Getting revenge on colleague.

[Ihavetoleavemyjob]

Not as sinister as it sounds. A colleague and I were up for a promotion. Both of us fairly equally matched. We get along mostly, but can be a little competitive with each other.

Our job requires a bit of behind the scenes work, stuff that keeps the place going, but will go unnoticed. The other half is stuff that management sees.

We have known one of us was going to be promoted to line manager of the other and both put our best foot forward.

My interview with upper management didn’t go well, I was asked about a few things that went wrong recently. I asked my boss about it and was quietly told my colleague had been blaming me for anything that went wrong (that wasn’t my fault) and sabotaged any attempt at getting promoted.

I can’t work under this person and will start looking for another job. But one part of me just wants to go and let them know why. And another wants to really screw up this persons first few months as a manager. I won’t do anything wrong, but basically be fantastic at the visible part of the job, and ignore the other aspects and let this person fall flat in her face. Basically what this person has done to me. It will also mean I get a better reference. Wwyd?

Look for another job, the situation is a dead end but be aware if you are working for a tub of teflon you need to cover your back. Totally understand the desire for revenge but be aware you will need a reference from them.

What? Genuinely I have no idea what you are talking about.

factually, references are a thing, they are very commonly required. Factually also an employer can give a bad reference if it’s true.

telling her not to worry about references is terrible advice. If she needs new employment, which let’s face it, she is, then it’s odds on she will need a reference from this current employer, and likely her new manager will be instrumental in providing that.

I’m not saying references no longer exist, for heaven’s sake. But their importance is wildly overestimated on MN. People have visions of disgruntled line managers gleefully composing brutally scathing character assassinations and happily sending them off whilst cackling maniacally - all because the OP took a couple of long lunches during their notice period. The reality is, the VAST majority of references these days consist of “I can confirm this person worked in this role between these dates” and are provided by an HR bot who has simply checked against the computer records.

Ok, that’s rather extreme and really not the subject of this thread. This is not about lunches or cackling.

the point remains, references are important in many instances and it’s poor advice to tell the op the opposite, it is highly likely any new employer will request one from this employer.

it’s also highly likely they are going to manage her out and are doing so already. So she should play smart if she needs alternate employment

plenty of people have job offers withdrawn due to poor references.

Most employers can get rid of you within two years anyway so references aren't so important unless you are in a job where a high level of trust is involved such as finance, vulnerable people etc .

If you are confident you can do this without any backlash and that you will be able to find a new role fairly quickly then I'd say this is definitely the best way to go.

Forgot to add . Your new employer can ask your old employer one question, would you re - employ . The answer is going to be yes or no .

Certainly sounds like they did the right thing not giving you the job. Petty as fuck!

I'd stop being petty and unprofessional and just keep your head down and find another job.

In your next job, manage your narrative and boss well. When you are giving them a weekly report of your accomplishments it'll be hard for others to undermine you.

And remember nobody at work is your friend.

I don’t know if you don’t understand or just don’t want to listen. I think it’s probably a combination of the two. But if you don’t want to read what I’m saying, at least read what the OP has said.

OP’s revenge plan is to concentrate on the visible, “headline” tasks and slack on the background tasks. She believes this will not only screw over her boss, but earn her a better reference (presumably from somebody higher up). Someone else suggested doing this would actually adversely affect her reference.

My advice was to avoid revenge strategies, get another job and then, and only then, take things easier at work. I never said “Nobody ever asks for references”. What I did say, and I stand by this, is that their importance and the level of detail that goes into them is often vastly overestimated. My advice to the OP comes from two standpoints - as well as not worrying that a few slack weeks after handing in her notice will result in a bad reference, she shouldn’t waste her time on some risky strategy to get a good one.

You can throw around weasel phrases like “plenty of people” lose out on job offers due to bad references, but I bet you can’t name three.

Why did your boss not correct things seeing that they knew this person who presumably was their boss also, was spreading false complaints about you

Thanks all. My boss didn’t know what was going on. The emails were sent to upper management, and boss wasn’t told. My boss was also being accused of being incompetent. The only reason my boss found out is someone gossiping.

My previous boss felt terrible about what happened, she couldn’t do anything as the person who told her would be fired. She put me in touch with someone she used to work with and I have an interview next week.

My previous boss is giving me a reference so I’m not so worried.

Im off sick today and have had time to process it all. I’ve calmed down and realise how ridiculous I was being. I have had a little revenge, and made her look bad so will leave it at that. Now I will just do the minimum and hopefully find something else while using up some sick leave.

My previous boss pointed out that my colleague and I worked extremely well together, we barely needed to communicate, it was like we were one person who could split themselves into two. Our competitiveness meant between us we got the work of four people done and our area always massively outperformed every other area. So with her training a new person, and me doing bugger all I don’t need to sabotage her, she has done that to herself and probably won’t be kept on as manager.

But thank you all for talking me out of doing anything stupid.

I would not do something which would reflect badly on me. Instead Put in an official formal complaint about the lies told in the emails. Go to HR and senior management. Give her lies as your main reason for leaving in your notice letter. Who would want to work under someone who had screwed them over? At least they will have the measure of her.

Honestly I would rather just leave.

I can understand you are upset in not getting the promotion but you know the real reason, you didn’t perform as well in the interview as the other candidate.

With regards to the being blamed for things that go wrong, I find it hard to believe that if one employee ‘blames’ another it wouldn’t have been investigated fully outside of a job interview, so I don’t think these had any bearing on the outcome, although your inability to explain what happened in the interview probably did.

So where do you go from here? Changing jobs is not always the right solution and changing when you’re still angry is a fail. I suggest you give yourself six months and use it to prepare yourself for a management role.
First go and congratulate your new manager. Ask if you can take on extra responsibilities and try and become indispensable to her and the senior management. Become a manager in your actions, if something goes wrong find the solution, discuss with your manager and implement it. If after the six months you still want to leave then you will have positive examples of things to discuss in any interviews.

Two other things:
The grass is not always greener.
Never leave a company on bad terms.

I did congratulate her. I don’t want to stay with the company, I have no idea if anything was investigated. They probably just laughed at the emails, seeing it for what it was. She is more than capable of doing the job, and certainly could have got the job based on her performance. But I can’t work under someone I don’t trust or respect. I’m happy to coast until I find something else. Now I’m over the anger I think it will be nice to work under her for a while without the pressure of trying to be the best. We do make a good team. But I can’t stay.

Sadly the reality is, a colleague who sends emails to upper management undermining you will also be the manager who takes credit for al your work. There is no winning in these situations. The OP is right to leave.