Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : So, I did post about this on r/Advice, but the situation has definitely changed. 

For some background, I (21F) started a tax internship about a month ago and my 2 friends are with me (a girl who we'll call AL, and a guy we'll call Y). AL is a junior (same as me) and Y is a senior graduating this spring (not in the Master's program). We're all accounting majors. 

We've all been friends since the start of the fall semester. Everything was great. AL and I get along at work and we are fine. No drama, just support and genuine friendship here. Y, on the other hand, is different since we started working together at our internship. I want to give the full picture, so bear with me please:

Y and I started our internship on 1/2/19 (Wednesday). The first day was really more of a "get a feel for the software" kind of day. We were there for 7 hours. During that 7 hours, I got my first taste of doing taxes. Very boring, but also, just work. It was a huge learning experience for me, and it's only gotten better. Anyhow, so we're working away. and Y has nothing but negative opinions throughout the entire day. He doesn't like how things are run. He doesn't like doing taxes (he did volunteer for VITA the previous year and has taken individual and corporate tax (2 tax classes)), and he thinks our boss is incompetent. 

I try to brush it off. Every time he has a bad thing to say, I try to diffuse it by saying things such as "It's not that bad." or "I personally don't have a problem with it". Things like that, because I really don't have an issue with the way things are run. So before the semester started, I was working 12-5 on every Tues, Thurs and Friday. Y could only work Tues &amp; Thurs from 9-3. Therefore, I always saw him in the office on Tues &amp; Thurs for about 3 hours. Needless to say, whenever I worked with him, it was the same thing. At one point, he did say and I quote, "\_\_\_\_\_ won't last in this industry." Now, this isn't personally against me, but I felt really pissed off for two reasons: 

1) He was saying it in the office, where our boss could walk in at any time and overhear it. This could lead to him thinking that I am also participating in talking bad about him. This is the thing that really got me because every single time Y said something that was negative about our boss, I truly felt he was being selfish by jeopardizing my internship and my chances of getting a good recommendation to the master's program. This also applies for AL. 

2)  He keeps acting like he knows everything. He judges our boss as if he's an equal, and while all human beings are equal, in the workspace, we aren't. Our boss has over 25 years of experience as a CPA. That's more than any of us interns have been alive, and that experience definitely makes our boss valuable in the work place, whereas we interns are not as valuable. And my logic, that I explained to Y when I confronted him was "If you're so smart and you keep acting like you know everything, then where are your clients? Your firm? Your CPA license? Your degree? What about a job offer? None?" 

I know that I cut deep when I said that last bit. But it's something that is so noticeable. A lot of his classmates have already secured a job offer in advance last fall. Some have secured Big 4 starting positions (and qualify for the CPA exam in NY, our state). He hasn't gotten one job offer and can't seem to get one. So clearly, he's not this overly-amazing future worker who's the best in his class. That's what I was trying to point out, not out of meanness, but just to open his eyes. He's an intern, same as me and AL. There's nothing about him that makes his opinion (which was unprofessional in AL's and my opinion) important because Y has never run his own firm, so how would he even know how to do anything? 

So when I confronted him, I asked him politely: "Alright, since we're already at this point, I'm just going to ask that whenever I'm in the office with you, could you please just keep your negative opinions to yourself? I would appreciate it personally." 

This is where things go south. Y immediately denies that he ever said any of the things he said, and AL and I are just in disbelief that he can just lie openly to our face like that. This is how our conversation goes, to the best of my memory since it happened on Thursday:

Me: what was said above. 

Y: \*starts smiling\* I didn't say any of that. 

Me: Are you seriously going to tell me you've never talked crap about our boss before?

Y: No, I didn't. Look, I don't have time for this shit. I have more important things to do.

Me: Okay, well, I'm just saying. I would appreciate it if you didn't. You're entitled to your opinion, but I feel like when you do this, you're jeopardizing my internship.

Y: Look, \_\_\_\_, if you like this job, then you're gonna do well. Unless I'm impacting how you work, I don't see how this personally affects you. 

Me: It doesn't impact my work ability, but you're making this a toxic work place and it's not professional what you're saying.

Y: I'm giving the business feedback. Like at my other internship, I told my supervisor that we needed to start using more technology to keep up with the times and she told me that they were trying to but that it's hard to adjust. But since I gave her that feedback, now they know."

Me: That's great that you were able to do that, but you're not giving our boss any "feedback". You're just saying things behind his back that's just plain rude and isn't constructive at all. 

Y: Look, I really don't have time for this, and you can't tell me what to do.

Me: I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just asking you to be mindful of what you say here in the office.

Y: And I haven't.

Me: Seriously? I have the text messages where you were complaining about your pay. And you even admitted in your texts that you have talked crap about our boss. 

Y: Well, you have the texts. There you go. 

Y gets up to tell our boss that he's heading out (he only works 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week during the semester. When he comes back into our work space, he starts laughing and says "You should have recorded it then." 

Personally, I'm confused because now I'm thinking these 2 things might have happened:

1) Did he lie to me and AL because he thought I was recording him? OR

2) Was he recording me? And even if he did, I never said anything bad to incriminate myself because I've shown my boss I'm honest, hardworking, and willing to get work done (without pay) outside the office. 

&amp;#x200B;

I honestly don't know who the asshole is here. I feel like I'm justified because it's not good to talk crap about your boss, and in our current workspace, it would be hard to not assume all 3 interns are participating in said unprofessional talk. 