Coworkers and my superiors plagiarize my work

[Rage187]

A few times lately, I've caught a coworker and my manager plagiarizing my work. Either repeating verbatim things I've presented in a ppt or copying and pasting emails I've sent and presenting them as their thoughts.

I expect my manager to do this; managers are only as good as the people below them and all. But my equals, it is pretty irritating.

Latest example involved a pretty serious problem we ran into. I researched and wrote instructions on how to resolve the issue and provided it to the team. 20 minutes later, the contents of my email is sent out to the field with my signature removed. A couple people replied back that it was a great solution. I also replied to the sender asking whereever did they come up with such a great workaround? My coworker said, "oh my bad, I should have given you credit".

The same guy took the content of 5 emails and created a blog post using everyone of my ideas in the exact order as in the emails. I confronted him and he did the old "oh yeah, you just said better and I wanted to share the info"


So, should I be flattered or tell the dude to do his own work or at least give me credit when he steals my ideas? I'm happy my ideas are getting out there but I hate doing all the work and having all the credit go to people who are just riding my coattails.

Worst part of all this, the guy who keeps lifting my work is probably my best friend in the office. Shit like this makes me question our friendship.

Cliffs:
.coworker blatantly copies my work and presents it as his
.he admits doing it but plays it off
.one of my closer friends
.manager does it as well but I expect him to

 

[Zstream]

Happens to me all the time. It's very frustrating!

I've learned that some people don't actually work but leach off of others for their own work. I'm tired of it and now go directly to my main boss with any ideas or fixes that I have. He will probably get annoyed I'm not going through the proper channels but I don't give a rats ass anymore.

 

[Kantastic]

Man up and be assertive. Once you're his boss you can copy and paste his work all you want without giving two shits about him, the same thing he's doing to you as your coworker.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Clearly the only solution is to come up with a few systemically flawed ideas, allow them to be stolen, and then point out how very wrong they are.

 

[HNNstyle]

Why didn't you send the email out to everyone in the field? Like the other posters said, go straight to the boss and stop being a tool.

 

[Vic Vega]

He's not your "closer friend" if he treats you with such disrespect.

Beyond that, welcome to real life, not sure how else to say it. People in the workplace can and will take credit for your work. Call them out on it. Or take it.

 

[Rage187]

Why didn't you send the email out to everyone in the field? Like the other posters said, go straight to the boss and stop being a tool.

I was delivering the fix to PD, consultants were next on my list but only 20 minutes had elapsed since my first email.


I agree that I'm going to have to be a little more assertive. I'm just going to have to say "bitch, stop stealing my shit"

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, I can't see how you could consider someone that does this even remotely a "friend".

 

[Rage187]

Yeah, I can't see how you could consider someone that does this even remotely a "friend".

I can only assume he is practicing being a manager

 

[3chordcharlie]

I can only assume he is practicing being a manager

Stop copying this guy before your work goes out for 'distribution'. Otherwise he is going to be your manager

No one likes a whiner, but you need to creatively ensure that everyone who matters knows what is 'yours'.

 

[brianmanahan]

stop crying, you are saving someone work which increases productivity. you think i cry when someone steals my code? nope, im like "good idea bro!"

 

[Rage187]

stop crying, you are saving someone work which increases productivity. you think i cry when someone steals my code? nope, im like "good idea bro!"

I'm all for teamwork. Plenty of my shit gets lifted for "the team". I've created presentation decks and frameworks that get reused and repurposed. Queries used for analytics get copied including all of my comments. I'm ok with that. That's part of being part of the team.

This is different though. This is more thought leadership that is getting presented as someone else's.

 

[HNNstyle]

When you get a chance, take his stuff.

 

[Rage187]

When you get a chance, take his stuff.

Don't worry, he is getting signed up for Cat Facts.

 

[Anonemous]

Guess your coworker is trying to be your manager (or will be at this rate).

 

[SagaLore]

the contents of my email is sent out to the field with my signature removed.

...

The same guy took the content of 5 emails and created a blog post using everyone of my ideas in the exact order as in the emails.

You need to send/post your stuff before they do.

It would also be funny if you start hiding your name within the content... or even just your initials. Capitalize certain letters in odd places that may have just looked like a typo.

 

[Ichinisan]

This has happened to me before, but never so blatantly. He probably got through school that way and has no idea how irritating it is.

...but I see no reason why you shouldn't distribute the useful info before he has a chance to do it.

 

[sygyzy]

Do you think they do it maliciously or on purpose or do you think they just figure the information needs to get out there so let's just hurry up and do it, regardless of who actually did it? I try to give my co-workers as much credit as possible if they are involved in something. I don't think it makes me look any weaker. In fact, I think it makes me look better.