Boss rejects employee's report claiming it's ‘not thorough enough’, employee resubmits a 20-page detailed breakdown as a response: ‘I sent it off and waited’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Feb 5, 2025 9:00 AM EST

There's nothing bosses love more than to demand employees put more unnecessary work into something that does not require it whatsoever. It seems like once they became bosses, one of the first things they were told it to try and make their employees' work life as difficult as possible for no apparent reason. We cannot help but picture all those bosses sitting in a room and laughing as their employees struggle with a task no one benefits from (other than the boss, who gets to have a good laugh about it).

How can employees retaliate when their bosses demand useless assignments out of them, that will only waste time? 

Our answer is–ensure that your time is not the only one being wasted with those assignments. Find ways to get the boss involved, and waste their time in response. That way, they'll see how pointless what they asked of you is and will hopefully refrain from demanding similar tasks in the future.

That is what the employee in the story tried to teach their boss, and it seemed like it worked.

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  • Government R Budget 364 BEEE Broad 13 Axe 2,932,900 The p 961 1 23 4 Q E W R T Y Caps Lock A 93 B O 7 H 9A N
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  • "Oh, you want me to be thorough? You got it"

    So, I used to have this manager who was obsessed with thoroughness. Every task, every report, every email-"Be more thorough," he'd say.
    via Agyaani_
  • At first, it was just minor tweaks. But soon, it got out of hand. He started rejecting reports for not having enough detail, even when the numbers were completely self-explanatory.
    via Agyaani_
  • One day, I submitted our usual weekly report. Simple, clear, and to the point. He sent it back: "Not thorough enough. Resubmit."
    via Agyaani_
  • Alright. If thoroughness is what he wants, thoroughness is what he's gonna get. I rewrote the entire report into a 20-page epic. | included:
    via Agyaani_
  • • A detailed breakdown of every number, with footnotes. • A section explaining why negative numbers exist ("because math").
    via Agyaani_
  • • An entire appendix on the history of our software vendor. • A glossary, just in case anyone forgot what "profit" meant.
    via Agyaani_
  • • A disclaimer: "In case of an unwanted event, these numbers may become irrelevant." I sent it off and waited.
    via Agyaani_

  • Do you know that saying ‘this could have been an email’?

    Well, sometimes even the emails themselves are pointless. You can always shower people with unnecessary details, but why should you? All it does is waste everyone's time. That is the important lesson the employee tried to teach their boss.

  • A few hours later, I got a one-line response: "This looks good. But next time, keep it simple." Oh, so now we like simple? Sure thing, boss. ②
    via Agyaani_
  • entrepenurious tell the manager that his rejections lack detail.
    via entrepenurious
  • CoderJoe1 At least he reads your reports. I took a new job and was sent into the field for several months to revamp an operations manual as part of a government
    via CoderJoe1
  • acceptance of a complicated system. It didn't matter that I'd never seen this system before I started. They thought writing the manual on it would be a great way for me to learn it.
    via CoderJoe1
  • Three months later my boss. arrived on-site for the government review and asked me for the manual. I handed him a disk and he rushed out the door with it. Three days later, at the party
    via CoderJoe1
  • for gaining government acceptance, I picked up a printed version of the manual I'd slaved over, only to find he had printed the original file, not the updated file with all my
    via CoderJoe1
  • file with all my thoroughness. I would've been upset to waste all that time, but I got paid very well for it and did learn the system. SMH
    via CoderJoe1
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    via Oleksandr Todorov from Getty Images
  • Fit_Incident_Boom469 He wanted the monthly report sent weekly and got the quarterly instead.
    via Fit_Incident_Boom469
  • brownjohndoe But next time, keep it simple Send him the first report again
    via brownjohndoe
  • Coolbeanschilly That's when you send the entire longform Oxford dictionary of the etymology of the word "simple" and all the synonyms and their longform etymologies. Just to make sure your boss understands what they are asking you.
    via Coolbeanschilly
  • JonJackjon Resubmit your original submission saying some thing like, Per your request I revised it to be more "simple"
    via JonJackjon
  • ThePirateKing Fear Me Keep the "thorough" version as a template. Use it whenever he tries it again
    via ThePirateKingFearMe
  • National_Pension_110 I've had a boss like that. Will never be satisfied with anything because he gets his satisfaction from nitpicking. It's a character flaw and it's too bad senior management doesn't screen out these personality types. Compensating for something that's lacking in his life.
    via National_Pension_110

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace reddit story overworked-employees workplace Reddit company report malicious compliance reddit funny
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