Unraveling the Mystery of Office Phone Sabotage: Seeking Solutions

For the past year, I’ve been dealing with an alarming situation at my workplace—one that has become increasingly unbearable and toxic. The phones in our office have been mysteriously hijacked by a dubious dating service, and the strange occurrences have led us to suspect foul play from a particular coworker. Despite our best efforts, even the experts at AT&T have been unable to provide any assistance. Now, I’m turning to you, the Reddit community, in the hopes that together we can find a solution.

The Strain of a Toxic Environment

I’ve reached a breaking point and am contemplating leaving my job because the management dismisses our concerns, refusing to believe that an employee would engage in such reckless behavior. However, before making the jump, I am desperate to see justice served. Ironically, our workplace is a law firm, and if our suspicions are correct, the individual responsible could face serious legal consequences.

Every day feels like an episode of a twisted game of Clue; trust among coworkers has completely eroded, and I can’t show how anxious I am because that plays right into the hands of the perpetrator. The working atmosphere has turned toxic, and it’s affecting not just me but others, too.

A Deep Dive into the Situation

The technical specifics of our office setup may offer some clues. We operate on an outdated phone system from a company called Comdial (now known as Zeracom), with AT&T managing our service. Our setup consists of six lines—a primary one for clients and five others rolling over in case the first is busy. Yet, we find ourselves in a disconcerting cycle of phone forwarding to a dubious dating service.

This has been happening almost daily, sometimes multiple times in a single day—just today, it occurred four times! The only way we can stop this from happening is by dialing a code to unforward the lines, which is becoming an increasingly frustrating routine. To add to the mystery, the dating service just plays a recording with background music, making it difficult to ascertain its legitimacy.

The Denial of Management

We’ve consulted numerous professionals from both AT&T and the phone’s manufacturing company, all of whom have confirmed that such manipulations can only happen from within the office. Unfortunately, our management continues to downplay the issue, suggesting we simply switch service providers, entirely missing the point that the real problem may lie within our own