My annoyingly work colleague just stood up for me and saved my job.

[Shrekk]

I've had a really stressful month at work. We've had an inspection going on all week as well as me having a number of emergencies to attend to.

There is one woman at work I just can't take too. She talks all the time, gossips, says the wrong thing all the time. We just don't get on and have nothing in common. I've overheard her say bitchu things about me. I don't like her. We just don't speak to each other now except for the odd pleasantries as I'm sure she finds me as irritating as I find her. Over the years it's become more than Indifference. It's more dislike.

In our job we have to keep all our papers in locked draws in our desk and mark names off some reports before they're filed. We also have to keep a log of all our phone calls and complete a specific report at the end of each day.

I had done none of these things as I'd just dealt with an emergency situation and I was in a state of complete stress. We were being investigated and the investigator was coming in an hour. As I rushed back to save my bacon basically I was called to another emergency.

At this point I knew I'd be in big trouble. Confidential information was lying on my desk. Names not blacked out with pen, notes not upto date, report not done. I was so stressed.

I actually felt sick when I returned to my desk. Only to find my irritating work colleague closing the draw just as the inspector came in. The papers had been anonymised, everything locked away, phone log upto date, report completed. It would have been two hours work.

I am always very professional and have never ever not done my job to a high standard before but this was an extraordinary week with much more than normal on and my stress levels were through the roof.

We work independently so if I'd been found to be inadequate that would have in no way reflected on my work colleague. She did this for me.

The inspectors found nothing of concern and left. She's not been back from annual leave since Thursday since this happened.
AIBU to think this was really lovely? Do I now try and get on better with her.

Or was this pretty standard thing to do, and I just go back to ignoring her/not really liking her?

because she doesn't want anyone at work to be in trouble as it reflects on all of you?

because you may not like her but she's actually a nice person?

could your boss have asked her to do it?

would you have done this for someone else?

If get a bunch of flowers to say thank you and start fresh. Perhaps you will never be great friends but at least you have seen a new side to get and perhaps you would do the same for her in reverse.

She was professional and also saved you a lot of grief.

Flowers and a heartfelt thank you would be what I would do in regard to this incident. It might be that you two just don't click as colleagues hence the perceived 'bitchiness' but perhaps give it a go, as after all, you've seen a nice considerate side to her.

Buy her flowers.

She did you a big favour. You don't have to become best buddies but do acknowledge her actions helped you out. Otherwise you will look a twit.
HTH.

batteries has it spot on I think. She may not like you but that doesn't mean she wants you to get fired etc, knows you were just having a bad day etc. Some people have a strong sense of fairness, sounds like regardless of her personal feelings towards you , she knew it wouldn't be fair if you got into trouble.

Personally I'd acknowledge what she did and thank her, make her know it's appreciated. But don't go over the top...She probably doesn't like you either 😁. No need to be best friends but you can work towards a mutually respectful relationship.

But honestly don't over think it. It may be that she was doing what she felt was right, rather than about how she feels about you.

Come off it everyone; the colleague is covering her own back as well. For OP to have left the desk in that state is one thing; for the colleague to sit next to it and do nothing, not even draw it to a supervisor's attention is as bad as being complicit in it.

Everyone has a duty of care to the subjects of confidential information, not just the person directly dealing with it.

That was very nice of her.
Maybe she finds the indifference at work stressful and wants to be more friendly.Maybe she regrets the gossip and the bitching about you that she has done in the past .
It is far more pleasant to get on with colleagues that to feel that they dislike you even if it is mutual.
You owe her a massive thank you,and I would make an effort to be more friendly in the future .You might both be relieved & surprised

A thank you would definitely be in order. That was awesome of her.

She was lovely, very professional, a really decent person - someone I'd love to have as a colleague.

Colleagues do not have to be friends.

The way you are talking about it all, it sounds as though you would not have thought to do the same for her if the situation were to be reversed, would think about that if I were you.

I'd be thankful and let her know you appreciate the effort she made for you.

She saved your job and professional reputation.
You owe her shed loads.

That says a lot about you Otherpeople, not necessarily the colleague!

She saved your backside

I'd be sending her over a lovely large bunch of flowers and big box of choccies - or a voucher for a meal out with her DP

otherpeople to be fair she would have, in NO way looked bad. We're all self employed. We have no idea what others are working on at any one time. There would be absolutely no expectation for her to do anything with my work or desk. Literally none. So it wasn't that. And there's no organisation to protect.

We work for the government and are responsible for ourselves.

There was another thread along these lines about a year ago. The Op came back about 6 months later to update. She had left the company then ran into "annoying woman" somewhere socially and they then started dating!

Stripey I have had to discipline staff in a regulated industry who did not raise issues of breaches of confidentiality which they witnessed and turned a blind eye to.

Wouldn't you have done it for her? Surely if someone in the office, who is normally hard working and professional and is having a hard time and struggling, did something that would get them in big trouble and you could help them out, you would? Not only for someone you liked.

I think you learn from it. Your impression may have been wrong. You don't have to be best mates but you should appreciate that they're a nice person. And yes a little gift as a token of thanks would be the right thing to do, with a genuine thank you.

Is there no office manager there for you at all? I would suspect that she may have been asked to do it so the group as a whole doesn't look bad.
Or it may have been out of the goodness of her heart.

Definitely say thanks, but also don't bring her right into your bosom and share your personal information, if shes gossiped before then she will again.

I don't know why you would bother to do something so nice to someone whose not exactly been nice to you

She was being the better person and its something you could learn from her.

As others have said you don't have to like or be friends with someone to be able to have a professional respect for them. I work with a lady who I think is the most self obsessed, nosey, irritating woman on the planet BUT she is good at her job and I wouldn't want to see her sacked for unfair reasons. I would like someone to find the mute button on her though

A small gift and a very heartfelt thank you is in order.

What a lovely thing for her to do :-)

That's as maybe Otherpeople, but your implication was that the only possible motivation was arsecovering, it couldn't possibly be anything else, and anyone else who thought that fairness/decency/respect might be a factor are just fools who are getting the wool pulled over their eyes. Bit of a jump from "there might have been consequences for her too" to "anyone who thinks she did this in anyway unselfishly is an idiot"- which is what your opener "Come off it everyone" suggests.

Oh, and look, the OP has said it wasn't about her colleague not getting sacked.

Come off it everyone; the colleague is covering her own back as well. For OP to have left the desk in that state is one thing; for the colleague to sit next to it and do nothing, not even draw it to a supervisor's attention is as bad as being complicit in it.

Nevertheless, she did a nice thing. I wouldn't go overboard, as that well might look like sucking up, but a good card with a sincere 'thank you' message is what I would do in this circumstance.

That's a really heartwarming story. I would buy her a thank you card and make an effort to be pleasant to her from now on - you don't have to become friends as such, but be friendly acquaintances - smile, ask her how she is - and look out for an opportunity to return the favour (perhaps you could finish off her work for her if she needs to leave early one day or something like that).

I've covered the arse at work of several people I haven't liked and probably didn't care for me. It was more a sense of what was right rather than a need to become best buds. An acknowledgment and ensuring you have her back if needs be is fine.