Why Does Every Workplace Have That One Person Who Never Faces Consequences?

I've worked in enough places now to notice a pattern. Every workplace seems to have that one person who somehow operates under a completely different set of rules. They're late regularly, miss deadlines, create extra work for everyone else, and somehow never seem to face any real consequences. Meanwhile, the people who actually show up, do their jobs properly, and carry the team are often the ones being questioned about performance, productivity, or minor mistakes. I remember working with someone who had a reputation for disappearing whenever things got difficult. If a project became stressful, they were suddenly unavailable. If something went wrong, responsibility somehow landed on someone else's desk. Everyone knew it. The team knew it, management knew it, and even new hires figured it out within a few weeks. What frustrated me wasn't that this person existed. Every workplace has difficult employees. What bothered me was watching hardworking people constantly pick up the slack while being told they needed to do more. The people carrying the workload were exhausted, while the person creating half the problems seemed completely unaffected. The older I get, the more I realize that workplaces aren't always as fair as we'd like to believe. Effort and recognition don't always go together. Sometimes the hardest-working person in the room gets overlooked, and sometimes the person contributing the least somehow stays comfortable for years. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. Have you ever worked with someone who seemed completely immune to consequences no matter what they did?