‘I’m the boss, you do what I say': Coworker micromanages employees until they walk out on her, leaving her to finish project by herself

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Nov 21, 2023 12:00 PM EST

If you have ever had the pleasure of being micromanaged by a coworker who thought their presence in the office was a mere blessing, then you know the meaning of the saying, 'I saw red'. I think it's generally impossible to avoid working with at least one person throughout a span of 5 years who has a god complex, but maybe I've just been unlucky. In any case, this story is about a team of employees who were deeply entangled in a work project with such a coworker, and it did not end well… that is, for the micromanaging coworker.

When given the chance to tell others what to do, she was only too glad and eager to take it. She wanted to make others work overtime, even though the CFO had specifically instructed them not to do so… no matter what. One thing led to another, and before she knew it, she had to lie in the bed she'd made herself. Hands dirty, boots stuck in the mud, she never got to manage a thing again. Scroll down to read how it all played out, and how she got what was coming to her.

Then, an employee got fired after turning down a promotion. Join in on the judgment.

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  • 01
    "We put down our tools, and told her we're going home. No overtime... No matter what."
    via Canva
  • 02
    Colleague thinks she's the big boss - But actual boss said no overtime no matter what! LOC This happened a few years ago, I was working for a company doing special projects that had to do with building certain products.
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 03
    One Friday evening I get a call from the CFO (this guy never called me before I didn't even know he had my number) who liked playing at project management sometimes. He tells me there has been a huge in a project, I asked him if it was a project I was involved in? no no it had nothing to do with me and they desperately needed people to come in on Saturday and Sunday and work
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 04
    because this project needs to be delivered to the customer on Monday morning and would I be able to go? I say sure! (In this company any work on Saturday and Sunday was overtime from the first minute and the overtime rate was very good), He told me I would be joined by 5 of my colleagues - Almost all of them a delight to work with and one more
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 05
    person that is also a colleague but has all the information regarding this project so she would "lead" it and tell us what's needed to be done - lets call her genius boss lady or gbl in short. Everybody working on this project has at least 3 years experience in the company, some have more than 10 so there wasn't any need for a baby sitter, this fact matters for the rest of the story.
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 06
    Saturday morning rolls around and I get to location, we all meet and have some coffee and home made cookies that my wife made for us. Gbl comes in, asks us to gather around and explains that this project was done wrong from the get go, the company spent hundreds of man hours on it and it was all done wrong and we 5 have to in 2 days work not only disassemble everything that was
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 07
    done but re do it from scratch in the correct manner, which not only involved putting it back together but also re fabricating parts that were done wrong. Then she goes on to say in these exact words: "I'm the boss, you do what I say, I have all the schematics in my head if you don't know something ask me and I'll tell you how to do it".
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 08
    We all look at each other with a puzzled look but just shrug our shoulders, then she quickly and i mean QUICKLY lay down some rules that she wants us to follow, stupid things that just interfere with our jobs but no one actually caught all of them.
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 09
    So we start working, like I said we are all experienced, we work in another facility that the company owns and were brought especially to fix this facility's All through the job gbl does NOTHING, except get in our way, asking stupid questions, drinking coffee, taking smoking breaks,
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 10
    treating people badly and making up stupid rules as she goes, at some point the CFO comes in and starts talking to me and in the conversation he says these words "No matter what, no one works overtime - no more than 12 hours a day NO MATTER WHAT" (Because its a Saturday the rules allows us to work up to 12 hours but more than that and the company
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 11
    can get fined), gbl promises the CFO that the job will be done no matter what within those 2 days of 12 hours. Saturday's work is done after 12 hours we all say goodbye and leave coming back the next day, we get to work again with her making the atmosphere worse and worse by the minute, not trusting us when we say were gonna do something, hovering
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 12
    over us and generally being a nuisance. As the day goes we can see that we are not going to make it on time, we try to tell her that but she is adamant that this will be done on time, I tried to explain to her a few times that seeing how much work there is and her INSISTING we do not use
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 13
    automated tools - its not possible to finish this in the 5 or 6 hours we have left. There was a lot more that she pulled but I won't name all of it to save time on this already long story and maybe try to keep a bit of anonymity just in case someone recognizes this story.
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 14
    She won't hear it, she says the job will be done. I'm like whatever dude I'm just gonna do what I can since you won't listen. 1 hour before end of day comes around, we have all been working for 11 hours - gbl finally realizes this isn't going to work, she calls a real project manager - her friend and starts talking to him, I hear her talking on
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 15
    the phone and she is blaming us for not working fast enough or whatever and tells him she promised the CFO to have this done (I'm assuming she was betting on riding this success into a promotion or something) and she doesn't know what to do. Then she walks out of the building and continues talking out of earshot.
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 16
    After a few minutes of conversation she comes back in all d s blazing telling us to round up again so she can talk to us, with fire in her eyes she goes "Ok, you (points at a guy) don't leave until this (points at one part of the project) isn't done, you (points at me) don't leave until that (another part) is done, and continues doing this until she counted off everybody"
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 17
    and then she walks off, I'm assuming for a coffee or smoke break or whatever. Cue malicious compliance - Exactly 12 hours after arriving we all put down our tools and start heading out the door - she is SHOCKED asking us "where are you going???" we all say "Were going home, we have been here for 12 hours".
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 18
    She says: "I told you that none of you leave until your parts are finished and tested" To which we reply: "No more than 12 hours no matter what!" and we leave. Later on I found out that she stayed by herself until 04:00 in the morning to finish it all by herself, she couldn't do it and had to go home as well, her Project manager friend came in on
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 19
    Morning to help her finish the job, the project was late, customer came in to pick it up and wasn't happy to see it still not packaged and ready to go. Just as a side note - with the exception of gbl, Iv known each of the people working on this project for a few years, all of them would have GLADLY stayed longer to help finish the project, they have done so many times in the past when called upon - if she
    via u/Godnessy4
  • 20
    didn't treat us so badly, we made sure to make management aware of this and she was NEVER given another opportunity to manage anything. 163 people here 32 Comments
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  • 21
    WAR covigt 4 hr. ago The real hero, OP's wife that made cookies! Vote Reply Share
    via u/covigt
  • 22
    CoderJoel 5 hr. ago With no experience, skill or talent, new manglers always try to put their own stink on projects so they can claim all the credit. Glad you didn't enable this one. Reply Share Vote
    via u/CoderJoe1
  • 23
    Nota Troll12345 hr. ago When the CFO came in, I would have asked to speak privately, then let him know what GBL was doing and that progress would go faster if she actually DID something. All told, you did your best with what you were given, and you complied. Reply Share Vote
    via u/NotATroll1234

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CFO boss micromanager building project malicious compliance coworkers tools team effort project manager overtime malicious compliance reddit workplace stories
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