A Toxic Manager Tried To Get Employee Fired But Ended Up Exposing Their Own Incompetence
There's very little in life that's more annoying than having a manager or a boss at work that doesn't know how to do their job – and tries to do yours too.
One Reddit user's story of getting a little revenge on their manager is letting us live vicariously through them. Keep reading to find out the story, and comment to let us know what you think of this manager's behavior...
Bad Bosses
Managers are often hired to oversee teams but may not understand the processes and day-to-day tasks of their employees. That doesn't always mean they're a bad boss, but this does make bad bosses even more annoying.
One Reddit user shared the story of how they got revenge on their bad boss, and It was delicious.
Red Flags Galore
"I recently resigned from a toxic workplace as a data analyst at a start-up," Reddit user landinthesky shared.
"It was promising at the start, but not long after, I noticed many red flags, including the fact that my manager had absolutely no data analysis or management experience prior to being promoted."
They Tried To Ignore It
"How can you manage analysts without knowing basic Excel functions?" they wrote.
"I ignored those red flags and trusted her leadership because I liked the company's goals (little did I know this would be the worst decision ever)."
They Did All The Work
"I basically did all the work for the team for the whole year I was there," they explained.
"When I ran the numbers for reporting and analysis of team performance, she always asked me to dumb it down so she can present it to high-level management."
Things Took A Turn
"I thought everything was going well because I only got good feedback from her and the rest of the team," they wrote.
Everything changed when a coworker lodged a complaint against them.
The Complaint Changed Everything
"About a month ago, a coworker who I don't get along with made a complaint about me which was absolutely untrue," they shared.
"Manager believed it without investigating, and all of a sudden, I was placed on a PIP."
Firing Was Around The Corner
"PIP is a Performance Improvement Plan. It is used by managers to address underperformance and start a documentation process," they explained.
"Usually used as a first step to fire someone or phase them out."
Looking For New Candidates
"I knew she was doing the PIP to terminate me as she looked for internal candidates to replace me in secret because she was dumb enough to set the meeting up beside me," they explained.
So they took action.
HR Didn't Back Them Up
They explained that even when the issue was brought up to HR, the manager maintained their position.
"She spouted all types of lies to HR, and when I refuted those claims with written evidence, they doubled down and started gaslighting me."
They Got To Work
"I complied and started building a case against them," they said.
They ended up finding another job, and once they did, they decided to expose just how little their manager knew about the work they did.
Time For Revenge
"Before my resignation, she asked me to do some reporting for her, so I ran the numbers and sent her the raw data, told her where the files were located and that she could analyze the data and make the presentation herself," they said.
Their boss did NOT like that.
Forced To Admit Her Ignorance
"Since she's the data analyst manager, she should know how to do it," they explained.
"She tried reporting me for that, but it ultimately backfired because they asked her if the work that I did was actually wrong, and she was forced to admit she didn't know what she was looking at."
Not A Good Look
"They had no idea what to say because HR and my boss had no understanding of the work. She openly admitted that she didn't even know what a PIP was prior to this," they shared.
"It didn't look good on their part."
"Credibility Destroyed"
The fact that their boss didn't know the basics in this instance led to everything else on the team being taken under suspicion."Everything else in the team was questioned, and I believe they are now being audited by an external investigator," they continued.
"Credibility destroyed."
They Escaped
"I'm now working for a manager who is competent and has clear goals for the team, but that was a hell of a ride," they wrote.
"Small win against toxic management - but a win is a win."
Making It Clear
"Just to clarify, I never mentioned that I was annoyed that my manager didn't know how to do the job," wrote landinthesky.
"I never complained that she put me in charge of that, despite the fact that she had no idea what those numbers meant."
The Real Issue
They explained that their boss couldn't claim they weren't doing their job when she didn't understand how to do their job in the first place.
"The problem is that she tried to use it against me (puts me under a PIP because I was "underperforming") and then couldn't explain why I was underperforming," they wrote.
Their Boss Was A Bully
"This made her credibility go down, and it became obvious that the reason for the PIP was to bully me out of the job," they went on.
Then they explained how their boss wanted them to lie at work.
"Inflate The Numbers"
"I was happy to comply with what she wanted done... until she tried to spin things around and use it against me," they wrote.
"A little bit more context. They wanted me to inflate numbers and make the team performance look better than what the raw data was saying."
They Didn't Want To lie
"I refused to inflate the numbers since my manager and the other managers wanted to impress the executive team," they stressed, adding that they felt this was why their manager wanted them fired in the first place.
"They needed the numbers to look good."
A Bad Idea
"Inflating the numbers is the worst thing you can do as an analyst," a commenter added.
"How do you know where to improve resources or properly budget for the team when you're hiding the truth?"
High Turnover On The Team
Landinthesky continued their story, adding, "I am guessing that gave the company the final reason they needed to investigate externally because our team has had high turnover (with multiple complaints of bullying from junior staff) and hefty fines from regulators due to noncompliance of junior staff."
Commenters on the post asked if their boss had finally been fired.
The Audit Is Dangerous
"Nope... or at least not yet," they wrote.
"I spoke to one of my ex-coworkers recently, and he told me that this audit, in his own words, will 'truly [mess] them up' because of multiple breaches and lack of documentation/reporting/resources to show they did the right thing."
They Tried To Warn Her
"I did warn them multiple times, and they ignored me, and I wiped my laptop clean before resigning so they really don't have anything to show for it," they explained.
"Guessing at the minimum, disciplinary action will be taken (I hope)."
Commenters Were Not On Her Side
"Good thing the data doesn't lie, unlike your former boss. I bet she's now googling 'Excel functions for beginners,'" one commenter joked.
"I'm going to guess the only thing she's googling is a new job search."
Some Suggested Revenge
"The ultimate revenge would've been getting on as a data analyst for the investigation team that investigates your ex-employer to put them under," one commenter wrote.
Now that would be pretty sweet.
Dumbing It Down
"In all fairness to OP's former, highly toxic manager, asking to 'dumb it down' for upper management is not an unreasonable request because, when you get to C-level folks," one user wrote.
"They are as dumb as a box of rocks."
Some Defended Her
"Technically, you don't need to be able to work a role to be able to manage people doing that role; it's common in many industries," one commenter wrote.
"However, it also requires management and leadership skills which they clearly didn't have."
Questionable Decisions
"It may have sounded like I was ragging on her for not knowing the work itself, which I agree is not a requirement for managing in itself," the worker clarified.
"I wanted to point out that her decisions were questionable, and placing me on a PIP was a bad move."
Sabotage Accusations
"People who are promoted above their abilities are never humble enough to accept that they should step down a level," one commenter added. "They feel the need to sabotage as much as possible so they don't look like the problem."
Thankfully, the worker has a new job now and can share this story of revenge whenever they need to!
