Project manager conspires to make coworker look bad in front of management, coworker turns the tables around on her: '[Penny] hasn't tried that trick again with me'

The worst kind of coworker is the one who somehow thinks making you look bad will make them look good.

Here's the flaw in that logic. If the coworker in question is on the same level as you, there is a strong chance that making one person look bad will tarnish the image of the entire team. Furthermore, by electing to be a petty snake, you are also putting a target on your own back, essentially asking for other people on your team to give you a taste of your own medicine and return the "favor." 

At the end of the day, anyone who is tempted to sabotage a coworker is clearly insecure about their own capabilities. If you feel the need to focus all your energy on humiliating a hard-working capable member of your team, then not only are you not at all interested in the overall performance of your team, but you're also not interesting in proving what you offer. Showing what you bring to the table is what will ultimately get you noticed by upper management. Ruining the reputation of a coworker may seem like a diabolically tempting idea in theory, but in practice, it keeps the focus on that coworker. There is no guarantee that you will be viewed in a greater light as a result of someone else's failure. You will just be seen in the same way that you were seen before any sabotage.

Clearly, "Penny" did not think this through before she tried (and failed) to make this author look incompetent. Keep scrolling below to see what happened when the author ended up uncovering Penny's actual dire mistakes…