Working alongside someone with a passive-aggressive nature can be next to impossible.

If you were in this situation, would you simply deal with it, or would you document everything?

One Redditor knows the correct answer is to document everything, and I mean everything!

Read how this worker’s documentation ends up saving the day.

Documentation will save your cookies

So, I was a contractor in a Government office.

My background is extensive starting with multiple engineering degrees, and many years of designing, building and operation of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV’s).

There was constant personnel churn in the office, and the contractors were the corporate memory.

It’s an interesting situation, I always likened it to a feudal society.

The OP couldn’t seem to shake this image.

Staffers (direct Government employees) were the royalty, and contractors were the serfs.

Sometimes it was bothersome, but the position paid very well, so that was some benefit. Most of the time, the staffers knew they were in way over their heads and gladly accepted our advice.

But then, she arrived.

A woman staffer arrived, one day, as head of the department that managed our outside service contractors.

Typically, I played a large advisory role in dealing with these folks as someone familiar with the industry and able to call ********, if you will.

Well, this woman decided that I was conspiring behind her back with the contractors, virtually on the first day there. Why, I never knew, but it was what it was.

Luckily, I didn’t answer to her. I answered to a guy who, in a former life, was a member of Seal Team 6, basically a trained killer, great guy.

Surprisingly, the OP raved about him.

He liked me a lot, and we got along well together. When the foo-foo started, he pulled me aside and said, “document everything you do.”

So, I did as he suggested. I had a notebook in OneNote that I would record whatever I did that involved this woman, including her increasingly anti-social behavior towards me. We would be in meetings, and not only would she not look at me, when I asked her direct questions she wouldn’t answer.

Several times, this happened and then there was this dead silence until someone else spoke.

About this time we got a new division manager who was very….personnel “sensitive.”

But the new boss wasn’t up to snuff.

He was a PhD type in an operations role and completely out of his league, so he regressed to what he knew, making the office “kinder and gentler.”

This was quite a challenge, as we had an office full of ex-Navy types, and they weren’t exactly used to being “kinder and gentler.”

In a short period of time, the woman in question had skewered 5 other males in the office in her short tenure, with the result of them departing the office, both staff and contractors.

I would have been her 6th if she had had her way.

However, the boss was aware of this woman’s bad behavior.

So, there was a lot of concern about my position.

My boss was in my office one day, talking about the latest anti-social behavior demonstrated by this woman. He made a comment, “boy, I wish I had documentation of all this.”

I laughed, went to my computer and printed off a 20-page dissertation on all the stupidity.

His eyes lit up. “Come with me,” he said.

And, boy, did the OP deliver…

We went into the office of the new director, and my boss gave him my dossier.

It took him a bit to read through it all. I had used the word “harassment” (which turned out to be the magic word) in description of many of the episodes.

He said, “I think harassment is too strong a word for this behavior.”

I asked him if a contractor was exhibiting this behavior towards a staffer, what would you call it?

The boss understood the assignment.

He didn’t answer the question.

About a week later, the woman was reassigned to a different organization.

I always say, it’s not good to go head-to-head with a trained killer….

LOL

Was this worker out of line for their documentation? Let’s see what side Reddit is on. Read the comments below to get a better idea.

One Redditor kept it short and sweet.

Another remarked the OP’s behavior was “intense.”

People raved about OneNote.

And finally, a few Redditors questioned how this was malicious compliance.

This coworker was vigilant and got what they wanted!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.