'They lost': Engineering firm removes employee from project to punish them, replacing them with inexperienced project manager who runs project into the ground

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Feb 24, 2024 1:00 PM EST

To cut a long story short, this employee's VP removed them from a project in order to punish them, and what ended up happening was that as a result, the firm lost big time. But wait, it gets better. The employee actually quit, began working for the firm's competitor, and salvaged the project once the firm crumbled! Yeah, that's a lot of information to take in, so let's start at the beginning.

The employee in question was working as a junior project manager for an engineering firm. They were good at their job, but their VP hated them. Why? No reason except jealousy. You know, the usual reasons your coworkers hate you. The VP began withholding work and promotions from the PM, which led to a variety of problems that you can read about below… I've gone to the trouble of scooping up all the juicy screenshots. When will management learn? The answer — probably never.

Then, check out this nurse who settled a score with her former coworker who had gotten her into trouble a whopping 6 years ago.

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  • 01
    "He ran the project into the ground..." TA af
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  • 02
    My boss takes me off a project to punish me, I end up working on the same project at a different firm and watch the old firm burn as we save the project.
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  • 03
    Around a year ago I (F27) was working for this narc stic, retaliative, bully VP (F55) at an engineering firm. Finally, a year later, I get to watch her pay for her mistakes from the winning team. I was working as a junior project manager and had been working there for 2 years. I got asked to help out on 2 projects I was unfamiliar with since the PM was leaving and
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  • 04
    the projects were wrapping up. I was helping them format and compile their final reports the week before Christmas and put a lot of OT in. At the same time, the reports were being reviewed for their content by senior engineers. Those reviews came back negative, stating the reports were missing key information and that they were just copied and pasted from precious projects and a lot of errors occurred as a result. The VP sends me an email and rips me a new one. She blames me for allowing the
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  • 05
    reports to go to the reviewer with so many mistakes. I explained to her I was not involved in the projects, had no information about the content and was not asked to review the content, I was helping with formatting so we could get the reports out on time. I told her to reach out to the PM and the director (my direct supervisor/useless mc ɔn, M48) who had been leading the projects for months and who had clearly neglected checking the reports before they went to the senior engineer for content
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  • 06
    reviews. She was pi ed at me but dropped it. Come January, a new project starts, lets call it project X, that had been promised to me for a few months. I was under my utilization target and getting in så t from the VP for not having enough work. I was looking forward to getting started on the new project and getting her off my back.
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  • 07
    I was told I was no longer being chosen for managing the project. This was a very important new client and they needed to make sure the project went perfectly and under budget to get their foot in the door. If they succeeded on this project, it would line them up for years of future work with them. They wanted to run the project "lean" and couldn't afford me on it (even though I am paid the least of everyone in the company). Instead
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  • 08
    they placed a guy (M40) from another department with no PM experience or certifications and said he will use this project to trial being a PM... definitely not a waste of time or money to have a completely inexperienced person trial a new role on this project. Not to mention, he didn't want the role since he had his own full time job to do in his own department.
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  • 09
    This guy was floundering, had no idea what to do or how to set up a project for success. So he asks me. I start walking him through it. This is second day since the project started. I start telling him about the software we use for project management and that includes records of meeting minutes. He has never used the software and I am the company's resident software expert, often giving presentations to clients on the software for other PM's projects. The VP gets wind I am helping this guy and c
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  • 10
    with a few other junior PMs, and it was obvious they had been talking about me. She asked me what am I doing getting involved in this project. I explained I'm teaching the PM the software since he doesn't know it and asked me for help. I also said I am not billing the client for this time so need to worry about the financials of me helping him for a couple hours. She then asks me how he will record meeting minutes (why does she care, this is way below her paygrade.... micromanager!!!) I
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  • 11
    said he will use the software since that's company policy. She said no I want them in Word format. I know she is terrified of new technology so I explained that the software is valuable because it keeps everything together, the client can access them whenever, better for everyone, and it's company policy. She told me I need to learn my place and asked another junior PM (M27) to help onboard the new PM instead of me. I got off the call and
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  • 12
    was so upset by her shaming me in front of my colleagues and removing me from the project I was really looking forward to working on and had been promised for months. A few weeks later, I spoke to my boss/director that I thought the VP was upset with me and I don't know what to do about it. I asked for him to look into it for me and he said he doesn't want to be involved and I need to figure it out on my own. Then a month later I reach out to our 1 HR guy (M55) and explain the same
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    situation - the VP is continuing to be hostile to me, my boss refused to help, and no one will assign me new projects. HR guy says I need to have more compassion for leadership since they have never had management training. No help. Fast forward 6 months and I was talking to my director/boss about the promotion he had promised me before Christmas and never provided. He said he doesn't know anything
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  • 14
    about what I'm working on so he can't validate giving me a promotion. This guy skips all our one-on-ones, ignores me emails and messages, and has straight up told me he does not have time to be my boss. I told him to talk to the senior PMs I work with daily and they can advocate for my performance. He did and I heard about the conversation afterwards from the senior PM (M65) who was mentoring me. He informed me that my direct boss told him I was not being considered for a
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  • 15
    promotion because the VP was vetoing it. She had told all the leadership at the company that I was not fit to be a project manager and should switch to being an administrator - and referenced the projects I was helping format in December and how the content was bad. Apparently it did not matter to her that I was not the PM on the project even though I had explained and she seemed to comprehend at the time. My mentor also confirmed that I had not been given any new projects for the same
    via u/xoxogossipcats
  • 16
    reason. It had been 6 months and I was asking for new work weekly and also getting regular nasty emails from the VP about my utilization being under target. This was beyond messed up to me since it was her job and my director's job to assign me to work and they had been purposely withholding work from me. I guess their plan was to get rid of me for being under utilization but couldn't as long as I was asking for work?
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  • 17
    Luckily, I was in the final interview stage for a new job at that point. It was with a competitor and I took it. I gave my 2 weeks notice and VP told me that I was going to be gone by the end of the day. I rushed to say bye to my coworkers before I was booted off my email. The HR guy asked me to do a survey monkey exit interview. I asked him if he remembered our conversation from earlier in the year where I told him how I was being treated. He did. I told him I'm not wasting my last day
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  • 18
    doing an exit interview for a company who can't action on direct feedback they received months ago. He was embarrassed and said he understood. I started at the new firm in August and realized quickly that they were working on project X, the same one I had been removed from for defending the usage of project management software at my previous firm. It's a small industry and we had overlap with my
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  • 19
    previous firm on several projects with different clients. I heard that my old firm was fumbling and their project manager was terrible. Wssnt surprising to me since he had no PM experience, no support, and no interest in the job. At my new firm, I stayed away from project X for a few months to reduce the risk of working with my old firm and avoid the possibility of getting some type of legal retaliation for moving to a competitor. I consulted a lawyer and was assured that they
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  • 20
    had no grounds to come after me, but I knew they could still find ways to make my life miserable in this tiny industry, so why risk it. Now its been a year since I was first kicked off project X and I am now working on it at the new firm. The project is approaching its final deadline and my old firm is nowhere near where they promised they'd be. They f ed up the project so badly that they are being replaced... by my new firm. The client had calls
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  • 21
    with us on how we can transition to their role and take on the scope they were not able to complete (almost all of it). There are 4 weeks left until the deadline and probably 4 months of work remaining. My firm is sending a quarter of our resources to the client site to do damage control, working 12h days to clean up my old firm's mess. They lost the client relationship. My old idiot boss has to report to my new boss (M34) to close out the project. The VP is flying to the client site to kiss &s
    via u/xoxogossipcats
  • 22
    beg for forgiveness. I am watching them burn, comfortably, from my new desk with my 20% raise and bonus, preparing the damage control schedule to close out the project. It is so sweet. TLDR; my old firm took me off a project to punish me, their inexperienced PM let the project catch on fire, and my new firm is being
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  • 23
    given the scope of my old firm. I can't help but gloat knowing I never would have let this happen if they gave me the project as promised. I get paid more and get to watch the VP and director lose it all while my new firm is being reveled. And the VP couldn't keep me off the project after all - I just get to work on it from the winning team instead of the losing one.
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  • 24
    Newbosterone - 14 hr. ago I told him I'm not wasting my last day doing an exit interview for a company who can't action on direct feedback they received months ago. He was embarrassed and said he understood. You are my hero. 684 Reply Share
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  • 25
    Nyrias Neo 15 hr. ago " I am watching them burn, comfortably, from my new desk with my 20% raise and bonus, preparing the damage control schedule to close out the project. It is so sweet. ' Moral of the story ... hard work, but as importantly, some smarts and know to jump ship when the old one is sinking, pays off. Both in money and in satisfaction. Good job and congraz! 576 Reply Share
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  • 26
    xoxogossipcats OP - 11 hr. ago Thank you! I believe I started some kind of wave. Almost all my coworker-friends left since I did. I've got one friend still there who texts me every time someone quits. It's amazing. 168 Reply Share
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  • 27
    throwaspenaway - 13 hr. ago I love how the whole situation turned out in your favor and you didn't even need to burn any bridges or badmouth your old company to the client. Winners gonna win. 474 Reply Share
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  • 28
    TopTransportation695 · 13 hr. ago At some point you are going to have an opportunity to discuss your past history of this project with the client. I hope that you subtly but effectively burn your prior employer's reputation to the ground. ↑ 89 ↓ Reply Share
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  • 29
    xoxogossipcats OP - 11 hr. ago The industry is so small it would hurt me more than help me. But everyone at my new place and old place know why I left. Seems like they don't need my help burning their reputation to the ground anyway :) 82 Reply Share
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  • 30
    Wild-Presentation-62 · 14 hr. ago Great story. I'm glad you got out of that dumpster fire! Great answer about the exit interview. I feel like the higher ups in your first job must have gotten there from who not what they know. 56 Reply Share
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  • 31
    gifford Burgan. 8 hr. ago HR guy says I need to have more compassion for leadership since they have never had management training. The whole story is wonderfully written. This was one of my favorite parts Reply Share 30
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  • 32
    xoxogossipcats OP - 8 hr. ago This HR guy has consistently awful takes. In that same conversation, he argued with me because I refused to drive a couple of hours after work to do a university recruiting event on my own time. He said I was treating the role as a "job" and not a "career." He said it's a salary position, not an hourly position, so I need to work outside of business hours occasionally. I asked if I could take a half day to make up for it. No, it's volunteer only. I said I don't see
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  • 33
    a company that makes millions in profit annually. He got very annoyed and said we don't stop paying you because you're not 100% billable, so you can use that free time and put it towards this. I said I am still expected to be doing productive things for the company even when doing non-billable time, plus I get nasty emails when I'm under utilization targets, PLUS it is leadership's job to assign me work so if I'm not billable it's their responsibility, so of course I should still be paid. I stil
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  • 34
    more than 40 billable hours, not if I do 30 billable and 20 unbillable. I have also had my timesheets scrutinized constantly and been forced to use my vacation time when my unbillable hours weren't "productive" enough. He rolled his eyes at me and said I'd never get ahead in my career with this attitude. Looks like I did get ahead, and I brought my attitude with me. ↑ 29 Reply Share
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  • 35
    BisquickNinja 13 hr. ago · edited 11 hr. ago I'm glad things worked out well for you. I hope you have taken some of the hard earned lessons from the previous position. 1. HR is not your friend 2. Some bosses need to be managed just as much as programs 3. Know when Is the appropriate time to leave
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  • 36
    3.1 Realize that 2 weeks is a nicety and some companies don't deserve that. When you give your notice, be ready to leave right then and there. 4. Finally, it's just work. Do your best, do a good job, just realize that there are other opportunities and life is what really counts. Thank you for sharing and thank you for reminding me of all of these lessons that I must repeat to myself. Reply Share 37
    via u/BisquickNinja

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