I TRUSTED A CO-WORKER WITH MY PROBLEMS — SHE REPORTED ME INSTEAD – LADY SHARES SAD STORY

I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. At work, she was the only person who felt safe. We resumed together, closed together, complained together. When things got hard for me at home bills, pressure, sleepless nights she was the one who noticed.

“You don’t look okay,” she said one afternoon.

So I opened up. I told her about my struggles. About how I was barely coping. About how afraid I was of losing my job. She listened quietly, nodded, even encouraged me.

I thought I had found a friend. What I didn’t know was that every word I shared was being stored not with empathy, but with intention.

Weeks later, my manager’s attitude towards me changed. Tasks were reassigned. Meetings started happening without me. When I asked what was wrong, I was told my “commitment” was being questioned.

I was confused.

Then I was called into HR.

They said concerns had been raised about my emotional stability. That I had “personal issues affecting performance.” They quoted things I had never told anyone else. Word for word. That was when I knew.

The colleague I trusted had taken my vulnerability and repackaged it as evidence against me. She had gone ahead of me, presented herself as more stable, more reliable and painted me as a risk.

I confronted her. She didn’t deny it. She said she was “just protecting her own future.”

That was the day I learned that not everyone who listens cares some people are just gathering information.

I didn’t lose my job immediately, but I lost something else: trust.

Now, I go to work, do my job, and leave. No stories. No oversharing. No emotional bonding. I’ve learned that in some spaces, vulnerability is not strength insurgency.‍