'Drop everything now': Manager's micromanaging demand backfires after he interrupts an employee who is busy working on CEO's task

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Dec 7, 2023 9:00 AM EST

Imagine you are sitting in your office at your own desk, minding your own business, when in storms your manager,  unannounced, tells you to 'drop everything now' and immediately take care of a 'very important' task he gives you, which ends up being not very important at all. It shouldn't be hard to picture, as this is what managers are best known for…

This manager was especially good at micromanaging his employees, and he wasn't even that high up on the food chain, so where he got all his confidence beats me. He barged into an IT employee's office and interrupted what he was doing with vigor. The employee in question was actually busy doing something for the CEO, but this manager told him to drop it and focus on his task instead.

The manager was oblivious to the fact that this employee was, in fact, working on something that should have taken priority over his Highness's request. Good thing the CEO was informed, then. Scroll down to read what happened, and afterward, check out this mass resignation that took place after one micromanager was micromanaging just a little too hard.

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  • 01
    con on elem, types, selector, data, fn, one){ var origin, type, ocument activeElement) === (type === "focus" ); II Types can be a map of types/handlers if(typeof types === "object"){ types-Object, selector if(typeof selecto "Drop everything now." elector, data, typest-type), one); 34 fost all 4
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  • 02
    Manager told me to call the person of the computer I was working on...so I did.
    via u/smohk1
  • 03
    I was sitting in my office one slow day and the CEO walked in (always a pucker moment even though I'm on VERY good terms with him) and he handed me an (obviously non business) laptop and asked if I could get it back up and running as it had "very
    via u/smohk1
  • 04
    important thing" on it that was needed shortly and as I wasn't doing anything and he still signed my paycheck, I said "you got it sir!" Later a middle mangler comes in and asks me to do something and I say "you're
    via u/smohk1
  • 05
    number 2 in line" and pointed to the (obviously not corporate) laptop I was fixing. Mangler didn't like that much and demanded I call whoever and tell them that it wasn't acceptable for me to be working on personal equipment.
    via u/smohk1
  • 06
    So I pulled out my cell and called. Mangler could only hear my half of the convo but what he heard was something like "hey Tom, I got Bob here telling me it isn't acceptable for
    via u/smohk1
  • 07
    me to be working on your personal stuff and he wanted me to call you and tell you... "Oh sure, he's right here, hang on" and I handed the phone to the mangler
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  • 08
    mangler started off saying "It's not accepabl..." and then his eyes got REAL BIG and the rest of the conversation was "yes sir" and "no sir" He hung up and thundered "why didn't you tell me it was CEO's laptop?!?!?"
    via u/smohk1
  • 09
    and I said "you didn't give me a chance and demanded I call them RIGHT NOW!!!!"
    via u/smohk1
  • 10
    Vandilbg 13 hr. ago My wife once refused to turn on the CEO's cell phone account at a cell company till he paid his bill. Which made him pretty I off and he went over her
    via u/Vandilbg
  • 11
    head to get it turned back on with a negative balance and a 90 days over due. But then later had to come back and give her a compliment because that's how he wanted regular people to be treated and he hadn't identified himself.
    via u/Vandilbg
  • 12
    hamlet_d 13 hr. ago I had a similar story way back when I was first starting out. I got to be "the guy" the somewhat tech savvy CFO called for any computer problems he had, work or not. I worked on
    via u/hamlet_d
  • 13
    his personal laptop, and his family's stuff at home. He'd take me to lunch and then to his house to work on stuff that wasn't even really remotely work related. (He had a home entertainment system with a lot of movies ripped to the HD, it
    via u/hamlet_d
  • 14
    was some sort of proprietary Plex type thing.) He was always super cool to me, but I also ended up being called at odd hours for support, too (got a christmas bonus from him, an electric scooter). Eventually I left due to some
    via u/hamlet_d
  • 15
    unrelated corporate politics shenanigans, but while it lasted having that golden ticket it was glorious. Vote Reply Share
    via u/hamlet_d
  • 16
    Angel Beats 11 hr. ago Yeah I too was in the same situation at an old job, sys admin for a smaller company of around 50 users so if people wanted personal stuff worked on and I liked them and had the down time
    via u/Angel_Beats
  • 17
    I would do it no issues, beat doing nothing at all sometimes. But that included being the personal IT guy for the company owner and going to his house etc (usually during work hours however). I didn't mind at all nothing
    via u/Angel_Beats
  • 18
    like having the company owner and the whole rest of the company actually like the IT guy because you weren't a to them all and had the time to do side stuff for people while still collecting the salary check.
    via u/Angel_Beats
  • 19
    ForgotTheBogusName 14 hr. ago If the manager wanted to know who, they could have asked. Reply Share Vote
    via u/ForgotTheBogusName
  • 20
    CaptainBaoBao. 13 hr. ago. edited 12 hr. ago Heard about the reverse. New ceo asked for a meeting with all chief officers to tell how much they bring money to the company. IT officer came first because nobody else wanted. He explained the network
    via u/CaptainBaoBao
  • 21
    he maintains, the pc park of the administration, the database in the archives, the logistic system tuned for the delivery dpt, etcetera. He concluded by "I don't know how much money I bring to the company, but without my department, nobody bring a dollars."
    via u/CaptainBaoBao
  • 22
    MoonHash 11 hr. ago This is true of all support departments Vote Reply Share
    via u/MoonHash
  • 23
    cheeseadelic 13 hr. ago Never demand from IT. It never ends well. Vote Reply Share
    via u/cheeseadelic

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boss micromanager work task manager malicious compliance ceo IT employee Office computer company business malicious compliance reddit workplace stories
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