I’m Natalie, and I’ve always tried to be a fair coworker. But I work with someone who seems to think the office rules are just suggestions. She takes 90-minute lunches and disappears for 20-minute “bathroom breaks” multiple times a day. I’m not exaggerating—her breaks are legendary for how long they are.
Last week, I was feeling a bit burnt out, so I took an extra 15 minutes for lunch just to clear my head. I wasn’t late for any meetings, and I was getting my work done. But apparently, that was 15 minutes too many for my coworker. She ran straight to our boss to report me for “constant break time.”
I stayed calm. I didn’t scream or get defensive. I just kept doing my job.
What she didn’t know was that I had started documenting our break times a month ago because her absences were making my workload heavier. When our boss called her into the office a few days later, she went pale. I had three weeks of timestamps showing the reality: she was averaging 2.5 hours of breaks per day, while I averaged 45 minutes.
She tried to throw me under the bus to distract from her own slacking, but all she did was drive the bus right over herself. I felt a little guilty for logging everything at first, but honestly? She brought this on herself. I’m not the “office villain”—I’m just the one who kept the receipts.
