Imagine working with a coworker who is always boasting about what they can do and trying to act like they’re better at their job than you are when you don’t really believe that’s true.

If you had to deal with a coworker like that, would you call them out on their nonsense, or would you believe what they say and escalate the situation in a way you might later regret?

The man in today’s story believed his boastful coworker, and now he’s really worried.

Let’s see what’s going on.

AITA for possibly ruining my coworker’s future prospects?

I (20m) have a coworker/peer (18f) who has been extremely competitive with me in the past.

A little bit of background is that I work at a on-campus job at my local college and she joined my work team about three months ago.

The first thing that she said to me when we first met was that she had heard “all about me” from my mentor, who I’ll call Prof. A, of whom I consider myself a decent protégée.

When I mentioned that Prof. A was my favorite professor, she immediately replied with how much he liked her and all the special privileges she got from being his “favorite”.

At the time, I just let it slide.

It went downhill from there.

She won’t stop talking about wanting the internship he has.

Soon when I was stuck alone with her, all she would talk about was her accomplishments and what she’s doing.

When she realized I had an internship directly under Prof. A, she decided that she wanted it.

Almost immediately, my days at work were plagued with questions about my internship and how much she wanted it, and how she is overqualified for the position.

Joking, he asked her a question.

It all came to a head the other night when I joked to her, “what happens if we lose our jobs? Hope you have another lined up.”

And she responded, “I do actually, I was offered one like yesterday.”

Curious, I asked where, since it was odd that a freshman would get sought out.

She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Your internship. Prof. A offered it to me. I was surprised, because I thought you were doing a good job, but I’m already doing a bunch of things free for (the company) and so I might as well already have it.”

He was pretty scared.

I didn’t let it show, but this comment scared me.

The idea of just being replaced like that by someone who I held in high esteem was a very painful idea to me.

The next day, I walked into Prof. A’s office, a nervous wreck.

Since my coworker had told me that she had been doing parts of my internship already, I assumed the transition was already in effect.

He told Prof A what his coworker had said.

I sat down across from my mentor and tried to explain what my coworker had told me.

When I was done with my recount, Prof. A looked frustrated.

He told me that my coworker had lied.

He hadn’t given her my internship, and in fact she wasn’t even doing the parts of my job that she was claiming to.

He was both scared and relieved at the same time.

I felt instant relief, and then dread. Because if she had been lying, Prof. A was going to confront her.

He hinted that she was in trouble and that he was going to contact her to set things straight, and that was the last I have heard or dealt with the situation.

I never brought this up directly to her, in fear that she would accuse me of being jealous or lash out at me.

I fear that I have ruined her chances of ever being successful at least at this school.

Now he’s worried.

I really hope she learns instead of retaliates.

I just hope that I’m wrong and everything will be okay.

But if I ruin her future without ever confronting her about her behavior, I don’t think I’ll ever recover.

AITA?

His coworker should’ve have lied.

He was honest, and if that comes back to bite her, that’s on her, not him.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

He didn’t do anything wrong.

She got herself into trouble.

She sounds pretty crazy.

He really shouldn’t worry about this.

All he did was tell the truth.

Nothing wrong with that.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.