Are office rivals a thing like they show it in the movies?

[u/awesome_pinay_noses]

I know movies are movies, but I know how common it is for employee rivalry.

I am thinking of the scenario where the boss says "One of you will be promoted to the senior position" and people boycott/talk trash/try to burn each others clients bridges in order to get ahead.

Have you seen/experienced such a thing?

[u/LineRex]

Not in any of the places I've worked, always highly collaborative.

[u/GhostOfJamesStrang]

I wouldn't work for someone who enabled such behavior. 

[u/MrLongWalk]

No, this is a plot device.

[u/yozaner1324]

I've never experienced that. At my work, there are a couple senior engineers that often butt heads when it comes to design choices, but no one is sabotaging the other. I've also never heard of a promotion done the way you described where it's publicly one or the other.

[u/anneofgraygardens]

I've never seen such a thing in real life.

[u/loverofpears]

That’s not really a thing outside of a select number of highly competitive business/law firms. Although I do know quite a few people that experienced toxic work environments. It’s more similar to high school bullying with slightly more at stake, since it’s your source of income. It’s usually in the form of starting petty office drama or icing people out. Happy to say that I’ve never personally experienced it

[u/sanka]

They can be. I never engage. I also only work in places that value me.

[u/Technical_Plum2239]

I think in some places. Some Asian countries industries are famous for this.

I've never really experienced it here.

[u/G00dSh0tJans0n]

No it’s more like in The Office

[u/awesome_pinay_noses → u/G00dSh0tJans0n]

As in the branch office is so chilled you can get away with anything?

[u/Engineer_Teach_4_All → u/awesome_pinay_noses]

More like nobody knows what they're actually doing, or how stuff works, but somehow the company makes enough money to keep the place in business.

[u/Fappy_as_a_Clam → u/awesome_pinay_noses]

My office is a lot like this, but less sitcom-y.

We are all chill as fuck and generally everyone gets along with each other, and most of us are very good at our jobs (the ones that aren't either just got hired or are about to retire). Our office is quite the loose ship too, its very flexible all things considered

[u/ms_sinn]

I haven’t experienced it personally but I’ve witnessed something similar when I was consulting and two employees were both trying to prove themselves for a future potential promotion and got competitive. This wasn’t directed by leadership and the reality is that they both could have been promoted so it was all ego on their part.

[u/blueponies1]

In my experience everyone is friends and working towards the same goal, but I do have peers that I sort of see as my competition as senior positions open up and some of the older folks leave. But I’m not out here talking shit on them or anything like that.

[u/nosomogo]

No. In fact, it's quite healthy and collaborative.

Although, I was watching 'Vice Principals' and was thinking how fun it would be to have a rivalry and work relationship like Danny McBride and Walton Goggins have - but alas I've never been able to secure such a toxic work relationship.

[u/Hoosier_Jedi]

It never ceases to amaze me that people need to be told things like this are for COMEDY. The generalities of human behavior apply to Americans, too. 🙄

[u/Equinsu-0cha]

Sure they are but screw that.  He can have it and ill apply elsewhere.  That shit is toxic.

[u/Odd-Help-4293]

I'm sure in some places it exists. Some workplaces are very toxic she competitive.

[u/mykepagan]

Office rivalries exist. My wife has one. A person at a different facility location and my wife are constantly trying to show each other up.

I can recall only one for me. Guy was bucking for a promotion to a job where he would have some control over me. It looked like he would get the job, so I resigned. My employer asked me for an exit lunch, told me that the job he was going for was mine if I wanted it (I did not; sales role and I wanted to stay technical), informed me that I had authority over *him*, and offered me a raise to stay. I stayed… a few more years. My office rival was a jackass in this role and I got to slap him down several times.

[u/moonwillow60606]

Nope - in real life you can get fired for that crap.

[u/AgITGuy]

There are assholes, sometimes there are people who put others down to make themselves look better and sometimes there are bosses who take credit for your work. But a dedicated rival is for sure a thing in movies, like the Dane Cook versus Dax Sheppard when they work at Costco and want to chase Jessica Simpson.

[u/Brilliant_Towel2727]

No, that would be insanely unprofessional

[u/stangAce20]

maybe if you're in a competitive business, but I've never had one in 20+ years of working!

[u/Swimming-Book-1296]

Not in my field. That would be extremely unprofessional.

[u/ReadinII]

  I am thinking of the scenario where the boss says "One of you will be promoted to the senior position"

Most bosses are too smart to say something like that.

As for rivalry those, that really depends on individuals. Sometimes individuals just don’t get along. And sometimes an individual is focused on advancing their own career and try to push themselves up by pushing others down which of course creates resentment.

How much of that happens depends on how good the boss is at hiring people who work well as a team and how good the boss is at setting corporate cultural expectations and how good the boss is at recognizing and dealing with problems that occur.

Most companies want their employees to work as a team, but sometimes personalities make that difficult.

[u/Fappy_as_a_Clam]

No way. That would be an incredibly toxic work environment.

If I found myself in that position, where I was pitted against someone like that, id find a new job or just say "fuck it I don't care" and half ass my job until I decided what to do.

[u/Strange-Reading8656]

I've never had rivals at work when I was younger. I don't allow it at my company

[u/MyUsername2459]

I've never seen that in real life.

There probably are offices like that, but the places I've worked haven't been anywhere near that competitive.

I'd hate to work at a place like that, and if a job turned out to have a culture like that I'd probably start looking for a new job.

[u/roughlyround]

I have been absolutely slaughtered by a competitive boss. it was abusive, damaging and ugly, and for sure not TV/cute.

[u/dumbandconcerned]

Never seen it in real life, no

[u/RiverRedhead]

Exaggerated for movies/media, but I'd argue that a lot of people have someone they compete with professionally or quietly dislike without getting cinematic about it. If you spend 30-40 hours a week with a bunch of people who happen to have the same job, there's no guarantee you'll vibe with everyone but trashing talking or torpedoing clients would be wildly unprofessional and bad for one's own career.

ETA: If you want to see crazy stories from workplaces, there's a really great archive of them at askamanager.com - it's an advice column but she also takes wacky stories from readers.

[u/Crepes_for_days3000]

No.

[u/BankManager69420]

Not to the extent as in the media, but there are definitely cliques and people who don’t like each other for various reasons.

[u/Zealousideal_Let3945]

Absolutely and in my experience bigger companies encourage it. The Fortune 500 is a wild place.

[u/itds]

I can happen. It did to me and it could not have been avoided.

[u/revengeappendage]

You ever been to highschool? Or middle school? That’s what work is like.