Employee skillfully complies with micromanager's demands for complete access to personal schedule by erasing everything from calendar before granting access

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Jun 9, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

We somehow muster the strength to report to work every day, seven days a week. We work very hard at our occupations so that we are capable of a fair standard of living. Thus, it may be said that even though their justifications may differ, the employer and employee have a common goal in mind: producing high-quality material.

The story below is an account of a frustrated employee. The dispute between the original poster (OP) and his micromanager is discussed. After the micromanager started tracking OP's every move at work and had complete access to his planner, the initially satisfied worker took matters into his own hands and hatched a crafty scheme to wreak revenge on his manager.

That being said, be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning the specifics of what happened and how OP sought revenge! When you're done, don't forget to read the account of the worker who survives the initial wave of cuts only to learn that eighty percent of his team has been let go!

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  • 01
    4 8 9 10 11 12 15 "Knock yourself out" 19 22 23 24 25 20
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  • 02
    Manager Made Me Share My Calendar Details, So I Deleted Everything Except Meetings & Holidays
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 03
    Today my micromanager came to my desk and made me give her access to my calendar so that she could see full details of every Outlook appointment. Of course, I complied. After she walked away, I deleted all of the tasks I've ever entered (to make sure I'm blocking off time to accomplish my work during normal business hours), and created a new calendar that I will use to document what I'm working on and how long it takes me to do so.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 04
    I did leave team meetings, paid holidays and PTO/OOO on the calendar she made me share with her. Hopefully it's not too obvious that I won't be using it in the way she believes will allow her to see how I'm scheduling my workflow. I am salaried, and am very diligent about getting things done between the hours of 8-5 so that I don't get f ed into working on nights and weekends. She has had to pick up work from other Project Managers
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 05
    whose workloads were too much for them to handle. I believe she's either trying to justify firing me, or assigning me other people's work. Now my calendar won't reflect my day to day tasks so she won't know for sure what I'm working on until we run monthly reporting. (I have to track my time in our software and meet a KPM of 80% tracked to a project each month.)
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 06
    Unfinished 1. 13 hr. ago You can also make an invite private so only you can see it even if you share the details of your calendar with somewhere. It puts a lock icon on it so you can tell what invites are private to you.
    via u/Unfinished1
  • 07
    birdofthebird OP · 13 hr. ago I do have a recurring medical appointment that I keep locked as 'Private'. Pretty much everything else is a team meeting. I used to track my daily tasks because it helped me when I had to enter the time later to our software. I'll be doing that in the new calendar I created (which is not shared with her or anyone else in my organization.)
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 08
    Unfinished1 13 hr. ago Smart thinking on the other calendar.
    via u/Unfinished1
  • 09
    xazraelx1 · 13 hr. ago Start adding interview meetings just to mess with her.
    via u/xazraelx1
  • 10
    birdofthebird OP. 13 hr. ago I like this. I probably won't add fake job interviews, but I can certainly add some ambiguous/confusing subject lines to spike the paranoia.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 11
    Newbosterone · 13 hr. ago Throw in a few meetings labeled "Corporate Audit", "Whistle blower", "Compliance", "Law enforcement". If asked, "I can't talk about it".
    via u/Newbosterone
  • 12
    coolsam254 11 hr. ago • You could throw in a few random appointments that are titled something like "failed to sync error code: 0x288374" to mess with her
    via u/coolsam254
  • 13
    993targa 13 hr. ago ...and time to look for a new job. Perhaps "job interview" at 6pm might look good on the calendar...
    via u/993targa
  • 14
    birdofthebird OP. 13 hr. ago I am working with 2 recruiters to find a new company. It's been a slow burn though.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 15
    LostinLies1 11 hr. ago . In my company we all share calendar's except the CEO is alway blocked as busy. We can make meetings private, but we share visibility with each other.
    via u/LostinLies1
  • 16
    The_H2O_Boy 8 hr. ago • Same, and anything I don't want shared I just add to my personal Google calendar on my phone.
    via u/The_H2O_Boy
  • 17
    Dennis M1976 · 10 hr. ago I love managers like this. Not me, but a friend. His boss HAD to be included on every email. Hey Greg, ready for break? Reply / cc. Sure Take a walk? Reply / CC. Sounds good Go up to the square or down to the lake? Reply / CC. Let's do the square. Ok. Meet you in ghe lobby in 5 Reply/ CC. OK
    via u/DennisM1976
  • 18
    We could easily wind up with 5 or more messages back and forth that had nothing to do with work. And I always required read receipts
    via u/DennisM1976
  • 19
    birdofthebird OP. 10 hr. ago I considered being overly compliant and adding ridiculous tasks to my calendar that would take longer to create the appointment than it would to complete the task LoL But I know what bothers her is not knowing details, therefore I will refrain from entering any future task related information to the calendar. I complied by sharing the calendar, the revenge will be not using it anymore.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 20
    Budget Intern4733 · 2 hr. ago Gold. Over a decade ago I had a manager who wanted to be cc'd in every email. It got to a point that his outlook would grind to a halt and crash when he tried to open it due to the amount of emails he had. The IT manager (and sole IT worker) got involved and gave him a bollocking and just deleted his entire email account so he
    via u/Budget_Intern4733
  • 21
    started from scratch. Then he told everyone in a company wide email to only cc him if he needs to respond. This was a small company of only 50 people yet he accumulated that many emails. Though thinking about it. I think we primarily used email and did not have any IM so everything was done in email (and he was cc'd in)
    via u/Budget_Intern4733
  • 22
    spleh7 11 hr. ago They way you're doing it is the way I've always done it. I've always assumed my boss can see my calendar if he/she wants, so I enter only work mtgs and holidays. I thought that was normal?
    via u/spleh7
  • 23
    birdofthebird OP. 11 hr. ago She wanted to reschedule a meeting today and didn't like that she couldn't see what I had scheduled. She saw when I was busy and saw blocks where I was available, but it bothered her that she couldn't see what specifically the 'busy' blocks were/what I was doing.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 24
    For context, I had one day blocked off this week do company sponsored community service and I believe that's what prompted her to demand that I share full details. All she could see was one day completely blocked off.
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 25
    Blu_Blueberry14 · 12 hr. ago Add bathroom breaks, lunch, PTO then cancel it.
    via u/Blu_Blueberry14
  • 26
    birdofthebird OP. 12 hr. ago I deleted my recurring lunch break too, since there's no set time I have to take it. Now she may never know what time I left/when I'll be back!
    via u/birdofthebird
  • 27
    rajkaos 12 hr. ago • Just add a bunch of blocks labeled "PRIVATE" and see what she does.
    via u/rajkaos
  • 28
    oxmix74 8 hr. ago For many people this is an odd state of affairs. When I had people reporting to me, I wanted to know what they were working on and how they were spending their time. Obviously this can end up enabling micromanagement but it is also part of doing healthy non micro management. It's part of knowing how busy they are so you can deflect work away when needed and part of spotting problem
    via u/oxmix74
  • 29
    areas where business process needs action. Though calendars were not really part of the solution for me. I did recurring meetings one on one at a frequency appropriate to the person and their function.
    via u/oxmix74
  • 30
    ianishomer. 7 hr. ago I used to be a project manager, working on large projects in a retail company. Everybody could see what free time I had and my boss could see all the details of each appointment. When we worked on big projects we would have regular weekly meetings, which I would forget to
    via u/ianishomer
  • 31
    delete after the project ended, releasing free time for me to be out of the office etc, if the boss asked, I would say that they were follow up meetings to finish off the project. Lots of free, paid time over the years, was gained this way.
    via u/ianishomer
  • 32
    Key-Tradition8720 . 5 hr. ago She might be trying to overload your work or making you work overtime. You should be careful
    via u/Key-Tradition8720
  • 33
    teambrendawalsh . 3 hr. ago You handled this brilliantly. She's your manager and can ask for access to your calendar (mine does so she can schedule meetings and can see if I'm available to ask a question to). But if you feel she's doing it to micromanage, you don't need to add your detailed list of what you are working on and when to it. Using a personal calendar can help you manage your day and she can see when you are available to collaborate.
    via u/teambrendawalsh

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coworkers bosses employee Horrible Bosses Like a Boss Reddit work workplace petty revenge reddit story workplace-stories overworked-employees micromanager petty-revenge-reddit
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