If you had a friend at work who was breaking the rules, what would you do? Would you ignore the situation since they’re a friend, or would you try to convince them to stop breaking the rules?

In today’s story, one employee tried to help their coworker avoid getting fired, but this employee didn’t expect to be thrown under the bus in the process.

It’s safe to say they’re not friends anymore, but the employee is wondering if they took things too far.

Let’s read the story.

AITA for reporting my coworker and getting them fired?

Last year in March, a coworker I considered a best friend blamed me for their drop in productivity.

This happened because I was ensuring they followed our company’s Standard Procedure of Operations (SPO)—something we had two major meetings about.

In fact, someone had already been fired for not following these procedures, so I was trying to help them avoid the same outcome.

However, they routinely skipped critical steps in the process, which could have caused harm or jeopardized the company’s standing.

This doesn’t sound like a good best friend.

When they finally started following procedures, their productivity plummeted from over 100% to 40%.

Instead of taking accountability, they blamed me.

Management ended up separating us, and their productivity miraculously shot back up—because they resumed skipping steps.

A few months later, they dragged me into drama involving other coworkers.

The coworker broke a lot of rules.

During a meeting with management, I made it clear that I did not want them contacting me outside of work anymore.

Meanwhile, they continued breaking company policies, such as:

• Taking 45-minute breaks instead of the allowed 15 minutes, despite multiple warnings.

• Falsifying a full week of work hours, then bragging about getting away with it.

• Parking in handicap spots without a placard or plate.

I smell karma brewing.

Three months ago, they were on their last attendance occurrence with no PTO left, meaning they couldn’t call out without getting fired.

To avoid termination, they took a leave of absence (LOA), citing a medical accommodation.

During this LOA, they started texting me from different numbers because I had blocked them.

I reminded them that work-related communication should only happen at work, but things escalated.

That’s a new level of crazy.

I later found out from two colleagues that this person was sending them my background checks and openly saying they were trying to get me fired.

I reported this to my supervisor, who advised me to file an HR complaint.

HR conducted an investigation, spoke to witnesses, and found that they had violated the company’s code of conduct.

As a result, they were officially fired.

Now this employee is having second thoughts.

Now, they are accusing me of retaliation and have even gotten their parents involved, claiming that I engaged in workplace abuse by holding them accountable to company procedures.

While I feel justified in reporting their actions, part of me wonders—did I take things too far? I never intended for it to escalate this much, but their behavior kept crossing boundaries.

So, Reddit, AITA for reporting my coworker, which ultimately led to their termination?

Turns out, doing your actual job isn’t workplace abuse. Who knew?

Reddit pretty much agrees: OP didn’t get this person fired, she did that all on her own.

This person says they were a walking violation and deserved what they got.

The coworker deserved to get fired.

And if they really wanted their job, they would’ve done better.

Play stupid games, lose your job. Simple as that!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.