Have you ever had a coworker who was an actual nightmare?
The Burden of Dead Weight
My coworker Trent figured out my weakness during my first week at the company three years ago when I was eager to help and desperate to make friends after moving to a new city alone. Trent noticed immediately and started small by asking me to proofread his reports since English was supposedly his second language, even though he grew up in Ohio,.
Then he needed help formatting spreadsheets because his computer kept crashing. Except it worked fine when he played online poker during lunch breaks.
Trent would show up late every morning claiming traffic was brutal and asking if I could start the morning reports so we wouldn’t fall behind as a team. Every single favor came with a promise that evaporated the second I delivered what he needed from me.
“His kid was sick, so could I handle his presentation, but he would definitely make it up to me later, except later came.” “His car broke down, so could I finish his quarterly review, but he would totally split the bonus with me, except there was never any bonus to split.” “His mother was having surgery, so could I cover his biggest client meeting, but he would put in a good word for me with management.”
Except those words were all about his own dedication and leadership skills. My friends kept telling me Trent was using me, but I genuinely believed we were a team helping each other succeed.
Sure, I was doing most of the work, but Trent always made sure to publicly thank his amazing support system during meetings without ever specifically mentioning my name or contributions. He had mastered the art of taking credit without technically lying by using phrases like, “We accomplished and our team delivered”. When really, he meant, “I did everything,” while he scrolled through social media.
Other coworkers started assuming Trent was some kind of genius who could juggle impossible workloads while still having time for long lunches and early departures every Friday. Within 6 months, Trent had trained me like a circus animal to do his entire workload while he took credit for everything,. The manipulation was so gradual that I barely noticed it happening until it became my normal routine.
But then a senior management position opened up and Trent submitted a portfolio of work that was 90% mine as his accomplishments.
During his promotion interview, when I overheard him through the conference room door, saying, “I’ve had to carry dead weight for too long, and I’m ready to build a team of people who actually contribute something valuable to this company.” He was talking about me like I was the burden when I had been doing both our jobs for 3 years straight.
That afternoon, I started documenting everything, including emails where Trent explicitly asked me to do his work and screenshots of him logged out of systems while I was logged in completing his assignments. I scheduled a meeting with HR and laid out 3 years of evidence showing exactly who had been doing what.
HR promised to investigate, but said these situations were complicated and would take time to sort through properly. Meanwhile, Trent got the promotion and immediately became my boss, which meant he could now officially delegate all his work to me.
