By ev_lyn_aw - 28/02/2017 02:00

Today, I received a company-wide email from my boss, praising a coworker's extra effort at improving our line of business. The coworker's efforts were a direct copy-and-paste of a plan I put together three months ago. No one cared when I gave the presentation. FML
I agree, your life sucks 6 897
You deserved it 441

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Yes it is very wrong, that coworker took credit for your work. However, it might be better to play it safe and slowly build up your argument evidence, or you can show your work and get a few witnesses, then confront the boss! (figuratively and literally)

I agree with Richard above. Or maybe write that co-worker, telling them that you have all your original documents showing that plan and that he should probably bring up with the boss it was yours to begin with. You can then go to the boss and say that your information was plagiarized from that coworker. Keep it civil, keep it professional, as you just want to continue improving the company with useful ideas like that one!

Comments

You should just "Reply All" and tell everyone those were your ideas. I'm sure everyone will show you gratitude now they know where the ideas really came from.

That's pretty immature. OP should talk with their boss privately and mention that the work was actually theirs.

Being passive aggressive in the workplace isn't really a smart idea. Especially if superiors are involved.

I agree with Richard above. Or maybe write that co-worker, telling them that you have all your original documents showing that plan and that he should probably bring up with the boss it was yours to begin with. You can then go to the boss and say that your information was plagiarized from that coworker. Keep it civil, keep it professional, as you just want to continue improving the company with useful ideas like that one!

If you have proof, definitely bring it up to the boss personally in a private environment. Don't complain or whine. Explain that you're not doing it for the praise of the office or anything, maybe even add that you don't want to embarrass your coworker (even if you do) which is why you came to the boss privately, but you just want your boss to be aware of the strides you're making to help improve the company. Another even better idea is to go to your boss and say something along the lines of "my coworker shared some good ideas from my last presentation on ways to improve the company, and I thought I'd just give you the notes for the full presentation I did so that you can see some of the other great ideas I had (or) so you can see it in its full context with how I feel we can implement these ideas." Bam! Point across without coming off as a "I always need recognition" douche. Lol.

You wrote it very well! I like that phrasing! The only problem is that OP states it was a word for word copy, so he may have taken it all. I really hope not!

ohsnapword 21

When your coworker leaves their computer unattended, write a nice email to your boss describing how incompetent they are. Keep cool as your coworker is escorted out by security.

Yes it is very wrong, that coworker took credit for your work. However, it might be better to play it safe and slowly build up your argument evidence, or you can show your work and get a few witnesses, then confront the boss! (figuratively and literally)

cheshireau 26

Is FML dying? Where are all the commenters gone?

species4872 19

The new design has done wonders for the place.

The ads have a lot to do with it I think. The ads between the comments break it up, but the big ads that flash before you can open a thread is annoying, especially when it plays music or a video or something and isn't something you can immediately close down. I understand the need for the ads so the company can make money; but having gone from no ads for years, to having a bunch of ads makes the experience choppy and less fluid. I assume that's why less people are on then before.

Marcella1016 31

Also, the policing of the comment section, while good for weeding out trolls, can be a little...discouraging for general conversation. Comments are almost immediately closed on any FML that addresses some kind of social justice issue, for example. I understand wanting to weed out trolls and garbage comments, and a lot of sites have closed their comments and forums completely for that reason (IMDB did this recently, to the chagrin of many, many people - I really enjoyed seeing what people had to say about movies and if they read the same things into them that I did), but I personally enjoy seeing what people have to say about things, if other readers were thinking what I was thinking, etc. The less of a community there is, the less I visit a site and the less time I spend on it - ads or not. And that appears to be what is happening here. Secondly, you can no longer see comment replies on the app. It's been that way on mine for awhile, and I think I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it and it didn't work. If you click to see replies to a comment on the app, they all disappear. I actually just logged in from a computer just to see the responses to this comment out of curiosity, after logging into the app for the first time in maybe a month or two. If you're someone who likes to read comments, it's a little frustrating to not be able to see most of them. Lastly, with the FML community, although a lot of people got modded, other rude and snarky people were left alone and they were even encouraged - the popular doctor who used to comment a lot around here, I found incredibly rude and condescending to many people. A lot of people were just straight up mean, following what kind of became the comment section's culture. I stopped commenting generally and would just browse the site and the comments but I barely do that anymore now that it is disappearing/inaccessible. I don't know what it was for others, but that's pretty much what it was for me personally.

imsofuxxed 0

In the everlasting words of Jay Z "little did I know a more potent delivery would deliver me kingpin of the ink pen"

CrazyJolteon 0

This is the kind of stuff that makes me press record on any presentation I do or problem I get into, evidence

If you have a copy of it (which you should) you need to let management know. If you don't have a copy let this be a lesson learned and always keep back ups in the future. That was a dick move on the coworker though.

Talis99 26

If it was your plan and it was clearly able to be implemented, why didn't you implement it? And did you not notice your coworker's efforts for three months? Why didn't you go to your boss after the presentation and try to hawk it one-on-one? I think we need more info.