IT Manager gets fired after company is forced to send worker their equipment when they're banned from taking it home: '[The] IT manager was nowhere to be seen. Turns out, she had been demoted'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jul 19, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

When conversation starts about working from home or the office, many employers insist that their staff work from the office—even when they could easily do their tasks from home. This is especially so when the employee's work involves handling sensitive information, meaning devices need to be kept safe and secure under lock and key. Still, what constitutes "sensitive" is a grey area. When you're a middle manager of a retail operation, there's probably a good chance that the information you're handling really isn't all that sensitive. However, your employer might still insist on the same security all the same because they read it in a book somewhere.

Of course, even for those handling legitimate sensitive information, these policies were suddenly capable of being changed when certain global-events-that-cannot-be-named in 2020, which forced the whole world to work from home… or not at all. Suddenly, as it turns out, everyone was capable of taking their equipment home when grand-scale productivity was on the line, and some organizations began requiring workers to take their laptops and phones home with them so that they could still work if something were to keep them from coming into the office. Funny how that happens. 

Anyways, some employers continue to insist that their staff keep their equipment under lock and key, and while it's better than dealing with an employer who insists on you practically being on call all the time, silly policies such as this tend to be a hindrance to all parties, as any absolute and inflexible rule is. In this instance, the insistence that this worker does not take their equipment home resulted in the authoritative IT manager being out of a job.

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  • 01
    "When I returned from my PTO, that IT manager was nowhere to be seen."
    via Becca Tapert
  • 02
    You are not to take the company phone and hardware wherever you go. Sure, okay. End up spending $6k to get those to me in an emergency. LOC TLDR; Some IT manager was and I off about me taking company phone along with me on hikes, trails and camping and was a total about it. Followed her demands to the letter, got her demoted, she quit and new policy was put in place.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 03
    Previous job, worked in a company that was regulated by multiple powerful government agencies. When they ask for something, they want it pronto, and if the delay was too long, they'd rather have us shutdown business rather than wait for data, information or prototypes.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 04
    I was given a company phone, that I had to take everywhere with me. Rotating on-call periods, but I'm expected to be available if hits the fan. The phone was a special kind of a phone from a fruit company, based in California. It wasn't a US based model, it had two different networks and with some extra tech in it, could jump on whichever was stronger, and maybe even use both at the same time. I'm not sure, but it was good. Needless to say, it should have been pretty expensive.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 05
    Now, I love nature. I can and have gone camping, oftentimes in remote places, and gone a few days without seeing another human. 18 months into the job, there was a new schedule where I got 3 days of being on-call and expected to work a regular 8hr day, having to live within 20 mins of work, and then four days of being off. This worked pretty amazing for me. As soon as next on- call team doing and maintaining the same work from our dept got on, I'd be off, on a plane to get another national park
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 06
    I thought it'd be helpful to carry the company phone I was given, along with me, in case I was needed. In the year and a half, I was never contacted when not being on-call, as we had a strong culture of communications and the teams knew what they had to know in order to troubleshoot. But, nevertheless I took the company phone along with me.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 07
    During the trip, the screen got damaged. Not so much that the phone was inoperable, but definitely difficult to use. Got back, went through the forms and got IT to repair or give me another one. Some manager high up in IT went off and was going on and on and on, about how expensive those devices were, how difficult it was to configure them and how much harder it was to get them in US and all other BS. Then she told me, I am not to take the
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 08
    company phone and hardware along with me wherever I go, it is supposed to go between my residence and the office and nowhere else. And she was pretty derogatory about it, even throwing a few large chunks of racism in between. I shot off an email later, keeping my manager in the loop and the dept head, about confirming what she said. Cue, my malicious compliance.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 09
    A few weeks later, I took my PTO. PTO policy was pretty good and thus I took off for three weeks, and still had over three weeks remaining. I did not take any of the company hardware along with me. As per what was stated by some manager who was somewhere in the org chart in IT. And decently high up.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 10
    All hands on deck situation arose. My I at me not being manager was able to answer the company phone. Wasn't like I was in the woods, at my very dear cousin who just had twins and a very difficult delivery. I took care of my cousin while her husband looked after the kids. Manager had to get me on my own phone, and she had to go through some of my work friends for my personal phone, since I was pretty good at not giving out my personal contact info to people at work.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 11
    Manager "Why aren't you answering the company phone?" Me "I'm not at home. Don't have my company phone with me." Manager "Never mind, get back online immediately, we have an all hands on deck situation." Me "Sorry, I do not have any of the company hardware with me."
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 12
    Manager (being mouthy) "Why (a bunch of expletives)?" Me "This manager in IT, said I wasn't to take company hardware along with me wherever I go.' Manager "What? When did that happen?" Me "I sent an email, stating what she said and kept you and X (our dept head) in CC".
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 13
    Manager (goes through her email, finds it and a bunch of more expletives) "You need to come back immediately." Me "sorry, no can do. My cousin's still pretty much half dead with a very difficult twin pregnancy. I'm taking care of her, and I was pretty clear about it before going on PTO, I wouldn't be able to come back." Manager, cuts off call, calls me back in 30.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 14
    Manager "Do you have anyone who has keys to your apartment?" Me "Yes." Manager "Give me their contact. I'm going to get the computer and a screen, and UVW (other hardware) shipped to you before night and you can get back. We have a serious situation." Me "Can I get more PTO then to compensate for this intrusion?" (me knowing, I have the slightly upper hand and striking when the metal's hot)
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 15
    Manager "sure, I'll send an email, approving this". By 8pm, I get my company phone, computer and other hardware shipped to me. I also get two emails. One email approving the extended PTO, for this intrusion. Second email from my dept head X, stating that the original company policy is still in effect, in fact a new policy has been put in place, for some employees to have their company hardware with them, even on PTO. Anything else said by anyone else was to be disregarded. And cherry on top, tha
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 16
    When I returned from my PTO, that IT manager was nowhere to be seen. Turns out, she had been demoted, she couldn't digest that and quit. The company had to spend over $6k to ship it on the same day, and get the hardware to me.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 17
    technos 2 hr. ago The company had to spend over $6k to ship it on the same day, and get the hardware to me. Years ago an acquaintance of mine got a knock on his door while on vacation in the South Pacific. It was the hotel concierge, with a phone message and package that had come in while he was out at dinner. The phone message read simply "Sorry, production is down", and the package, from a computer store in the island, contained a brand new laptop and cell phone.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 18
    He said it took longer for him to do the initial setup on the machine and download an SSH client than to fix the problem, a stuck service. (Two members of hotel staff got the equipment as presents when he left, because his boss for making him work on vacation.)
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 19
    Xenosaiga 3 hr. ago Holy . Hope your cousin is doing better. This is golden.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 20
    Koolest Kat 3 hr. ago Great job, I once was a lowly Tradie who presence was demanded by a certain Alphabet govt agency who my employers kowtowed to. I was setting on a Florida beach with my family being approached by two guys in black suits carrying a Sat Phone. They needed access to some long forgotten DOS system password to enter an underground vault at a telecom tower..... That's my story of how I had by two week vacation paid for by "Admin1234"....
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 21
    spectrum_specter 3 hr. ago Wonder if at that point it's cheaper just to pay someone to get on a plane with the tech lol
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 22
    BrokenEye3 3 hr. ago. edited 1 hr. ago Ugh, I feel you. My job gave me a company laptop for when I'm not at the office, but because of some sort of HIPAA that may not even be correct, the only place I'm allowed to store it when I'm not using it is at the office. And not even in my own desk, because the only drawer big enough doesn't have a lock on it (never mind that my car and my apartment do have locks on them). So not only do I never have access to it when I'm out of the office, thus defeatin
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 23
    merrywidow14 - 2 hr. ago Many years ago, when Nextel radio/phones were the go to, the company only gave me radio access.v I spoke to the manager and asked if he could give me phone access. He asked why I needed it and I told him I may have to call a client for directions, i sometimes travel late at night. Nothing was done. Flew to a client on the other side of the country and he called and asked me why I didn't take the Nextel. Will the radio work here? No. Did you give me phone access? No. So w
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 24
    tessa1950 3 hr. ago • Excellent example of malicious compliance, and kudos for getting compensation PTO!
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 25
    brknsoul 3 hr. ago • and she had to go through some of my work friends for my personal phone That sounds like an invasion of privacy. Also, their Bus Factor
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 26
    t3hd0n 2 hr. ago • Man we had one of our loaner laptops go to burning man and its hilarious to bring up
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 27
    TheProphetEnoch 1 hr. ago People are expected to be on call when they are using PTO?
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 28
    sleepyjohn00 • 2 hr. ago Would have been fun if they had forgotten the power brick and had to spend another $2k to send it, too.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 29
    Robert McCheese 48 min. ago • I've been managing IT departments for decades now and this drives me nuts. There is no one working for us that is worth less than just giving them whatever tech and telco they need to work. If they weren't worth more then we should get rid of them.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414
  • 30
    cyberentomology · 2 hr. ago The whole doing two networks thing isn't anything special on the fruit phone, it's been able to do that for years.
    via u/Ok-Pea3414

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