Coasting on someone else’s work only lasts as long as that person keeps showing up to cover for you.

When a hotel night shift worker realized his lazy coworker had been taking credit and trash-talking him to the boss, he quietly stopped offering the daily reminder that kept the guy looking competent at the job.

The moment of truth finally came right on time.

Keep reading for the full story!

My coworker kept taking credit for closing tasks, so I stopped reminding him about the one thing that made him look useful

I used to work night shift at a small hotel front desk. There were only two of us, so it was pretty obvious who actually did the work and who just floated around looking busy.

My coworker Eric was great at the second one.

Eric seemed more interested in just vibing than actually working.

He’d avoid the boring stuff like wiping down the coffee station, restocking key cards, and getting breakfast setup ready, then act like we had both done equal work.

But when the boss was around, Eric made sure to talk a big game.

When the morning manager came in, he always made himself sound way more on top of things than he really was.

There was one task in particular that grinded this employee’s gears.

The part that finally got to me was breakfast prep. Night shift was supposed to leave things ready for the morning attendant, including moving the waffle batter from the freezer so it would be usable.

Technically that was shared, but the only reason it ever got done was because I reminded Eric every shift around 5:10.

I did it because if it got missed, morning shift complained at both of us.

So when Eric took the opportunity to throw him under the bus in front of the boss, he decided it was no more Mr. Nice Guy.

Then one morning Eric told our manager that I was forgetful about closing details, but that he always caught things behind me.

After that, I stopped reminding him.

I still did my own work. I just stopped giving him the one nudge that let him act competent.

Soon, Eric’s façade came crumbling down.

Three shifts later, the breakfast attendant opened the freezer and realized the waffle batter had never been moved.

Manager asked what happened and Eric immediately tried to say he thought I handled that part.

My manager just looked at him and said, “I thought you said you always double checked behind him.”

Things got pretty awkward after that, but he did start being a better employee.

Room got quiet real fast.

He didn’t get fired or anything, but after that he stopped acting like my supervisor in a name tag and somehow started remembering breakfast prep all by himself and helping me much more.

Looks like all Eric needed was a little nudge and a lot of embarrassment.

What did Reddit have to say?

Eric deserved all he had comin’ to him.

Good bosses know exactly who their star employees are.

This story reminded this commenter of someone he knows.

When you act like this much of a jerk, you face the consequences.

The truth always comes out eventually!

If you enjoyed this post, try this one about an employee who reported a coworker for gaming the work-from-home schedule.