27-year-old CFO gets mistreated by CEO's 50-year-old administrative assistant, CFO gets even by letting assistant mess up report: 'I can hire a competent assistant now'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 26, 2024 8:00 AM EST

The audacity of this assistant is insane and maybe a little iconic. Charlotte was a 50-year-old administrative assistant who reported to the CEO of a small company. The CFO was a 27-year-old, and Charlotte was clearly threatened by the age difference. When she was tasked with creating the organizational structure chart, she refused to acknowledge that the 27-year-old, who shared this Reddit thread, was senior to her.

Apparently, the CEO refused to back the CFO when this hierarchical conundrum became apparent, so the CFO decided to see how a little malicious compliance might do the trick. He decided that since he was no longer senior to Charlotte, he did not have to correct the many errors she made on her report of the company's financial data. This ended up backfiring with clients and the CEO looked pretty bad at the end of the whole debacle. Someone had to be blamed for this mess-up, and well, it was time for Charlotte to take responsibility for her actions.

For more stories like this, check out this post about a neighbor who got back at his HOA.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10432208640
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Think we're equals? Okay then M OC This is a true story that involves 3 people. I (27m) am the CFO of a small-ish company. Charlotte (50s f) is the administrative assistant
    via [deleted]
  • 03
    and Tom (68m) is the CEO. I served as the assistant CFO for a few years where Charlotte and I both reported directly to the CFO.
    via [deleted]
  • 04
    I was somehow the bottom of the totem pole between Charlotte, the CFO, and myself, despite my title and pay. I received the work no one wanted to do. I went with it because I knew one day I'd be her boss. That day eventually came a few months back and things have only gotten worse.
    via [deleted]
  • 05
    Charlotte has always considered herself a "financial expert" despite not knowing the bare minimum of accounting. When time came for us to create our official organizational structure chart showing who reports to who, Tom tasked Charlotte with it as things here are very straightforward.
    via [deleted]
  • 06
    When I get the final chart, I'm outraged as I see that below Tom, instead of it being just myself, I see she has included her name as well. This was already approved by Tom and officially published. The audacity this woman had to think
    via [deleted]
  • 07
    an administrative assistant is the same ranking of the CFO was baffling. But, she also brown noses Tom so I'm not surprised his decrepit self approved it.
    via [deleted]
  • 08
    Now comes the good part. I mentioned this chart to several groups we work with and the couldn't believe it. They are all aware of her incompetence and all want her gone as she affects their business. I decide that if I'm not
    via [deleted]
  • 09
    her supervisor, then I don't need to check any of the work she does. I let this go for a few months and as much as it me, I leave all of her mistakes. Finally, the auditors come.
    via [deleted]
  • 10
    They find numerous mistakes causing all of our public financial data to be incorrect. At first, they came to me wondering how it could be so inaccurate. I then gave them the system data showing that it was Charlotte who made all of the mistakes. They continued to push though as in previous years,
    via [deleted]
  • 11
    the responsibility fell on the CFO. I then reminded them of our organizational structure chart showing that I was no longer in charge of what the administrative assistant did. They were upset, but one of the younger guys loved what I did.
    via [deleted]
  • 12
    The auditors then "strongly suggested" that we fire Charlotte, or they'd have to issue their report stating things were severely misstated. She was finally fired last week and Tom was issued a significant fine for being the supervisor responsible.
    via [deleted]
  • 13
    I hope they all learned their lesson and I can hire a competent assistant now :)
    via [deleted]
  • 14
    CoderJoe1 2 hr. ago I splashed back on the CEO. Perfect!
    via [deleted]
  • 15
    24Monty24 55 min. ago so as CFO you didn't have to sign off on official financial documents?
    via [deleted]
  • 16
    tennesseeaccountant OP 51 min. ago CEO said he wanted to be the one signing off on everything
    via [deleted]
  • 17
    TranquilTwilight2750. 1 hr. ago Nice! I still can't believe someone that incompetent was put in charge of accounting
    via [deleted]
  • 18
    ReactsWithWords. 13 min. ago I take it you've never seen the workings of the private sector, or government, or academia?
    via [deleted]
  • 19
    Prestigious_Gold_585. 1 hr. ago Too bad the company didn't correct her much sooner.
    via [deleted]
  • 20
    BrobdingnagLilliput . 2 min. ago WOW. This is nuclear revenge, not just malicious compliance!
    via [deleted]

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workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work ceo reddit thread Reddit company entitled people toxic-work-environment
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