Co-worker lied to my boss just to make him angry with me

My boss needed my paperwork so I handed it to my coworker like I always do. She's supposed to attach one sheet to it and then hand it to our boss.

Today right in front of me she said to my boss I handed her paperwork at 4 pm ( I handed it to her at 11:30 AM) so I said no I handed it to you before I went to lunch which was 11:30. She says that never happened so I tried to keep saying I swear I gave it to you 11:30 and my boss says I don't need lies, I believe Elizabeth. It was supposed to be in my office at 12. I don't like you lying to me like this. If you don't hand it to Elizabeth before 12 again I'm going to fire you.

I had no idea what more to say... I felt so upset with her for lying to our boss. I want to ask her why she lied but I don't want to be confrontational..maybe that's a bad idea she will probably treat me even worse

Is this normal? Do co-workers do this? I've only ever been nice to her

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38% Normal
Based on 13 votes (5 yes)
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Comments ( 4 )
  • Boojum

    One thing is clear: you now know you can't trust her. From now on, you should be polite and professional with her, but no more than that.

    What you say suggests that your boss dropped the "I'll fire you!" hammer on you in front of the other woman. No competent manager does that. Maybe he's just an obnoxious jerk who models his managerial style on what he saw Trump do on The Apprentice. Maybe he's been promoted beyond his level of competence. Maybe he's desperate to get into Elizabeth's pants, he knows damn well she lied, but he took her side since that improves his chances with her. Or maybe he's already involved with her, and that's way more important to him than your happiness or even having you on the team.

    I think it would be a very bad idea for you to confront her about her lie. This would only escalate things. You both know what actually happened, but it's highly unlikely that she'll admit that she lied since that's a scuzzbag move. She won't want to admit that's what she is, so she'll most likely double-down on the lie, and she'll probably begin to actively dislike you for forcing her into that position.

    Another thing that's clear is that your boss is a poor judge of character and he's incapable of recognising when people are lying to him (or at least when one particular person is lying). So you need to be extra careful to make sure you have hard evidence that you've completed the tasks assigned to you correctly and on time.

    Crap like this can completely destroy the environment in a workplace. It leads to a cover-your-own-ass attitude which makes life more difficult for managers since their underlings feel that they have to inform them about every single action they take.

    WeirdGuy's suggestion that you take a photo of you handing over the paperwork every day is amusing, but a bit too passive-aggressive even for me. What you might consider doing is taking a picture of the completed document every day next to a clock. Of course, that wouldn't be proof that you actually handed over the paperwork in time. If you have a colleague who you're on good terms with, maybe you can make it a point to casually say something to them every day when you go to hand over the paperwork.

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  • RoseIsabella

    If I were you I would also send this a boss a copy of the paperwork as an attachment to a memo with the now, and in the future. I also think I would meet with HR about this matter as well if I were you.

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  • Mini69

    I would do one of 2 things either:
    . Ask her for the attachment and give it to your boss yourself. That way if her part isn’t ready you can tell your boss it’s missing because she hasn’t done her bit yet.

    Or

    Have her sign a receipt which you counter sign with the date and time.

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  • Ellenna

    Ask her how she could've made this mistake, rather than accusing her of lying, which she obviously was.

    And in future, write the time you're handing documents over on the front page or staple on a slip with the time written on it.

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