Shutterstock

Oh, boy…

It’s story time!

At an old job I had, one of my co-workers was THE WORST.

She gossiped, she talked trash, she tried to pit employees against each other.

It was brutal!

And let’s just say that I didn’t last too long at that job because I realized the headaches weren’t worth the paycheck…

But enough about me!

Take a look at what this person is dealing with at work…and it ain’t pretty, folks.

Start now!

Every job has one, I’m convinced.

“There’s a woman at work named Cheryl, and I swear every office has a version of her.

She’s not openly mean enough to get in trouble, but she somehow makes the entire atmosphere heavier the second she walks into a room. You can literally hear conversations die when she appears around the corner.

You know the type…

Cheryl acts like she’s management despite not actually supervising anyone. She monitors everyone constantly. If someone comes back from lunch a few minutes late, she’ll quietly say: “Half days must be nice.”

If someone calls in sick, she suddenly becomes an investigator: “Hmmmm, they were fine yesterday.”

She also has this talent for disguising criticism as concern.

People like this are gross.

She’ll say things like: “You seem really tired lately. Everything okay?” in front of other coworkers so now everyone turns to look at you like you’re falling apart.

The break room is the worst.

Someone could be talking about a new puppy, vacation plans, or literally anything enjoyable, and Cheryl somehow redirects it into negativity within thirty seconds.

Coworker: “We’re going camping this weekend.”

This is actually kind of hilarious.

Cheryl: “Hope you packed emergency supplies. My cousin got stranded once and almost lost a toe.”

Nobody even knows how to respond to that.

She also keeps track of things that no normal person should notice. She remembers exactly how long people take on break, who leaves early, who orders takeout too often, who seems “off” lately.

She never directly accuses anyone of anything, but she says just enough to make people uncomfortable. The strangest part is she genuinely thinks she’s helpful.

She sounds pretty clueless, to be honest…

If there’s tension in the office that she personally caused, she’ll sit there saying: “I just think communication has really broken down around here.”

Meanwhile everyone is actively avoiding eye contact with her. At this point people schedule lunches around Cheryl. If someone sees her heading for the break room, they suddenly remember they “have emails to finish.”

New employees usually try to be friendly with her at first, but within about two weeks they develop the same thousand-yard stare as the rest of us.

What makes it worse is there’s never a big dramatic event HR can point to. It’s just years of constant small comments, judgment, negativity, and hovering until the entire office collectively feels emotionally exhausted whenever she’s around.

I’m not bothered enough by her to leave my longterm employment, but she really does make the work week feel exhausting.”

Here’s what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person had a lot to say.

Another reader weighed in.

This individual shared their thoughts.

Another person weighed in.

And this Reddit user spoke up.

Co-workers like this are THE WORST.

Ugh…this brings back some bad memories.

What a pain in the neck!

Nobody likes dealing with the office busybody…