We all have that one friend in our friend group who seems too pure for this world. They're genuinely nice and caring people. They'd give you the shirt off their back if it came to that. It would hurt to see them in pain, right? Of course it would, you're not a heartless bastard. (Well, you are, just not to them.)
After Redditor locuspocuslostfocus asked the online community, "Have you ever witnessed a genuinely nice person get backstabbed for no reason?" people shared their stories and told us what happened.
"I found out a colleague..."
I found out a colleague hadn't applied for a big promotion so I asked why as she had shown a lot of interest in the past having covered the position quite enthusiastically.
She told me that she had been off for a few weeks and on her 1st day back had given another colleague a lift home (massively out of her way). It was common knowledge in the office the vacancy was coming up and we were just waiting for HR to open up applications so whilst driving it came up but the other person said that applications hadn't opened yet and they hadn't heard anything about the role in a while.
Applications closed the following day and I know for fact the person who denied knowing about the vacancy had already put their own application in a few days before.
My colleague missed out on the role and we all learned there was a snake in the office. What's worse is the petty arse hole never stood a chance of even getting an interview for the role because she was known as lazy and quite argumentative.
"He worked there over 20 years..."
George - nice guy at a hardware store I used to shop at. He liked being busy and wasn't a big talker so while the rest of the people at the store were standing around gossiping or on their phones, George would be straightening shelves, sweeping etc. He was also very good about explaining DIY stuff to folks and was always helpful in pointing out the safest way to do something or giving you tips to save money.
He worked there over 20 years and was the first guy fired in the recession because the manager thought George was too nice to resent being fired.
George went to work at competitor in the next town and once word got out that George was over there, half of the store's business followed him. That hardware store is now a walk-in clinic.
"I used to work with a lady..."
I used to work with a lady in an old IT department who was basically everyone's work mom. She did her job but also liked to make sure everyone was happy. She kept track of everyone's birthdays so she could make them a cake or cookies, she would offer to cover for you if you needed to leave early or take a long lunch or anything - just overall a great person!
Well, she was also one of the oldest (in tenure, not age) employees at the company and knew the CEO and most of the managers well. At one point there was an opening for a manager in a department she used to work in before moving to IT. We all told her to go for it. The CEO herself even suggested that she go for it. So everyone assumed she was a shoe-in and that the interview was just a formality.
So, after the interview, they give the job to someone else. My coworker feels really hurt and betrayed because why would the CEO push her to apply and then not hire her for the position. Months go by and the role is vacant again (restructuring, the new manager got shuffled somewhere else) and again the CEO and some of the managers of other departments tell my coworker to apply. She is reluctant but eventually she does. And they do it to her again!
At that point she took it personally and felt like she did something wrong or wasn't a good employee or something. It killed me to see that awful company break her spirit like that.
Becky, if you somehow read this, you're the best and way better than that place deserves!
"Instead..."
There was this girl in high school who was probably the kindest person I have ever met. During a football game, she would always have 200 or so cupcakes to pass out. All types of different flavors and designs on them and everyone loved them. Well, a group of girls didn't like the attention she was getting at all and asked to help pass out the cup cakes to "help."
Instead they took the cupcakes and caked them quite literally on the girls new car. It was everywhere. The windows, the exhaust, the wheels, and a back window was also open a bit so anything they didn't smear on the car was shoved into that window. I felt terrible seeing the car afterwards and only ONE of the girls took the blame for it and didn't even end up getting into too much trouble.
Sorry about your cupcakes Hannah.
"My dad literally supported his family..."
My dad literally supported his family after moving to America for years. He sent money to his dad and stepmother, plus paid for his half siblings' education, despite barely scraping by in the US. Fast-forward to today, and all but one of them are doing super well financially. None of them showed up to my mom's funeral or did anything to offer support to my dad. Despite overcoming incredible abuse from his stepmother, I was still never allowed to call her out on it and always told to look at things from her side (which was not justifiable in any way).
"Coldest thing I've ever seen."
"Melvin" and "Marjorie" had been married 40 years and looking forward to a comfortable retirement when Melvin told Marjorie God had called him to be a missionary in the Philippines. Marjorie, being a good Christian, supported her husband's decision, bought him luggage and drove him to the airport as a good wife does.
Melvin wrote emails every day talking about his ministry and how things were going and asked Marjorie to send him money occasionally. Months passed this way and soon it was time for Melvin to come home. And he did. With a new 18 year old bride.
As it turns out, Melvin had divorced Marjorie in secret by forging her names on a do-it-yourself divorce kit and filing it with the Court. Marjorie defaulted, of course, and the divorce was finalized without her ever knowing. So when Melvin returned from the Phillippines, he dropped the bomb that not only had they been divorced for a year and a half but he now had this new "wife" and Marjorie would need to move out of the house and in to another which he "graciously" agreed she could have in the divorce she never knew about.
Coldest thing I've ever seen.
"There was a girl who would volunteer..."
I went to a very poor high school. There was a girl who would volunteer to work concessions and baked hundreds of cookies to sell and raise money for girl's athletics, as she herself played 3 sports. Over her 4 years, she had to have raised over $1000. Her senior year, she was a manager for the volleyball team. Having been a starter the year before, I assumed she was injured and asked when she would be able to play again. I was shocked to hear she had been cut from the team. No one knew why, but you could tell she was heartbroken.
"She set up and did all the work..."
My cousin is genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. She is an elementary school teacher who apparently kicks butt at teaching too because she has won numerous teaching awards.
Her husband lost his job in the recession and that's when she said he turned into a different person. He ended up cheating on her, claiming he was driven to it because my cousin is infertile. She begged him to see a couples counselor. He agreed. She set up and did all the work to get the appointment. Even though he was unemployed and the one that cheated. The morning they were supposed to go, he gave her divorce papers. She was crushed.
Good news is, more than a decade on she is doing better than ever. Has met a great guy that worships her. The guy has a son and they all get along great with the boyfriend's ex wife. They all even celebrate holidays and vacation together. She deserves every drop of happiness.
"He called and sent lots of messages..."
My roommate's long-distance relationship wasn't going very well, so she lied to him and told him she was pregnant. He's very gullible and being a dad is probably his #1 goal in life, so he was super excited. And then he found out she was having twins!! Dude was already looking for babysitters, but then the due date passed and he hadn't heard from her.
He called and sent lots of messages, and really began to worry that she'd had some sort of emergency. 2 weeks after his twins were due, he decided enough was enough and drove all the way out there to see her in person. My poor gullible roommate thought he was about to meet his twins, but nope.
Not only was he not a father, but his girl had lied to keep him around while she was seeing another guy. It broke his heart. Here he was about to become a father to two perfect little babies, and then all of a sudden they never existed.
"A good friend of mine..."
A good friend of mine got cheated on by his girlfriend after they were together for over three years. He was the best to her, he literally would empty his bank to get her things and she was obviously leeching off of him. He was so nice to her though. Sadly after that happened to him he changed and became terrible himself.
"My mother and her siblngs..."
My mother and her siblings grew up dirt poor in PR. My grandmother treated them terribly, but they did their best to support her and their family. After moving from PR to the states, my mom and her siblings managed to get amazing jobs and supported my grandmother even more. They took her everywhere and helped her with finances, appointments, you name it, they did it.
She died 2 years ago and didn't put a single one of them in the will. Instead, she left all of her assets like her house, money, etc. to some random man she met in PR just 1 year before she died, who "claimed" to be her son.
My mother and her siblings are still heartbroken.
"A friend named Betsy..."
A friend named Betsy had an infant daughter. Betsy worked full time outside of the home. The wife of our pastor at the time told Betsy she was a bad mother because she was a working mom and not a stay at home mom. Betsy cried and was hurt by this woman's comments. Betsy and her family left our church because of this incident and other reasons.
"I don't remember all the details..."
Well, my sister-in-law got thrown under the bus and fired from her job RIGHT before the pandemic panic got into full swing.
I don't remember all the details, but basically SIL was working for a recently-established charity sort of organization that was made to help women escaping abuse, sex work, and drug issues. But the issue was they didn't have a specific doctor on staff, just SIL who was more of an assistant/in-training (I don't remember what the doctor's role was, just that it was important).
Since they didn't have the proper doctor on staff, they made SIL file the paperwork on their behalf. Despite her pointing out that this was illegal and/ or against protocol. So when higher-ups found out, the woman in charge of the organization (Who does not respect authority) blamed it all on SIL, and she got fired.
This really upset her because, outside of the organization, the woman in charge was usually very nice and kind, and SIL had known and worked for another member of the organization for a long time, so this came right the f*ck out of nowhere.
"I realized how wrong I was..."
Yes, I stabbed someone in the back that didn't deserve it. I realized how wrong I was, and it cost me everything. It's still hard to live with the guilt to this day.
"The deal was..."
Lovely couple in their 50s made a handshake deal to buy a gas station, 5 acres in the country , and a house for 1.2 million.
The deal was that they would pay as much as they could each month and at the end of 5 years they would take out a loan to pay the remaining balance.
Here they are in year 3, they've dumped their life savings into remodeling the station and house. They've bought a tractor to clear and manage the 5 acres with. Now they get a notice that they need to vacate in 30 days because the owner has sold it to someone else for 1.5 million.
All the have is a verbal agreement that the owner is pretending doesn't exist.
"My work was starting to train additional people..."
My work was starting to train additional people to do parts of a role covered by another person. At that point she was the only one who knew the role so anytime she took vacation things would get seriously backed up. She worked really hard to make a training manual that was so well done even a monkey could follow along. The higher ups denied her training pay (would have been ~$200) because "a competition needs to be run to choose a trainer but they couldn't run a competition because she's the only one who knows the job". She's an incredibly nice person so she just accepted it but I was pissed for a whole week when I heard about their BS excuse.
"Guy in upper management..."
Guy in upper management at a place I used to work at was called the shark. It didn't take much for a perceived insult or threat (or just weakness) for him to cut you out. Happened to a few good people I worked with.
"One of my best friends..."
One of my best friends gets a lot of people who take advantage of him. One person pretended to be interested in him just for s**** and giggles. He's a genuine person, but attracts the wrong crowd.
"They took her off the floor..."
I worked at a restaurant. There was an older woman who worked there. She was quiet, genuine, very nice, hard worker. She was serving a bottle of wine to some guests one day and slipped, spilled some of it at the table (could have happened to anyone.) The guests were rich muckety mucks who put up a stink. She'd worked at this restaurant for more than a decade, the owners referred to her as "family." They took her off the floor, saying she had become too old to serve. They did finally let her hostess after she begged them for work.
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Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram