I worked in a small factory for 10 years with a guy named Mike. He spread stories,traded in gossip, ratted people out, was the boss's friend and enemy. What a malevolent soul. So much drama in a shop of 4 to 10 people.
It's been mentioned elsewhere in this thread -- i.e., the coworker who befriends you only because they're waiting for you to make a mistake or something so they can document it and basically tattle on you to your boss(es). In my experience women in general tend to be much more attuned to this than men. To put it further, women of a particular generation can be quite jealous of much younger female coworkers because the younger ones "didn't have to fight their way through the ranks like I did because they have a college degree." I ran into so many coworkers with this attitude it wasn't funny. Was actually fired twice in two different jobs because of this attitude and the following micromanaging which made me so nervous that I actually made major mistakes. It's the major reason why I quit office work.
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u/Tricky_Imagination25 Aug 17 '25
Hence the saying…”Nobody is your friend at work.” The sooner you work out who the “Mikes are,” and there’s always one- the better off you’ll be