‘Thanks, now I know that I am not the problem here:' Developer agrees to log every little employee task he does at work, proves his manager is the one lagging

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Aug 5, 2023 9:00 PM EDT

Sometimes a manager is so bad at doing their job, then when they try to throw one of their employees under the bus, they end up throwing themselves. And when that happens, ooooh baby—that's karma at its best. 

Redditor u/coversbyrichard, is a developer for a company that he has been working with for several years. He was doing fine, but after a few messages get lost in the hundreds of "reply all" emails, he started to become the scapegoat. Then, during his yearly performance review, his manager said only poor things about him. He solely blamed him for many tasks that were finished late and, at the time, OP didn't have any physical proof to prove his manager wrong. His manager then annoyingly told him he needed to start logging all of his tasks.

So one long weekend, OP decided to make his own software that will long ever single thing he does at work. I mean, "err-thang." Every message was logged with a timestamp, every phone call was logged, and even if he got any packages, etc. It was very thorough. It added an extra hour to his day to accomplish, but if it meant it would help him going forward, then he kept at it. 

One day it finally came into play when his manager emailed him saying that he had asked him "4 or 5 times" for a certain thing that he still had not received. He then sent him the very thorough log of everything time and dated not only proving that he did the task and turned it in on time, but also proving that his manager was the one being incompetent. He gleefully sent over that information with a snarky sentence congratulating him on the great idea to log all his employee activity because now he knows that he's not the problem. 

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  • 01
    Computer - APOORBETIN
    via u/rawpixel
  • 02
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance u/coversbyrichard 3 hours ago Posted by This has got to me the 4th or 5th time I've asked you to do this. No, actually, you asked me ONCE per my records that you asked me to start keeping since my performance review. M OC
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 03
    Font - I had a performance review on July 1st and my boss told me that I have a hard time keeping track of tasks. It's really not my fault since the company is too cheap to invest in a task management solution. We literally have to go off massive email chains and when you have 30 people CC'd in an email with 25 of them not knowing the difference between reply and reply all, you
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 04
    Font - end up with a lot of s...t getting lost in the mix. ANYWAY, my boss told me that I needed to start keeping track of EVERYTHING. Everything, you say? Every phone call. Every email. Every bit of communication for EVERY GOD DAMIN TASK. With timestamps.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 05
    Font - Because apparently I am very forgetful and don't get anything done. I'm normally never this petty but he gave me bad remarks across the board so I figured - you know what, I ain't going down without a fight, especially when I'm being blamed for something that is not entirely my fault. Also, I know I am very effective as an employee because I
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 06
    Font - get things done... but my boss doesn't seem to know that. So I spent the July 4th weekend developing a simple task manager to be used by ONLY ME. Every Vonage phone call gets automatically logged. Every email I receive - saved as a PDF and
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 07
    Font - timestamped - time received, time opened, time that I completed reading the email. Got a package you're sending me? I'm logging that sit too - time the UPS/Fedex driver delivered it, time I brought it into the house, time I opened the package, time I threw out the packaging.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 08
    Font - I don't care if it takes me an extra hour each day. I'm logging ERR- THANG. So today, he emails me saying "this has got to be the 4th or 5th time I've asked you to do so and so task".
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 09
    Font - It was my f I responded with this: <boss name>, g time to shine. In regards to the task in question, I have received the following communication:
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 10
    Font - • TUESDAY, July 25th, 2023, 11:18 AM - Phone call received from <boss phone> asking me to complete this task. • TUESDAY, July 25th, 2023, 12:08 PM - Task sent for review. Confirmed task pending review with your assistant. Emailed <boss email> reminding him that the task was pending review.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 11
    Font - FRIDAY, August 4th, 2023, 11:01 AM - Email received from <boss email> asking me to this is the 4th or 5th time asking me to complete this task. • FRIDAY, August 4th 2023, 11:02 AM - Confirmed with boss' assistant that the task was still pending review.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 12
    Font - • FRIDAY, August 4th 2023, 11:03 AM - Confirmed with boss' assistant that the task was never reviewed by boss. • FRIDAY, August 4th 2023, 11:04 AM - Re-forwarded email to boss from July 25th, 2023, 12:08 PM reminding him that the task was pending review.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 13
    Font - You asked me once and it was completed within the hour. If you asked me about this task 4-5 times, I would told you 3-4 times that it was already pending review because it was completed the first time you asked. Asking me to keep a record of everything was a great idea because now I know that I am not the problem here.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 14
    Font - I haven't heard back from him since.
    via u/coversbyrichard
  • 15
    Rectangle - LibraryMouse4321 +2. 35 min. ago Find another job and let boss's boss know that you abandoned ship because he was such an incompetent and awful boss.
    via u/LibraryMouse4321
  • 16
    Font - Odd-Phrase5808 +1. 24 min. ago Never underestimate the power and usefulness of a database! That sounds like a great little tool you've built for yourself. Already its worth the time and effort spent to build it!
    via u/Odd-Phrase5808
  • 17
    Font - mom2mermaidboo +1 29 min. ago I had a boss years ago who would deny ever being told about stuff. This is about 25 years ago, so everything was paper then. So I started writing him memos, then handing him the memo, and having him sign and date my copy.
    via u/mom2mermaidboo
  • 18
    Font - He then forgot he had signed the memo. Then at staff meeting or whenever, he would bring up the issue he thought I hadn't taken care of, and I would bring out the memo, and remind him I had told him on such and such a date.
    via u/mom2mermaidboo
  • 19
    Plant - He hated that, and eventually gave up that bs as he knew I was way ahead of him on basically everything.
    via u/mom2mermaidboo
  • 20
    Font - aard_fi +3 55 min. ago While I never bothered with something like that I do have a pretty good memory what was discussed, and in which medium. In the past typically IRC, which I was logging.
    via u/aardi_fi
  • 21
    Font - So if something like this came up, or somebody asked me for the 5th time to explain something I'd just copy the relevant sections out of the IRC logs, including timestamps. Typically shut people up quickly, and helped them remember stuff.
    via u/aardi_fi
  • 22
    Font - ayamrik 31 min. ago Reminds me of my first job. The boss would always change their demands on the fly (nothing written). Once he came to me to complain about some task I did wrong. I just showed him my written notes I started to make.
    via u/ayamirk
  • 23
    Font - "Yes, initially you wanted A. Three days later you changed that to B. So I did B and it is ready. Should I redo it as A?" After looking at my notes for a few seconds he left without a word. His nagging was reduced in the aftermath as he knew he couldn't blame me so easily anymore. Maybe he also started to make notes...
    via u/ayamirk
  • 24
    Font - gaudrhin 30 min. ago Speaking as someone who adores tracking and organization, I offer STANDING OVATION.
    via u/gaudrhin

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employee-tasks failblog employee-story employee-log manager-lag workplace Reddit
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