Katharina Buczek
This 30-year-old guy has been working at the same company for about five years. One of his coworkers, a 28-year-old woman named Sarah, has also worked there for the same amount of time.
In the past, he and Sarah always had a pretty competitive yet friendly dynamic, too. However, an opportunity for a big promotion recently cropped up, and he knew that both he and Sarah were going to go for it.
So, once the selection process began, he realized just how much he wanted to land the promotion.
“It became an unhealthy obsession,” he admitted.
“And I started finding ways to undermine Sarah’s chances.”
For instance, he began spreading negative rumors about the work Sarah was doing and would “subtly” criticize her during team meetings.
To make matters worse, he even went so far as to steal a couple of Sarah’s ideas and presented them to his supervisors as his own!
Anyway, it eventually came time for management to announce who got the promotion. And, to his surprise, he actually landed it.
“I was thrilled,” he recalled, “But that joy was short-lived when I saw Sarah’s face.”
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