‘My boss took away the employees' stereo, so I bought them another one’: Boss takes construction workers' stereo away, project manager buys them another one

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Jul 4, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Micromanagement is a kind term for control, which a lot of bosses often feel like they need to exert over their employees in one form or another. In this case, OP was working for a construction company, doing admin and project management work. The company employed a lot of Latino men, who would listen to Mexican music on a speaker during their shifts. There was a lot of noise from the machines, so the speaker was pretty big. One day when OP came to work, he found the speaker was gone. Later that day, his boss admitted to him that he'd actually taken the speaker away from the employees, as he 'hated Mexican music'. OP found that to be incredibly cruel, as the boss could barely even hear the music from his office. 

Never mind the fact that his boss could always just stick earbuds in if he found the noise disturbing. Why take away small joys from hardworking employees? So, OP decided to take action. Scroll down to read what happened next. For more, here is an employee who quit after being denied a request. When he handed in his two weeks' notice, he noticed it created a massive domino effect, as other employees soon followed suit.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/megatonrezident 12 hours ago My boss took away the stereo from the employees in the back because he hated hearing music in Spanish. I bought them another one.
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 02
    Font - I work for a construction company that employs a lot of Latino men. I mainly stay up front with my boss on the computer, doing admin and project management work for him as directed. I love the guys in the back of our shop; they work incredibly hard
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 03
    Font - and are the heart and soul of the company. Usually, they are listening to Mexican music while they work, on a big speaker because there's a lot of noise from the machines, etc. On Monday, we came into work and the stereo was gone. Halfway into the day, my boss admitted to me that he
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 04
    Font - removed it from the workplace because he "hated that loud Spanish music and it gave him a headache." Where we sit, we can barely hear the music and we both are usually listening to whatever we want from our computers with earbuds. I
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 05
    Font - thought it was incredibly cruel and I could tell my coworkers were pi ed but didn't feel that they could speak up. This morning before work, I got a cheap but great Bluetooth speaker set for them from Facebook
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 06
    Font - Marketplace. Picked it up before work and gave it to them. They happily set it up and resumed playing their music while working. My boss asked where they got it from and I told him he can talk to me. For
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 07
    Font - some reason, I guess he didn't expect me to advocate for them since I rarely go in the back. He hasn't said anything about it yet. I cannot imagine being such an as shole that you want to deny hardworking people a small enjoyment of listening to music.
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 08
    Font - pkinetics 12 hr. ago It's about control. He hates that they are able to find a way to make the job less dreery. 1.7k Reply Share
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  • 09
    Font - megatonrezident OP 11 hr. ago · Yeah. He's currently in his office with the Sirius classic rock station turned all the way up, as if to retaliate in a way. It's so petty. I'm not complaining though because I love classic rock. The lineup today is getting me through my work. Reply Share 1.2k
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 10
    Font - 9 hr. ago Yeah, this right here makes me lose any sympathy for him I might have been able to muster. Seldarin I've had to have safety remove a radio that was loudly playing Spanish music
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 11
    Font - from a jobsite, because it was making it impossible for the crane operator (Who couldn't see me because of the walls between us) to hear my signals over our radios. But if his music isn't a safety concern, their music isn't a safety concern.
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 12
    Font - RespondCapable. 12 hr. ago When I was younger, I also hated Mexican music. Then someone pointed out that it was making people happy. After that, I didn't dislike it so much. 520 Reply Share
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 13
    Font - Excellent Squirrel86 11 hr. ago We had a variety of immigrants where I worked, and the radio station was on a rotating schedule. Spanish, Polish, country, American rock, Chinese. Russian. We all found it entertaining. Work got done. Everybody was happy at least part of the time
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 14
    Font - Longjumping-Air1489 · 11 hr. ago But...it's all music in SPANISH. How does he know they're not singing about him? /sarcasm 442 Reply Share
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 15
    Font - nudemandalorian · 11 hr. ago Your boss is lucky they didn't use their numbers to take their music back by force, as they rightfully should. what a truly pathetic, worthless, petty tyrant he is. 4⁹ Reply Share
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 16
    Font - Mission-Patient-4404 · 11 hr. ago Bravo i have worked with Mexicans my entire life they are the hardest working people on the planet and I live in south Florida and we have everyone here 47 ↓ Reply Share
    via u/megatonrezident
  • 17
    Font - DaletheGOAT 7 hr. ago Hopefully he doesn't hold any resentment towards you. He probably doesn't like the fact that you went behind his back to interfere with a "problem" that he "fixed"
    via u/megatonrezident

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Tags

boss reddit-workplace-stories micromanagement Music speakers workplace-stories petty-revenge-reddit construction-company spanish-music antiwork-reddit employees managers construction workers
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