Employee flips the script on micromanager's 'constructive criticism', prompting a humbling retraction

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Aug 4, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

In the business world, the response is never a resounding no—rather, it's always 'Sure, let me see how I can make that happen. When you think like this, you should be taken into consideration for future initiatives rather than being the person who needs to be fired. We recognize that corporate policies can be convoluted, but ultimately, don't blame the players, blame the game.

The story that follows is about a crafty employee. The original poster (OP) has a long history of employment with the same company. OP was responsible for providing managers and employees with on-the-job training on a range of issues within the company.  At first, everything went smoothly, and most people were satisfied.  But things quickly got ugly when corporate HR sent OP a long list of grievances about the manner he was delivering his training.  As a result, he made arrangements for HR to hold a training so that they would be completely aware of the protocols they had to follow.

That being said, HR was not happy with the 'in-depth' training that OP had planned, as you have probably already predicted. Thus, if you're curious about what happened in the workshop and how OP cleverly complied with their demand just for them to subsequently withdraw it, make sure to read the story below! And when you're done, don't forget to read the story of the man who deftly obeys the municipal council!

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  • 01
    "Be careful what you wish for"
    via canva
  • 02
    Make sure to understand corporate policy!
    via u/blackcompy
  • 03
    Some years ago, I was working for a large corporation. One of the responsibilities of the team I was on was to offer on the job training for employees and managers on a number of topics that are not important here. The point is, we took our job seriously and tried to do the best work we could. Among other things, that meant changing the training topics and content on a regular basis to make sure it was up to date with industry standards and what our colleagues actually needed to know.
    via u/blackcompy
  • 04
    At some point, we were approached by corporate HR. Apparently, our trainings were bypassing most of the central controlling and approval processes, which was creating issues for them. I could understand that. However, these processes were awful. Slow, unnecessary, bureaucratic... and HR showed no interest in improving them. There was no way we could follow them without sacrificing our quality standards. I could have outright refused to follow them and created a massive conflict, but there was a
    via u/blackcompy
  • 05
    We set up a workshop with HR to make sure we understood the processes we needed to follow, in detail. Over several exhausting hours, we mapped out every single step that needed to be done, by anyone, along every step of the way. Flipcharts with scribbles and diagrams quickly filled up every square foot of available. wall. At the end of a long and exhausting afternoon for everyone involved, I pointed out that we now had a full picture of what needed to be done (good work everyone!), but we still
    via u/blackcompy
  • 06
    get there? It was at this point that the HR manager in the room asked whether we could "postpone" that topic for the "follow-up workshop", as everyone seemed to be very tired. Of course, we agreed. Funnily enough, that follow-up workshop never happened. Whenever the topic came up, everyone was quick to state how busy they were at the moment, and could we delay for a few more weeks? A year or two later, our training program had to end for an entirely unrelated reason, so it didn't matter anymore.
    via u/blackcompy
  • 07
    So if you ever need to refuse to do something in corporate world, don't say you won't do it - accept it and make sure it slows to an excruciating crawl.
    via u/blackcompy
  • 08
    Newbosterone . 16 hr. ago As a coworker noted, "You can tell someone No until you are blue in the face, or you can say 'this is what it'll cost"".
    via u/Newbosterone
  • 09
    Odonata523 14 hr. ago • I used that for our high school grad ceremony in 2021, with the parent who wanted each grad to get "just two minutes on stage". 2 x 300 = 600 minutes = 10 hours. "Mrs Jones, are you willing to sit through a 10 hour ceremony outside in the June sun??"
    via u/Odonata523
  • 10
    • MeanSecurity · 14 hr. ago Oh I had a similar thing! My boss started yammering about all this complicated math he wanted us to do. My coworker jumped on it. I sat back and did nothing. Within a week, it was decided that they'd go in a completely different direction. So my coworker's work was ignored and I didn't have to do unnecessary work that week!
    via u/MeanSecurity
  • 11
    If you wait long enough, someone else will do it or they'll change their minds.
    via u/MeanSecurity
  • 12
    • LucasPisaCielo · 16 hr. ago Straight from Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Lure him on and tire him out."
    via u/LucasPisaCielo
  • 13
    ProductionsGJT. 15 hr. ago "Flipcharts with scribbles and diagrams quickly filled up every square foot of available wall." I can only imagine the HR Person staring at that behemoth and realizing they were in too deep for any tactic but "stall the followup for as long as you can" to provide a way out...
    via u/ProductionsGJT
  • 14
    ChicoBroadway · 15 hr. ago Bravo for sticking with it through the first meeting! Whenever flow charts start getting made, my brain literally turns off. It's fine at following a flow chart, just not making them.
    via u/ChicoBroadway
  • 15
    throwaway47138.15 hr. ago This reminds me of a conversation I have every couple of years or so. I manage an automation system that runs lots of jobs, most of them every 15 minutes or so. Each job is independent of each other, but the all have one thing in common - if they don't do anything (e.g., they are looking for a file and it doesn't exist), they don't send an email notiofication. And every once
    via u/throwaway47138
  • 16
    in a while, someone asks me if I can modify their job to send an email if there isn't a file for it to process. So I tell them that I could modify the program to do that, but then they would get an email from every job that runs when they don't do anything. And did I mention we have ~300 jobs that run every 15 minutes, not including the ones that run on different schedules? I have yet to hear anything but "never mind" after that... :D
    via u/throwaway47138
  • 17
    blackcompy OP. 13 hr. ago Nice of you to warn them beforehand.
    via u/blackcompy
  • 18
    626337 14 hr. ago I remember doing this in class with the teachers who were really distractible by bringing up their favorite topics..... "So how many specialized camera lenses do you have?"
    via u/626337
  • 19
    Coolbeanschilly . 13 hr. ago I'm just picturing the It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia meme with all the stuff on the wall.
    via u/Coolbeanschilly
  • 20
    Azure_Wolf · 12 hr. ago Not exactly along the same lines but similar I think. We have a person in my work who is very good at just emailing the random ideas that come into their head for someone to action. Kind of like I had the brainwave and must note it down before I forget.
    via u/Azure_Wolf
  • 21
    I used to action them pretty quickly because the person is pretty high up in the business, but there was one week I was ridiculously busy and didn't manage to action any of the requests and I was never chased for them to be actioned. That's when I realised they don't even remember the emails they are sending asking for their idea of day.
    via u/Azure_Wolf
  • 22
    So I have a new rule, unless they follow up the initial request, I don't action anything. A staggering amount of their requests are just forgotten about.
    via u/Azure_Wolf
  • 23
    LuminousGrue. 12 hr. ago Apparently, our trainings were bypassing most of the central controlling and approval processes, which was creating issues for them. What sort of issues? Issues like "my superiors have noticed that my job isn't actually necessary to the company's day to day operations"?
    via u/LuminousGrue
  • 24
    Howard_James_Dudy 6 hr. ago THIS is the way.
    via u/Howard_James_Dudy
  • 25
    Geminii27. 53 min. ago Make the decision-makers have skin in the game, or at least be massively inconvenienced by their own decisions.
    via u/Geminii27

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