Just Business...?

I recently had a rather unique opportunity to observe first-hand a rather ugly side to human beings.  You can decide for yourselves if you think that I'm merely being a bit territorial or unreasonable, or if you think that my annoyance is justified. 

I'm going to have to provide a bit of backstory in order for any of this to make sense.  Also, since this is about work, I'm going to have to use generic names. 

There's an office with the following structure:  Boss A is in charge of Boss B and Boss C.  Boss B is in charge of employees #1 and #2.  Got that?  Good. 

Boss C isn't really a manager, but more of a guy who handles a lot of complicated tasks because he's qualified to do so.  But, he's the only one in the office who can do these tasks.  He sometimes gets overwhelmed with work because of this, and it leaves the office at a disadvantage any time he is out sick or on vacation. 

Therefore, Boss C decides that he needs to share some of his knowledge.  He thinks that Employee #2 is a good candidate for that, so he begins to teach him a few things about what he does.  This angers Boss A, who doesn't want Employee #2 screwing things up by working on stuff he's not experienced nor qualified to work on.  Boss C eventually makes him view this as a good thing, however, and Boss A relents and lets the two of them continue.  Eventually, Employee #2 becomes very good at a lot of the things that Boss C does, and Boss A starts to actually rely on Employee #2 to do a lot of these things.  All is well.

Soon, Employee #1 begins to make comments about the "Cool Kids Club", referring to Boss C and Employee #2 having access to certain aspects of the job in order to complete these more advanced tasks.  He's apparently unhappy that he's not able to do these things.  Eventually, he's given access as well, and soon starts doing some of the tasks that Employee #2 was usually asked to do.  Employee #2 is never informed of when this happens. 

Employee #2 begins to notice these things, and wonders why it's happening.  Has he not been doing a good enough job?  He doesn't know, and no one tells him.  He thinks that he's still valued as an employee, since Boss A still comes to him with special tasks quite often, and he's often the first person to work on a new project.  So, he's not worried, but only slightly annoyed at Employee #1's actions. 

This annoyance grows on one particular day.  Boss A asks Employee #2 to perform a certain task.  It's something that only Boss C or him could do (and now Employee #1 could do, too).  After getting the details from Boss A, Employee #2 sets off to do it with Boss C's help.  He finishes this task and is rather proud of his work.  He executes it and all is well.  As he's slightly tweaking his work so that it can be used again if needed, Employee #1 calls Boss B asking about the exact same thing.  He needs it done as well.  While on the phone with Employee #1, Boss B asks Employee #2 if what he's just created could be used for Employee #1's request.  He says yes.  Boss B tells Employee #1 that the work has already been done.

Employee #1 does all the work from scratch by himself instead of using what Employee #2 created.  Employee #2 is left with the impression that Employee #1 is an asshat who cares nothing for working in a team, and only worries about himself and how he can advance his own position, validate his existence in the office, and impress his superiors, without giving a damn about who he affects as he does so.

I leave you to draw your own opinion -- is Employee #2 justified in his feelings, or is it all fair in the business world?  You decide.