So yesterday a coworker sent a message in our general group chat asking for help with something. I didn't know how to help, so I just left it (which was the correct decision). Most people on our team work an early shift, and this was later in the day, so they were gone by that point. The only person who was able to help wasn't responding, so after about 20 minutes this coworker sent me a private message asking if I knew how to help. Me, knowing fully well I don't know what to do but feeling like I'm stuck in a corner, told them that I'll respond in the group chat so that others can see (which was a huge, major mistake, I should've just kept it as a private conversation).
I gave them an answer that basically said we should leave this for others so we don't mess anything up, but apparently the language I used made it sound like I was telling them that it didn't matter and we should neglect it completely; this is because my manager's manager is in this group chat, saw the message, and responded to me with an offended tone.
It kind of shocked me for a bit since I didn't really think I said anything crazy but it was bad enough to the point where the person who knew what to do responded within seconds after that telling me the correct way to go about solving this.
It was really awkward after that. I don't know if I'll get in trouble once my manager sees the messages, but it was quite the experience. This incident also kind of soured my view of everyone involved. The manager's manager for obvious reasons, the person who knew how to solve the issue for not responding until everything boiled over, and the coworker who asked the question and for some reason decided to private message me instead of the person who actually knew how to solve the issue.
To be honest, I'm not going to go out of my way to help that coworker anymore. They are the weak link in the team, and they consistently drag me down. I've gotten in trouble on a few occasions for something they did or didn't do, and because I'm regularly paired with them in certain tasks because we work similar hours, I am admonished almgside them even if I did everything I was supposed to do correctly.
So what lesson did I ultimately learn? It's to keep a low profile at your job, do the bare minimum, don't go out of your way to help people who will drag you down, and just do your work in as much silence as possible because everything you say and do WILL be used against you.