'You do your job and I'll do mine': Warehouse supervisor interrupts operations, gets upset with employee when they don't tell him how to do his job

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 16, 2023 11:00 AM EST

This manager was what we call a "seagull manager": they randomly swoop in to scream and make a mess everywhere before fleeing the scene. 

Perhaps you've been in a job like these two guys were. As u/RedEd024 writes, he and his coworker were two college kids working in a warehouse, and they were running things smoothly. Even at their young ages, they were competent at their work, and the OP writes that they hardly ever made mistakes. 

You'd think their supervisor would notice how efficiently things were going and be like, "Great, carry on." But no. Then he wouldn't be managing, would he? Instead, this boss decided to be a seagull manager, and swoop in to scream and wreak havoc. It's hard to take this kind of boss seriously. They just make you secretly think, "Maybe if you paid more attention to the job and your employees, you wouldn't be flipping out over nothing." 

You can read through this excellent malicious compliance story below. Up next, one worker at a deli had some concerns about food safety, and their bosses nearly bullied them out of writing their concerns down. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9851675904
    via Adrian Sulyok on Unsplash
  • 02
    Alright man, whatever you say. L This happened back in college, like 9 or 10... I was 19 or 20, lets leave it at that.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 03
    I worked in a warehouse doing shipping and receiving with another guy, call him CG for Cool Guy. He was a year younger than me and was also in college. We held that place down, I mean almost no mistakes, got along great, had a system that worked with our school schedules. AWESOME, right.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 04
    First, somethings about the job. It was a computer repair place where broken equipment was received on one side of the warehouse. It would be unboxed, put on a cart, brought to the other side (processing side PS) of the warehouse, checked in and then put on a shelf to be fixed. We had
    via u/RedEd024
  • 05
    an office that was in the main building where customers would come in and place/pick up order. There was a window in the office that let you look into the PS. We would get new/referb equipment (in the main office) to ship throughout the day, which were shipped on the PS.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 06
    In the morning, I would get the receiving from the delivery guy and do all that work, while CG would work in the office. After lunch, I would work in the office while GC would do all the shipping. In the office we took phone calls, placed orders, got the shipping/receiving paper work handled, dealt with walk-in customers, so on and so forth.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 07
    Well the company didnt really like the idea that two 19/20 year olds running their warehouse without any real supervision. Our boss worked on the second floor, good boss, but had a million other things to do. So one day they hired a guy to be the warehouse manager, we will call him Head (DH). Side note, the company did the 90 day trail thing, they can let you go without reason within the first 90 days.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 08
    Some thing that DH did that made him a head: Within a week or so, DH kicked us out of the office. We had to do all our work in this warehouse that had no AC or heat. DH put a big whiteboard in the office window so we could not see what he was doing (which was pretty much nothing). DH wouldnt
    via u/RedEd024
  • 09
    put anything back where it went and then yelled at us when he couldn't find something. One time DH yelled at me, I got back in DH's face and DH pulled out a box cutter... store for another time. On to the big incident.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 10
    One day I was doing the receiving and there were about 3 good size boxes address to DH directly. I unboxed everything else (not DH's stuff) like normal, put it on my cart (not DH's stuff), wheeled it to the PS and told DH there are three boxes for him on the other side. Then I asked DH where I should put them. DH got all mad and started yelling, and it when something like:
    via u/RedEd024
  • 11
    DH: "Dont worry about it, just leave them there and I will get them. All you need to do is tell me something came in for me. YOU DO YOUR JOB AND I'LL DO MINE!" Me: "Alright man, whatever you say."
    via u/RedEd024
  • 12
    Now you see, the warehouse is pretty big and we had a lot of expensive equipment/inventory. So there were a few gates with locks you had to get through to go from one side to the other. Also these boxes werent really big/heavy but you really did need a dolly (hand truck) to move them all at once. Sooo, after he blew up at me, I didnt say anything else.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 13
    A few minutes later he goes into the warehouse, walks all the way to the other side and then comes back all off. DM: "WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME I NEEDED A DOLLY!" Me: "You told me to just tell you, that you got something. Not that..."
    via u/RedEd024
  • 14
    DM: "WELL I NEED TO KNOW WHEN I NEED THE DOLLY!" Me: "Alright man, whatever you say." He Grabs the dolly, gets the boxes, comes back... whatever. Not even the best part.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 15
    A couple days go by and I need to leave early because I got a test or some at school. Well, I get this super small (fit in your pocket small) box in, with his name on it. You can see where this is going. I tell CG what I am about to do and that I am leaving right after I tell DH he has a box... Let me know what happens when I get in tomorrow.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 16
    I get my stuff done, tell DH he as a box and then say I am out for the rest of the day. I dont tell him how big the box is and I didnt tell him he needed a dolly, because he didnt.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 17
    Next day CG tells me, about 5 minutes after I left, DH goes in the warehouse, gets the dolly, goes to the other side of the warehouse, looks around for about 2 minutes, picks up the tiny box and is super 1. DH goes back to the PS and then goes out side looking for me, but I was long gone at that point.
    via u/RedEd024
  • 18
    DH never said a thing to me but that still makes me smile. DH was let go within his 90 days, me and CG ran that ... alone the rest of the time I was there.
    via u/RedEd024

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boss workplace-stories jobs manager job malicious compliance bosses work coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit managers workplace warehouse bad bosses malicious compliance reddit
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