. She confronted the toxic worker once again, asserting, “Hey, just so you know, it's been happening a lot, my name is ____ and it matters to me that you use it.” As a response, she got a fake, half-hearted apology, assuring her that it wasn’t intentional. Except it was, and it was clearly visible. When kind communication didn’t work, the woman decided to call her out for good.
She knew the employee was keen on receiving a promotion and was stoked to discuss it with her manager shortly. At an important meeting, which involved the higher-ups, the woman and her coworker, among others, she settled the score once and for all. After presenting her report, rightfully enough, she was asked, “What’s your name again?” She finally responded. “It’s the same name as the last 20 times. I’m surprised you can remember the name of every man in the room but not mine,” she said. Although she said all this with a calm tone, the colleague was “frozen.” Even the manager looked at the colleague disapprovingly, adding that it wasn’t right for her to keep “forgetting.” Out the window goes her promotion.
After the meeting, the woman was cornered quietly, just to be told that she had embarrassed her colleague. Replying to the toxicity, she said to her, “Good. Now stop it,” and not once did the coworker forget her name again. According to a Mental Health Survey done by Monster on over 1,100 employees, a majority revealed they were working in a toxic setting. 80% reported they were in a toxic environment, increasing the rate from last year (67%). Furthermore, over 70% noted that their mental health was “poor” due to the working conditions they were dealing with.
A study published by Research Gate revealed that having such toxic coworkers can affect well–being and productivity at the workplace. It was found that having entitled colleagues can be termed “disrespectful, aggressive, intolerant, and demanding behavior, which promotes anxiety in colleagues.” Giving the employee a bold response was much needed, and people approved of it. u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels wrote, “Sometimes coming in cold works so much better than coming in hot. Well done.” u/IndySkip added, “Perfectly handled, and so very well played by you.”
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