Story 1: The overly friendly and helpful "friend"

This is a genuine story that happened to my real friend, not the so-called friend who joined the Big4 firm starting with K.

We've all encountered that one individual who appears extremely friendly and seems to know everyone on the team. However, is everything truly as it appears? Riya (name changed for privacy) learned the difficult lesson that corporate "friends" aren't always genuine friends, and it's essential to carefully consider what information you share.

Riya had just joined the firm and felt out of place as it seemed everyone had their own groups. She was startled when a seemingly friendly team member approached her and tried to include her. "Oh, are you eating alone?" asked Seema. "Yes, actually, I don't know anyone," replied Riya. Seema then invited her to join her group. As they sat together, conversations naturally began, and Seema asked, "Well, are you married? What does your husband do?" Riya responded, "Actually, I just got divorced, and I'm happy to have this job since my entire family depends on my salary." Seema replied, "Oh, that's so sad. Don't worry, the people here are nice." It was a normal conversation that continued with other topics, and the rest of the day passed uneventfully. The next day, Riya returned to the office. Another team member approached her and said, "Well, I'm also divorced." Riya was quite shocked and realized that her words had been spread to the entire team by the friendly Seema. It also seemed that her boss, upon learning of her situation, started assigning her more work with subtle threats of termination if tasks weren't completed, saying everything was "super urgent," even when it wasn't. If any mistakes occurred, the boss would say, "Are you having personal issues? I've heard about your divorce, but you can't let it affect your work. You need to maintain professionalism," creating a toxic environment for Riya and forcing her to work more than other team members.

In summary, always be cautious about the information you share with colleagues, as it could potentially be used against you.