Workplace friendships can be a massive blessing when you need to vent about your boss. But when you mix a professional environment with unrequited love, messy breakups, and literal grand larceny, you get a recipe for a complete disaster. One Reddit user recently shared a story about a friendship that devolved into pure chaos, and honestly, every single person involved in this saga sounds absolutely exhausting.
The Original Poster is a thirty eight year old man who works alongside a forty year old close friend he calls Rat. Their friendship took a very weird turn when the Original Poster started dating a new guy. Rat acted incredibly awkward about the new relationship. One night, assuming his friend was completely blacked out from drinking, Rat boldly confessed his love. Not wanting to make things weird, the Original Poster just ignored the confession and kept dating his boyfriend.
Eventually, the boyfriend broke things off completely out of the blue, citing emotional unavailability and a sudden desire to move back to Europe. Fresh off the breakup, the Original Poster decided to switch things up. He started dressing differently and acting out just to have some fun. Instead of being supportive, Rat started hounding him relentlessly under the guise of being deeply concerned.
The constant nagging finally boiled over during a very tense elevator ride. The Original Poster snapped and said some incredibly unkind things just to get Rat to leave him alone. Rat fired back with hurtful comments of his own. The petty revenge officially kicked off during the company Secret Santa exchange, where Rat gifted him multiple pairs of incredibly ugly socks that were way too small.
Then Rat took things a step further. Because the two friends had actually slept together in the past, they still had keys to each other’s apartments. Rat used his access to go into the Original Poster’s home and take back every single gift he had ever given him. Realizing his friend was crossing major boundaries, the Original Poster immediately changed his locks.
Instead of just walking away from the toxic friendship, the Original Poster decided to match the chaotic energy. He used his key to enter Rat’s apartment with the intention of taking his own stuff back. Rat was not home, but his roommate was busy in another room. Seizing the opportunity, the Original Poster decided to steal Rat’s entire mattress.
The theft alone is wild, but what he did next is truly diabolical. He hauled the stolen mattress out of the apartment, gifted it to a girl he had been hooking up with, and then proceeded to hook up with her right on top of Rat’s stolen bed. He admitted he had no idea why he did it, but the damage was already done.
If you thought stealing a bed was the peak of this mountain of bad decisions, you are sorely mistaken. The Original Poster came home a few days later to find his apartment broken into and his dog missing. A neighbor confirmed that she saw Rat and his roommate actively stealing the pet. The frantic owner called the police and blasted the dog kidnapping situation on a massive work email to everyone at their company.
The public shaming worked, and the roommate quickly returned the dog. But instead of apologizing, the roommate got mad at the Original Poster for deeply upsetting Rat. Refusing to tolerate pet theft, the Original Poster called Rat directly. He finally admitted he knew about Rat’s secret crush the entire time, officially ended their friendship, and offered a halfhearted apology for the elevator fight while defending his messy behavior.
Rat absolutely lost his mind. He screamed at the Original Poster, called him a raging narcissist, and compared him to his estranged father. The Original Poster went to the internet asking if he was the bad guy for just wanting peace, and the community rightfully roasted everyone involved. You cannot steal a man’s bed, hook up on it, and then act shocked when the drama escalates. These two need to stay far away from each other and probably find new jobs.