Bad Bosses
Bad managers are abundant. Nearly everyone has had a manager they didn’t agree with once or twice. But a manager who lies and steals from their employees? Absolutely not! Two-timing managers deserve a taste of their own medicine, ask our friends, “James,” and his co-worker, “Greg.”
James and his co-worker Greg were kind and hardworking employees. They were dedicated to their workplace for several years and proved they were top contenders for promotions. When James’ boss began to short him and Greg money and deny their promotions, they took matters into their own hands and taught management a valuable lesson.
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Dedicated Delivery Drivers
James, Greg, and their other co-worker were delivery drivers for a popular food service company. The company was facing hard times, and the lead driver was let go from their position. Now, only James and Greg remained as drivers. James had roughly three years of experience on the job, and his co-worker Greg had been in the role for almost five years. Now that’s dedication!
They were both curious if the lead driver position would be accepting applications soon, so they asked their manager. James was interested in the promotion but knew Greg deserved it more than he did. While the buck fifty raise would have been nice, James didn’t have any children to care for and lived in an apartment alone with his cat. No judgment here, James. Greg, on the other hand, had a wife and kids and needed the extra pay. The manager’s response regarding the open position was less than desirable.
He hastily replied, “The position isn’t considered open right now. We have a lot going on in the company because we are moving into a busy season. Plus, we still have to clean up the former lead driver’s mess.”
James and Greg weren’t in any rush to apply for the lead driver’s position. After all, there was a lot to fix after the former lead driver left the company. Allegedly, the former leader had been caught stealing from the company and he wasn’t the best employee. He completely trashed a delivery truck, lost the monthly total documents, and had been using the truck storage facility as his storage unit. Yikes! Needless to say, there was plenty James and Greg could do in the meantime. Would waiting for the position be the right move?
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Overworked Employees
About three months later, everything settled down a bit at James’ company. He and Greg thought it would be a good idea to attempt to talk to their boss again about the promotion. The possibility of extra pay fueled their desire to apply for the position. A buck fifty raise per hour added up quickly. This meant they would receive an extra one hundred and thirty-two bucks every paycheck! Applying for the lead driver position seemed like a no-brainer, and it seemed like they had waited long enough.
When they asked their manager about the position, he claimed, “We are working on it. You need to be patient. As soon as we can, we will open up the position and give one of you the job.”
James and Greg were immensely irritated. Who wouldn’t be? The manager had three months to straighten out the company after the former leader left, and the workload was becoming too extreme for two people to handle. Plus, Greg felt like he should have been offered the job a long time ago since he was so dedicated to his role. After all, he had been doing the jobs of two or three people by himself. Greg planned the daily truck routes, handled mechanic appointments, communicated with warehouse staff and operation management, and purchased all the company supplies and equipment.
James offered to give Greg a hand and reach out to management since he was typically better at handling in-office politics. What a good friend! Greg denied his help, as he didn’t want to stir up any drama in the office. Greg had gotten into an argument with management a few months prior, and he didn’t want to risk losing his job. James understood, and it wasn’t a problem. The duo continued to wait for their manager to post the position. Would their boss ever mention the position, or were James and Greg just being strung along?
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The Misleading Manager
Nearly eight months later, James and Greg were starting to become fed up with their manager. They were still understaffed and weren’t receiving any additional overtime. Greg was typically a quiet guy and never brought up issues he had unless something was bothering him. One day, Greg completely lost his patience and decided to take action.
Greg called his manager again and impatiently asked, “When are you going to open up this position again for applications? You said you would let us know nearly eight months ago.”
The manager, annoyed, replied, “You both are doing a great job in the positions you already have. Everything has been handled great lately, and we don’t see the need to create a new position anymore.”
Are you kidding me? The manager had been lying to James and Greg about opening up the position for almost an entire year. Their boss didn’t need to ‘create a new position’, the position already existed! Again, James offered to talk to upper management for Greg, but he politely declined. They were both enraged, but it felt like they were in a helpless situation. They couldn’t keep overworking themselves and be treated terribly by their manager. It could only be so long before James and Greg lost their minds and confronted their manager.
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The Satisfying Scheme
Two days later, James received a phone call from Greg.
James answered and Greg furiously announced, “I’m sick of this! Say whatever you want to management, I need the position.”
James had a bold plan. A plan which would make their manager regret ever lying to him and Greg.
The next morning, before the workday began, James and Greg sat in their office. While they had breakfast and drank coffee, James described his scheme to disrupt the workflow and get what they wanted from upper management.
James and Greg were going to do absolutely nothing.
From now on, they would ignore every single client’s phone call, question, concern, or issue, and pass it off to their manager. Besides, it was supposed to be their manager’s job, anyway. The manager didn’t think they needed a lead position, so James and Greg were going to act like drivers and complete the bare minimum job requirements. They weren’t doing anything wrong, they were simply doing the jobs they were initially hired to do.
If there was an issue with a food delivery? The customer could call a sales representative, who would then call the manager. If the mechanic called and stated there was an issue with a delivery vehicle? Call the manager. If a client wanted a package delivered sooner? Call the manager. They weren’t going to do anything above their pay grade going forward, and their manager could handle the extra work on their own.
The first morning James and Greg initiated their plan, everything at work hit the fan.
As soon as the first issue with a customer occurred, a sales representative called and asked, “What’s going on? Why can’t the two of you fix the issue and help the customer?”
James told her what had been happening between him, his manager, and Greg, and even she was mad. She couldn’t believe their manager had the nerve to treat two longtime employees so awful!
James apologized to her and said, “None of this is personal, and nothing is your fault. But if our manager won’t pay Greg the correct wage for his job, then we are just going to do the bare minimum.”
She understood and replied, “I will get this taken care of. I am going to refuse to work with your manager too, and I’ll even quit before I have to work with him again.”
James was shocked at her statement. I mean, she worked at the company for over twenty-five years! It seemed like a pretty serious threat, and she was never the type of person to express her frustration at management.
As the day went on, productivity was at an all-time low. Since James and Greg refused to help customers, tasks were beginning to pile up and customers started to call in with complaints. The workplace was beginning to crumble, and everything was going according to James’ plan. Suddenly, James heard his phone ring. Who could it have been?
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Promotion Progress
James looked at his phone. To his surprise, it was his manager calling. He picked up the phone, excited to hear his manager scrambling for help.
His manager pleaded, “I am so sorry. I was wrong to lie to you and Greg. I am going to open up the position today so you can both apply. Can you please go back to what you were doing now? I am drowning in work.”
James curtly responded, “I don’t think so. Until the position is posted, an applicant is selected, and one of our paystubs shows a pay increase, we will continue to keep doing only our jobs. You can continue to handle the phone calls for now. Thanks anyway, though!”
Dang, James! You are fearless!
The next day, James and Greg stuck to their plan to do absolutely nothing. Once again, tasks and customer complaints started to pile up. The phone rang, and it was their boss calling once more! What did he want now?
James reluctantly answered the call, and his boss said, “The position is listed now. I need you both to write a letter of intent as to why you feel like you deserve the position. Then we will select one of you for the job.”
This was great! Finally, their workplace endeavors were showing progress. Greg composed his letter, stated his seniority, and detailed all the meticulous work he had been doing for the past eight months. James didn’t submit a letter and simply wished Greg well.
The following day, James’ boss asked, “Why didn’t you submit a letter?”
James replied, “Well, you should have promoted Greg eight months ago. I don’t want the position anymore, and Greg deserves it.”
A few days and twisted arms later, Greg received his well-deserved promotion. Although James’ plan played a significant role in Greg’s promotion, the real push came from the angry sales representative. A couple of months passed by, and James found out she had called two of the company executives. The executives were shocked at the manager’s behavior and granted Greg his rightful promotion.
A month into his promotion, Greg thanked James for his help and exclaimed, “Boy, now I know to never get on your bad side!”
Order in the workplace was restored at last, and their crummy manager learned a well-deserved lesson about malicious compliance.
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