The Devil in the Workplace

One of my coworkers is responsible for assisting employees from a particular department with using an application, supposedly in a minor capacity, although they have, in the past, been successful in conniving him into doing their dirty work for them, mostly due to his being an incredibly nice guy.

This past week one of the employees in the other department dropped the ball, and the entire department was brought under extraordinarily heavy heat by an irate partner. She frequently called my coworker for assistance and what he thought was moral support, and so he made an attempt to offer it in the form of something like, "you know, these things happen, and next time we'll have learned something from this experience and we'll all be able to do our jobs better". Sort of an, "I'm on your team" mini-speech with the intent to help her feel better.

What he didn't realize was that crabs, when boiled together alive in a pot, will pull their cohorts back into the pot if they try to escape.

What I'm trying to say is, this particular employee was being boiled alive, and she was willing to sacrifice another to save herself. So she took his statement as an admission that he had caused the whole fiasco, and immediately hung up to go tell her boss. Chaos ensued. Panic reigned. My coworker was stressed for several days, although the issue was quickly resolved and any blame on his part appropriately dismissed.

Very broadly speaking, most of the people I work with have a general sense of what is right and wrong, and at least make an attempt at working well with others. But it's quite disconcerting to see someone willingly attempt to skewer another human being just to save their own hide.

But it didn't work. My coworker is a Believer.

Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you. -Deuteronomy 3:22