Café worker covered a colleague's shifts for 4 months over family emergencies and sick days — then she ran into her at the worst possible time

Finding good colleagues is rare, but unfortunately, some people take advantage of them. A Reddit user who goes by u/ExplorerExpress257 shared a post on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, explaining how a woman they worked with betrayed their trust. They had been diligently covering shifts for her at a busy cafe for 4 months because she often had emergencies and medical issues. To their surprise, they ran into her on one of the days she was supposedly dealing with a family situation, and it revealed an unexpected truth. 

The woman would often ask the colleague to cover shifts for her, citing serious reasons. Believing each of them, the latter would go to great lengths to adjust their schedules so they could fit her working hours in. “We work at a fairly busy cafe, and I figured she was just going through a rough patch,” they shared. On one of the days, the worker had to refuse to cover her shift because they already had plans of their own. She mentioned that she had a “family situation,” but there was nothing they could do. That’s when everything turned upside down. They visited a mall later that day and ran into their lying coworker. She was laughing and enjoying herself with her friends, making it clear that she had no real emergency. 

At the time, the worker chose not to say anything to her, but they undoubtedly felt cheated and frustrated. Surprisingly, the woman shamelessly texted them again, asking them to cover for her. This time, they refused and suggested she speak to the manager and figure out a solution to her problems. As soon as they set a boundary, she got “cold” and began grumbling to fellow employees that they had let her down. “She lied to me. Multiple times. I was rearranging my whole week, thinking she was dealing with something serious,” they remarked.

Commenters called out the woman, not just for her lack of integrity, but also for getting offended when the coworker decided to take a stand. u/Mandytbhlol said, “You’ve been covering her for so long, and as soon as you start to refuse, she takes it as a personal attack.” u/PeriwinkleParadise95 added, “It’s a pity because if she ever does have a true emergency, she’ll be left out with her sheep for the wolf to eat.” u/janabanana67 wrote, “She should ask the managers for fewer hours instead of inconveniencing everyone else.” 

If we’re not alert while dealing with such colleagues, they can push their responsibilities onto us. In a similar instance, an employee was frustrated when a woman kept using “we” in emails as a sly way to get others to do the work. Recalling one such incident, she explained that there was a customer issue, and the woman sent her “Can we” email. Seeing that it was clearly her mistake and a task that fell under her responsibilities, the colleague replied, “You should be able to,” adding what was required of her. 

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