Oversmart man kept criticizing coworker's submissions until boss handed him the same task — only to watch him flop

An employee at a small company recently shared how they were fed up with an 'oversmart' coworker who kept criticizing their work in front of the boss. Every time they prepared a monthly report, he would point out irrelevant slips. Frustrated, they handed over the responsibility of the monthly report to the coworker. Ironically, he bungled it and made himself look ridiculous in front of the entire office. The employee (u/any-illustrator2863) posted the story on March 8.

As per the post, the employee was responsible for preparing monthly reports. Although the job wasn't difficult, it had to be done very mindfully since it included key company details. A coworker, who always viewed himself as an "expert," would point out unnecessary things in the report to belittle the employee in front of their boss. "At almost every meeting, he would find something to criticize in my reports: he didn’t like the wording, the table 'didn't look right,' or something else," the employee recalled.

Due to constant interruptions, the boss began to feel that the coworker had the potential to do much better than the other employee. In one such meeting, when the coworker interrupted again, the employee decided to shift the preparation of the monthly reports onto him. "During that week, my coworker acted very confident. He even said a few times that he would now show everyone 'how the job should really be done,'" they explained. However, on the presentation day, the coworker made a fool of himself when his report failed to impress the boss.

"The report had missing data, several tables didn’t match, and one of the graphs was completely incorrect. The boss started asking questions that my coworker couldn’t properly answer," the employee revealed. Consequently, it was announced that the report needs to be done again with proper research. After that incident, the coworker has been criticizing his peers less in meetings. Moreover, the boss has also started taking notes on the actual work and who did it, rather than the loudest voice in the room. "Honestly, I didn’t even do anything special—I just gave him the chance to show his 'level,'" the employee concluded. 

A healthy work environment is built with three things: good coworkers, supportive management, and, most importantly, open communication. However, not all get to experience the company of supportive peers. For instance, a survey of 2,894 by Kickresume found that 85% of respondents had an annoying coworker at work, and most (33%) complained about them stealing their credit as the "most bothersome office personality." Uncooperative peers have a direct effect on your productivity; in fact, 58% of respondents agree with this. While some may confront their coworkers, 32% prefer to deal with annoying colleagues by distancing themselves, the study found.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit story, u/responsible-fig-1131 commented, "Your boss understood who is doing the right work. But sometimes there are bosses who don't even know what is correct, as they depend on that too loud person to cover up their mismanagement." u/ardenm commented, "That's the best way to do it! Glad the boss has seen through his loud-mouthed bullshit." Similarly, u/organic-drop8818 shared, "Damn! That's a nasty piece of work, criticizing your work in front of your boss. I hope you realize that the person does not like you and doesn't mean you any good." 

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