Should I throw coworker under the bus?

[Anonymous]

It’s not middle school. It’s a job. Tell what’s relevant about the work.

[Anonymous]

I’d make sure you’re not part of the problem.

Looking back, I worked very hard and not sure it paid off. In today’s environment all that really matters is badge swipes. Your coworker might have figured all this out and you haven’t.

It’s difficult to say since we don’t work for your company, but there is a chance that what your coworker is doing or not doing has little effect on the result.

Personally I’d just behave like your coworker but act very confident and competent when discussing the project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never been in this situation, but I’m curious how things would go if you leveled with her and told her much her laziness is causing your work to suffer.

Like, “Hey, I know this job sucks and you’re planning to leave, but I’m having to take on a lot more than I thought I would. Can you please do XYZ.”

Anyone have experience on how requests like these end up going?

I was in a somewhat similar situation over a decade ago. Colleague P. told me in November that he wasn't going to help at all with Big Spring Project. I thanked him for letting me know and said that gave me time to bring other folks in to do it. He told me that he wasn't going to tell anyone that he wouldn't do it, so I wouldn't be able to get anyone else to come in--he wanted to sabotage the project.

Rather than quoting his exact words to management (I felt a bizarre sense of loyalty to him, plus who would believe me?), I went to a number of different folks in authority (several managers were and had been missing from the org chart for several months and we were basically supervising ourselves) and said that we needed to have contingency plans in case P wasn't able to do the work. No one offered a contingency plan, but then there was a management turnover that included him being fired. So, not super useful for OP's predicament, but one account.

In my case, I wound up in the predicament I was in because there was no one above me who cared about the project the way that I did, even though it brought in several million a year. I think they would have cared if it hadn't gotten done, though.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you tried telling your coworker "Thank you for confiding in me, but do you realize how well and truly screwed you have left me? The blame is going to land on my shoulders and it's your fault."

If she is gets to bare all and tell you secrets, you should be honest with her too. I don't see why she gets to silently quit and not feel any sort of impact from her (lack of) actions.

Other than that, you need to make sure your supervisors and management know 100% that you have done all you can do. If you pick up slack, you should be getting paid overtime. You should NOT be killing yourself over others incompetence.