Reader Submission by Don

The only thing worse than an office backstabber is the backstabber who stabs over and over again. I work in product development and my team is always pitching new ideas. There’s this one woman on the team who gets very excited about the new ideas we produce. Any time our superiors aren’t feeling it, she does a complete 180 and acts like she thought it was a bad idea from the beginning.

My team was getting pretty frustrated after all these fake reactions. I read an article that suggested to calmly confront backstabbers in a public forum. At our next pitch, the same thing happened. We presented our idea and the boss wasn’t sold (but I admit, it wasn’t the best idea). She flipped on us, but instead of letting her continue, I interrupted and said “I’m surprised you don’t like this idea anymore. Just last week you were the most excited about the pitch and heavily supported it.” She turned red and fumbled over her words. I think she finally learned her lesson because she hasn’t flipped on us since.