'She spent 7 years pretending we were friends': Radio show worker refuses to prep for work during free time, manager doesn't "think it was good enough"

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 19, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

When one employee stated the obvious, this radio station manager was incensed. 

Working at a radio station seems like a really fun job. The poster of this story, u/nothingbeast, confirms that, writing that the job was great, but the people were "just terrible." Their job involved a ton of different tasks since it was a small radio station, but since they enjoyed the work, this employee didn't mind going above and beyond. 

Trouble often arises when managers assume that their employees will keep up their diligent work without any reward. This employee wasn't even expecting additional compensation for all of their extracurricular work (well, at least not at first!). Their manager seemingly had it out for them, though. The employee writes that they were friends for years before things started getting contentious. Not everyone can rise through the ranks without changing their work ethic or work demeanor, as this manager unfortunately proves. 

The original poster also headed to the comments to add a bunch of additional information---including what led them to eventually walk off the job. You can read it all below, then check out what happened when the owner of a BBQ joint absolutely demanded a customer leave them an online review. 

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  • 01
    'So you're the manager of my spare time now?'
    via Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash
  • 02
    So you're the manager of my spare time now?
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 03
    I was employed at a small market radio station for many years a while back. I loved the actual work, but the people there were just terrible. Particularly the manager in this story. She spent 7 years pretending we were friends, working up from sales to sales manager and eventually station manager. And then one day
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 04
    she decided to make my job a completely miserable experience. Holding station meetings without me, creating recording sessions without putting them on my schedule, ignoring my reports of tech issues so things never got fixed... it
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 05
    was ridiculous how little managing she actually did. Basically there had been a build up of her leading up to this story and this was the first real time I put my foot down.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 06
    Since we were a small staff, and I was the employee with the most years, I had a lot of responsibilities. The easiest way of describing my job was I did everything except sell ads. Every day had the same main responsibilities but minor changes kept each day different. Punch in at 8AM and co-host the final hour
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 07
    of the morning show, answer phones and the door all day, record ads and clients, edit shows, do the afternoon broadcast 1-5PM, pre-record the evening news block to air after I leave for the day.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 08
    One day the Morning Show host decided we needed to talk about "America's Got Talent". But by time he has this great idea auditions were already 3 shows in. I had never watched the show before because I absolutely hated reality tv. But I thought "what could it hurt?" and I went home that
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 09
    night to watch the week 4 episode. While it was entertaining, it was also an overly padded waste of time. But, I did my "homework" and did the show the next morning and hyped it up like it was the greatest thing ever.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 10
    Next week I forgot to watch. I go in to work and the Morning show host asks what I thought and I panic for a second before telling him I didn't see it. Since I had about 20 minutes of morning news before I was live I ran to my office and checked Youtube for a highlight reel. And there it
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 11
    was! An hour long tv show whittled down to a 15 minute video! Perfect!!! When it was done, I moved to the broadcast studio and did a great recap of last night's episode. Even the host, who watched the entire show, thought I did a great job keeping up with him.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 12
    6th episode came around and this time I remembered it was on, but since I knew NBC was going to post the highlights for me tomorrow I opted to spend my free time on something that I actually wanted to do. Next morning I go straight to the highlight reel and get caught up on every act that was important enough to talk about. Again, the show host thought I did a great job.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 13
    But my manager didn't think it was good enough. She called me into her office to ask why I was purposely ignoring requests to watch the show. I asked her what difference does it make whether I watch the hour long broadcast (full of commercials and long winded filler to stretch the run time) versus watching the highlight reel that has every high point and does the same job in 15 minutes.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 14
    She said it makes a difference and wouldn't elaborate. She was always pulling that "I'm right and I don't have to tell you why" _. She then pointed out that next week was when judges began cutting acts and there was going to be episodes every Tuesday & Wednesday for the rest of the broadcast and watching it was MANDATORY!
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 15
    "How long are these episodes?" I asked her. "They're an hour each." And that's when I decided to put an end to this once and for all.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 16
    "So that's 2 hours of show prep each week. Do I mark that down on my time sheet as overtime or am I expected to cut out at 3PM on Fridays so I don't go over my scheduled 40 hours?"
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 17
    My manager's eyes bugged out like she never once expected me to demand payment for dictating how I spend my time outside of the office. I just stood there waiting to see if I was going to be making extra money or getting an early start to the weekend.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 18
    Suddenly the 15 minute highlight reel during regular paid office hours was "good enough". Funny how that works, eh?
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 19
    tanya6k Sounds like homework, but for adults. Good for you for refusing to do that without pay! 2.8k nothingbeast OP Reply I'm seeing way too many jobs that think answering phones and checking email outside of office hours without pay is acceptable.
    via u/tanya6k
  • 20
    But to tell me what I must watch on TV inside my own house hours after quitting time? Where does one acquire such a ego to think that's even remotely ok?
    via u/tanya6k
  • 21
    Cassandr3 I worked for a franchise hair salon that required all the management to read a book about Colin Powell and do a book report. I wrote my report about how much I couldn't get into the book and didn't feel it really would affect my haircutting or management skills. That was the last time they asked for book reports.
    via u/Cassandr3
  • 22
    [deleted] Good on you for standing your ground! 143 Reply nothingbeast OP Unfortunately this was after years of being abused by this company. This was simply the "beginning of the end" moment that eventually lead to me walking off job without giving any notice.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    Un_Pta I don't get why managers don't like when people work smarter and not harder. They need to relax with that, "I need to be in control because I'm in charge..." I'm glad you let her know that she'll be paying for that extra time.
    via u/Un_Pta
  • 24
    nothingbeast OP What's stupid about it is they have never made a big deal about overtime in all the years I was there. A little over... a little under... never once made it out like I was taking too long even when I did have a few extra hours.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 25
    This was simply a being a and thinking so little of me that she never expected me to insist I get paid for it. There was literally a breaking point for her where she got everything out of me that she needed. Once that point was reached she immediately became hostile. It was
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 26
    literally one way Monday, other way Tuesday. From that point on she couldn't even pretend we hadn't had a friendship the previous 7 years.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 27
    LiabilityLandon ⚫ It's really the problem with some bosses. I don't mind going the extra mile or checking an email or answering a phonecall when I'm not at work. I really like my customers and want them to be satisfied with the level of service I provide. I believe anything worth doing is worth doing well. But employers are often times very eager to take advantage of this.
    via u/LiabilityLandon
  • 28
    Finding that balance is hard and it seems that you found a way to swing it back to the middle where it should be. Kudos to you and your new adventure! 73 Reply nothingbeast OP Exactly! I loved my station and would regularly go over my quitting time just to add that little extra polish to a project.
    via u/LiabilityLandon
  • 29
    I wanted us to sound great and if that meant an extra half hour here and there... so what? I lived 3 minutes away so my commute wasn't cutting into my personal time at all!
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 30
    But after having that stomped out of you by a manager who spends years making every task a chore, watch just how fast my "give a disappears.
    via u/nothingbeast
  • 31
    lpenap Time to start planning your coup d'etat to become the next american manager of the station if you think you got talent. 55 Reply nothingbeast OP Oh I eventually just walked off the job without any notice. Shortly afterwards my stress induced
    via u/lpenap
  • 32
    panic attacks stopped and I actually regained the ability to sleep longer than 2 hours without waking up in a terrified cold sweat. Felt so good I moved to another continent! Happy days!
    via u/nothingbeast

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