'You asked for this...': Employee gets caught between upper management and supervisors, leading to clever compliance to end their power trip

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Sienna Varady
Jan 31, 2024 10:00 AM EST

Hierarchy is the cornerstone of the business world. There will always be subordinates and superiors in the organization based on seniority and experience. But what would happen if you were caught in the middle of an argument, or perhaps a more accurate description, an ego clash, between two of your managers?

Well, the story below is an account of a dissatisfied store salesperson. OP has worked at a single shop for the past six months. Six months is a century in the retail industry, particularly for a store that is in high demand and experiences a lot of foot traffic all day long. To put things in perspective, OP works as an ordinary salesperson and is overseen by a store manager and shift lead. However, for unknown reasons, OP found himself in the center of a manager-on-manager feud.  Things went south, as you may have expected when OP finally made up his mind and deliberately disregarded his supervisor.

So,  if you're interested in learning what happened between OP and the upper management, be sure to check out the story below! And when you're done, don't forget to check out the story about the overworked hotel employee who gets even with upper management!

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  • 01
    "You are the one who created this mess, so make it right!"
    via Canva
  • 02
    Want me to focus on customers? Fine.
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 03
    I apologize in advance for layout. I'm on mobile. This happened a couple of years ago with my last job. I used to work for a pretty popular retail store. I got hired on as a cashier in a town with very little clothing stores. So this particular store was always packed!
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 04
    As soon I started working, I realized the management s ked! The supervisors always told you one thing and the managers another. They never talked to each other, and expected you to do what you were told. I tried listening or explaining whenever what they said contradicted each other, but things
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 05
    always got worse because I was "talking back." So I stopped and started always saying "yes ma'am!" One day it was extremely busy. The person who cashiered before me failed to put away their hangers. (The store reused hangers and
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 06
    made it a big deal to put them away.) The manager who trained me told me between customers I could put away a handful of hangers just so I didn't get overloaded. So that was what I was doing when over the walkie I hear; "Register number 2, get back to your register! Don't put
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 07
    away hangers when there are customers!" Fine. I won't then. We worked for over 3 hours straight without a break in the line. So the hangers piled up. Under the register was flooded and crammed with hangers. On the counter was a
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 08
    huge pile of hangers. Customers were having trouble putting merchandise on the counter. Finally the manager who trained me walks over to me and looks so annoyed with it all. She asks why I wasn't putting hangers away between customers? "I was told not
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 09
    to. Costumers come first." She rolled her eyes as she starts to untangle them. "Yea but this is unacceptable! There's so much!" "Today has been busy. And the person before didn't put away their hangers before they went home. So
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 10
    this is two shifts worth of hangers. I tried putting them away when so and so yelled at me to get back to my register." It took them over an hour to finally get the hangers put away with 2 of them working at it. They had me
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 11
    skip my break because of how busy it was. The next day it was busy again, no surprise. The supervisor came up front while I was putting hangers
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 12
    away. We looked at each other while I hung up a hanger and she went back to her job while I did mine. She didn't bother me again about hangers.
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 13
    Lay-ZFair. 4 days ago What do you mean you skipped your break? Nope you take your break and let them deal with the hangers.
    via u/Lay-ZFair
  • 14
    Lola Mist42 OP. 4 days ago Sadly this job didn't care about laws. They waived lunches to 6 hours even if you said you didn't want to, had you skip your breaks, and when told
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 15
    you told them you needed a break they would tell you to finish an impossible task before you take your break. One of many reasons I'm so glad I don't work there anymore.
    via u/LolaMist42
  • 16
    Fiempre_sin_tabla. 4 days ago They had me skip my break because of how busy it was. The only correct answer to this is no. Just that one word, repeated as often as necessary. If it's too busy, that's tough too bad for the management,
    via u/Fiempre_sin_tabla
  • 17
    they should have hired enough people to do the amount of work that exists. Or if their pants are on fire because work is backing up and it's so busy, they can pitch in and do some of it themselves.
    via u/Fiempre_sin_tabla
  • 18
    Paul_Michaels 73. 4 days ago Spent twenty plus years working at Wally World. Dealt with similar s t the whole time. About six months in, I decided that whoever was highest on the food chain was the
    via u/Paul_Michaels73
  • 19
    conflicting order(s) I would follow. Nothing like telling a boss that thier boss told me to do X, so until I hear it from them I'm not doing Y until X is done. So many p sed off supervisors/team leads... (€)
    via u/Paul_Michaels73
  • 20
    Contrantier 4 days ago "I apologize for layout" Layout: is perfect and therefore is confused as to why you're apologizing for it
    via u/Contrantier
  • 21
    StuBidasol 4 days ago In a situation like that all you can do is follow the orders of the higher ranking person if there is one. And make it known that's what you're doing. Any ego battles will have to be handled by them.
    via u/StuBidasol
  • 22
    OAreaMan 3 days ago Costumers come first Brilliant! Imao
    via u/OAreaMan
  • 23
    Sharp Coat37979 hr. ago I guess a manager finally talked to a supervisor and got something straightened out. That is what it is all about, communication. Maybe you won't have to "yes, Ma'am" no moh....Hee hee
    via u/SharpCoat37979
  • 24
    Ready_Competition_66. 19 hr. ago Wow! Seems like they need to hire some barely legally employable kids to put hangers away. It doesn't exactly sound like
    via u/Ready_Competition_66
  • 25
    rocket science. Same as grocery stores do for cart wrangling. That way you moving keep customers as fast as possible!
    via u/Ready_Competition_66
  • 26
    Alert_Outside_4868. 3 days ago OP, your supervisors and managers were just bosses, not leaders, and I hate that for you
    via u/Alert_Outside_4868
  • 27
    Starfury_424 days ago NEVER skip your break or lunch. That time is sacred and must always be used. I have chewed out my wife (not that way your pervs) for skipping breaks at work if she mentions it.
    via u/Starfury_424
  • 28
    I always take my 2 breaks and lunch. On the rare occasion they ask us to skip lunch they pay us an hour plus 30 min OT and provide food.
    via u/Starfury_424

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Tags

malicious compliance Reddit malicious compliance reddit oddly specific feud drama terrible-bosses shopping retail worker coworkers goals Horrible Bosses sassy tales-from-retail oddly satisfying
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