'It only needs to be, what, half a page? Can't be that hard': Horrible boss assumes employee's work will take no time to summarize

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    Font - Why yes, I'd love to convert a ten minute task into a three day project! LOC Alrighty lads. This has been a chuckle in my team and I think enough time has passed for me to finally post it. TLDR at the bottom. I work in the events department for a large company. Projectors, microphones, computers, etc. If its required for an event then we handle it and it probably passes through my workflow for helping to organize.
  • 02
    Font - My department also handles catering for events - while it's not my team specifically, we work side by side. The associate director runs the catering and event coordinators. My manager only runs the AV side - and doesn't report to the associate director (Don't ask - it's a messed up org chart that nobody can make sense of)
  • 03
    Font - Despite not being specifically part of my job description, I also do the technical side of getting new staff members online within our system - getting their staff account created and also getting Teams and Onedrive online on their mobile so they can see all their paperwork. And the reason why I am happy to do this is because with the catering team being a revolving door of staff (Normal in my industry), getting them online needs to be done immediately and fast. You can go to the greater
  • 04
    Font - Note: Setting up a new account also involves setting up their personal work email, group email acess, system permissions access and to a limited extent, their access card swipe permissions. Normally this would be done by the security team, but ten years at a company really comes with its perks of being connected to the right people and when you want to get something like this done fast, it's often easier for one person with permissions to do it as opposed to multiple people in their own w
  • 05
    Font - Recently, my boss has thrown another bout of trying to micromanage the hell out of my team. We all hate it but I guess we can just ride this wave out again... The associate director asked me to go to one of our other offices on the other side of the city to setup a group of new staff in one large batch order. My own manager looked at the request, got one of those "time for some micromanagement shenanigans" faces. Me: "Hey boss, associate director wants me to go to the other office to setu
  • 06
    Font - Me: "There's nothing on the roster for that day and I'd still be available remotely..." Boss: "Just write the associate director a document about how to get people setup in the system and he can do it himself" Me: "Uhhh... are you sure? I do it fast because I'm trained on the system and he doesn't. Including travel, I'd only be gone for about 3- 4 hours. Writing the document on how to get someone setup in the system would take much longer." Boss: "Write the document and put everything he
  • 07
    Font - What my boss expected, was a half page instruction manual on getting a new account created within the system. I don't think I could have kept it that short even if I tried. What followed was a three day project writing out the instruction manual for how to get someone setup in the system which comprised of 34 pages - not half a page. Large portions of it are troubleshooting steps, accounting for different models of phones and likely fixes when they do weird things (Iphones are great becau
  • 08
    Font - I warned the Associate Director that this was going to be a very large technical manual and he should probably read it before heading to the other office. AD: "Isn't it half a page?" Me: "My boss said to put everything in it" AD: "Oh no" What followed was the Associate Director attempting to take somewhere between ten to twenty people through this very technically written manual about getting someone setup in the system. To anyone not technically inclined, it could have all been in a diff
  • 09
    Font - Sitting at my computer, I spent the next 40 minutes getting everyone online (Technical support over a phone can be straining, you all know what I mean) and they were fine to start their shifts. Finally, the Associate Director asks me something in private afterwards... AD: "OP, did it need to be this complicated?" Me: "Actually I summarized some sections to make it easier. Didn't want to make it difficult for you wasnt the intention, but my boss told me to write down everything so I did."
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    Font - Following the weekend, I was notified that when I was requested to go get a new staff member setup, I should find a time that I am available and go do it, irrespective of other tasks. Not sure what happened up top but I think my boss got a very heavy smack for it.
  • 11
    Font - TLDR: The associate director of my department asks me to get new staff online at a different office. My boss says I can't go "Because it would waste too much time" and instead instructs me to write a document about how to do it. In the event, this 3-4 hour task (Including travel) turns into three and a half days wasted writing a technical document nobody wants to read.
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    Font - Ok_Leadership_7297 17 hr. ago Actually, having that 34 page manual full of institutional knowledge is great. Can be a playbook for any new technical people that come around. Wish every job has one
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    Font - +1 17 hr. ago Just because you're not one of their reports doesn't mean a higher level position can't or won't make your life hell. Nihla Has your boss been less micromanage-y since? Vote SadowSon OP. 17 hr. ago Reply Share Unfortunately no. Nothing in that regard has changed yet, but the team and myself expected as much. I don't know if he's getting laid out by management above him, but I actually wish he'd work with us rather than against us. Many of his decisions have no basis in logic
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    Font - Em_the_Strange +2 16 hr. ago "Many of his decisions have no basis in logic." #justbossthings
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    Rectangle - random321abc +1 . 14 hr. ago I used to have a supervisor like that. Spoiler, I left that job.
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    Font - ecp001 13 hr. ago +1. I suspect he thinks his methods (a) prevent anybody from realizing they are smarter than he is and (b) stifle self- confidence. He assumes all minions ascribe to groupthink: "Boss must be smarter than me because I can't figure out why he made this decision."
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    Font - ov3rclock 11 hr. ago +1. The only time I've ever had a micromanaging boss stop being micromanaging was when she was fired. That was one of the top five days of my life.
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    Font - Hikaru1024 15 hr. ago +1 I love how bosses seem to always assume your job is simple and easy. Half a page alright.

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