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Coworker not happy I refused to do work for her.

· 4 min read

So there I was, day‑dreaming about coffee when the mortgage hotline rang. “We need updated insurance before closing this week,” the voice on the other end chirped, and my brain did a full 360‑degree spin. Turns out the homeowner’s insurance policy had a whoops‑there‑is‑an‑address‑error moment. Classic. The mortgage company was already on the verge of a “no‑insurance‑no‑closing” crisis.

I handed the call over to a coworker who claimed, “There’s nothing I can do until underwriting is done and the policy’s issued.” That was the perfect excuse. Of course we could send an ACORD form—an official, legally binding document that just says “this is the right address” and magically fixes everything. But, like most bureaucrats, she’d rather let the chaos simmer than write a quick, tedious ACORD.

She tried the classic deflection trick: “I’ll handle it.” I politely said, “I’m going to transfer the lender to you because I don’t know where you’re at.” She looked like she’d just been punched in the face with a giant legal pad. After the call, she blasted me a Teams chat in all caps: “THEY JUST NEEDED AN ACORD FORM.” I responded with a single “ok.” She then sent back, “ITS DONE DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.” I could hear a tiny, passive‑aggressive sigh echo in her office.

I’m not sure if she’s a “she” or a “she,” but she’s the queen of “I can’t do this, but you can.” She’s the office’s resident “my mistake, your mistake, we’re all at fault” guru. She has the audacity to whisper gossip about me to her little gossip buddy, all while pretending I’m the one who’s always “fixing her errors.” Meanwhile, I’ve fixed so many of her mistakes that I’m ready for a trophy. I’m not about to become her personal errand runner.

She’s about to find out that the office is a democracy, not a dictatorship. The passive‑aggressive “don’t worry” and the “there’s nothing I can do about it” are the last words I’ll hear from her. Because if I ever try to push my work onto her—like a boss pushing a spreadsheet onto a intern—she’ll lose her cool. Rules apply to everyone, even the self‑proclaimed “office dictator.” And that’s the unspoken motto of our workplace.

Comments​

  • “I called a sales guy a dick and got called into HR who said we know he’s a dick, but you can’t say it.”
    Because apparently “dick” is a legal term now.

  • “I had a coworker try to do this to 2 of us on Friday—argument: in her country it was 5 pm so we should do a job for her because we’re in the states. Except the two of us don’t have the documents or training. Turns out the team has 100% turnover, and European coworkers are the primary while we’re just “support staff.” So yes, she can pretend to be the boss, but that’s a different kind of office politics.*

    Turns out “support” sometimes means “please help me, but only if I’m not overworked.”

  • “I'm not worried, it wasn't my mistake to fix.”
    Classic “I did what I was told” response.

  • “She knows she got the address right—one after Magna Carta.”
    Because sometimes the only way to fix an address is to write a treaty.

  • “Was not expecting a Chuck reference here!”
    We’re all secretly hoping for a Chuck moment in the office drama.

TL;DR​

A mis‑addressed insurance policy sparks a showdown between a stubborn coworker and a determined employee. The office politics are so thick you could slice them with a spreadsheet. And remember: an ACORD form is just a fancy way of saying “Sorry, we messed up.”