Some people make it really hard to call them a friend when they switch from supportive to insulting on a dime.

So, what would you do if a coworker could be helpful one minute and hurtful the next, and calling out his behavior only risked making your work life harder?

Would you just learn to deal with it? Or would you find a creative way to get him back?

In the following story, one coworker turns to Reddit for help dealing with a difficult colleague.

Here’s the story.

I ragebait a colleague in reddit comments when he treats me badly

One of my colleagues is a huge fan of a well-known kids’ book series and frequently talks about getting into discussions about it with people on Reddit.

And because I’m on Reddit a lot, one day I realised that I was looking at a post he was talking about earlier in the day and accidentally found his account.

He is not a terrible person, and I would go as far as to consider him a friend, but occasionally he will do something ridiculously dumb or hurtful – for example, one day he decided to mock my disability in the office kitchen.

He doesn’t like to fight with him, but does get annoyed.

He is really prickly and doesn’t take well to feedback on his behaviour.

Unfortunately, he is one of the most senior guys in my company that I have to directly work with, so I can’t afford to alienate him at work – and to be honest, I don’t want to. Most of the time, he’s a solid, fun guy and actually an ally who backed up my needs multiple times.

He just also happens to occasionally be a jerk.

As much as I don’t care to get into a fight with him, every now and then, I need to let out my bitterness/anger in some way.

When he gets fed up, he turns to Reddit.

So, for the past few months, when I feel like I need to, I check his Reddit profile to see if he’s made any recent comments or posts and then reply to him from an alt account saying something preposterously incorrect – imagine asking, “Why didn’t they just call the stormtroopers?” on a Star Trek subreddit.

He is so incredibly attached to the books that he can’t help but have an endless argument with my alt account. And I can’t help but enjoy the thought of giving him a mild annoyance on a random Tuesday.

As a cherry on top, more often than not, he will moan to me about it at work as well, often days after the interaction.

And whilst he’s explaining in detail how exactly some idiot on the internet was wrong, I’m standing there barely containing my laughter and petty joy.

Wow! In a sense, that’s a great way to let out some frustration.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit think about him doing this.

This person doesn’t think the coworker is good.

Yet another reader who thinks the coworker is terrible.

This person adds a little humor to their advice.

According to this comment, he’s got a great idea.

That’s one way to handle it.

Apparently, if you can’t get them at work, you might as well do it where you can.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.