'He never questioned me [...] ever again': Manager demands employee follow their inferior process, experiences immediate regret

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    Sleeve - style "The new manager thought he knew better, so I did it his way... Very precisely."
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    Font - Posted by u/AdElectrical5354 I knew my job but the new manager thought he knew better so I did it his way. Very precisely. So I used to work for one of the top delivery companies in the UK. There was a lot less competition 15yrs ago. I was very good at my specific delivery job and I often undertook every office task from single delivery routes to maintaining the office and delivery distribution to all routes.
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    Font - Then one day in comes the new manager and it was the cliche that you dread. You probably all have met the type. Suit slightly too big and a trainee moustache. He had just finished Uni and to his credit got himself a business degree. The problem with this company was every office around the whole country was run differently and this poor manager was expecting every person to do things by the letter but most of the work was done on good will since we were allowed to finish for the day when
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    Font - Finally on his third day after watching me daily and asking me why I was doing things in certain orders I told him my delivery route was complex and required it to be done in a certain order to ensure the timed deliveries got there before 1pm and the other delivery staff were "fed" their delivery materials by myself at certain times to ensure optimum delivery speeds and minimum delay. He replied "No it doesn't work like that". I simply stared for a bemused few seconds and said I don't und
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    Font - He wanted it by the letter today as per company guidelines. I argued very hard against it and said he will really regret it because we won't complete but he insisted I was wrong because it was all timed and measured. So after an exasperated 15 minute heated discussion I did as I was told. To the letter. The 5 staff I fed deliveries too weren't happy but understood. It was like a domino effect of carnage.
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    Font - At 12:30pm we all rang in the office to report the failed timed deliveries which he promptly freaked out about because they were strictly monitored. The subsequent enforced break times and shuffling required also left 15-20% of each walk unfinished which he also now has to complete himself on top of the timed ones. He had to fill out reports for all failed 1pm deliveries, all walk failures and then had to call in managers from other offices to finish it all. They all finished around 4hrs
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    Font - He was not popular!! The next day he came to me asked me to show him the mechanics of the delivery route in detail because "I didn't expect that to happen if I'm honest". It was close enough to an apology for me. We actually became good friends over time but he never questioned me when I said "nope" ever again.
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    Font - NoHospitalInNilbog At least he appeared to have learned his lesson! 6.4k Reply Share yParticle Showing a capacity to learn and improve from the experience is a sign they may actually be one of the good ones. 4.1k Reply Share
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    Font - Smoke_Water Lol when what you learned implodes because real life. Classic example. I remember training people for fueling aircraft. The training videos where all one way, but the actual work was completely different. Every time i would train the new guy, i would say, everything you just learned. Forget about it. Then we would show him the right way. 458 Reply Share
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    Font - ZumboPrime This is a great of example of a good boss in the making. High and mighty with his shiny degree, slamming suddenly into how the real world works. He might not be a leader per se, but he's showing the capacity to admit he was wrong and try to learn from a mistake. Maybe one day an actual apology, or even taking responsibility for problems! 939 Reply Share AdElectrical5354 OP. ●●● He was a good guy and you're right, he became someone that I knew had my back. 559 + Reply Share
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    Font - Indigo0331 You: *explains why you're doing things the way you are, as well as the consequences of not doing it that way* Him: *insists you do it differently, and experiences the consequences you explained* Also him: "I didn't expect that to happen if I'm honest" At least he learned from it instead of doubling down. 350 Reply Share AdElectrical5354 OP A succinct Tl;dr version!!! 121 Reply Share ●●●
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    Font - ArchdevilTeemo Looks like the book needed an update. 80 Reply Share ... AdElectrical5354 OP Tbh over time we created much more of a workload for ourselves. It's hard to argue that you can't deliver more when you can get finished early. The thing they never realised was when it was heavier days we never moaned and just got on with it. All they saw was an opening to put more work onto the individual. Over the years all the good will got eroded and "by the book" kind of became weaponised. It

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