New supervisor reorganizes labor, leaving inspector to work a loading bay on his own, he refuses to work it: 'Goods started arriving, but I didn’t touch a single box'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Feb 17, 2025 12:00 PM EST

It's always wise to take the time to listen to staff and how they do things when starting a new job, no matter if you're the CEO or the most entry-level worker in the company. There's nothing worse than dealing with arrogance in your professional life and having someone coming in and telling you how to do things when they don't understand what it is you even do. Few things are so disastrous for a cohesive working experience, and when it comes from leadership, it can completely derail the entire organization, sewing chaos and crushing morale. 

When this new and inexperienced supervisor took over the loading bay inspector's department, the ensuing reorganization left him without an "assistant." The workers who did most of the actual physical preparation of the load were the assistants. It was normal for the inspectors to help with the management and preparation of the load on top of the general administration and certification of it. 

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  • However, when the new supervisor decided that the inspector didn't need an assistant and could do all of the work himself—he was sorely mistaken. The inspectors assisted with the actual loading as a means of cooperation and to improve the flow and ease of the work. Nowhere in their contract did it say that they actually had to do this—as these things generally go. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10468876032
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    "No assistant for me? Let's see how that works out."

    This happened almost 15 years ago when I was still living in my home country. I worked in a warehouse that served as a distribution center for a supermarket chain. A very famous one, by the way. I was an inspector in the shipping department. Basically, the sorting section would bring to the docks the goods that the store had requested, and we would prepare and load the shipment onto the truck.
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    In the shipping department, there were assistants who did the manual work (assembling the loads on pallets, wrapping them with stretch film, and loading them onto the truck), while the inspector checked whether everything being sent to the store was correctly labeled and secure for transport. Additionally, the inspector entered all data in the internal system, sealed the truck, and printed the load summary for the administrative department to generate an invoice.
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    Of course, inspectors also helped the assistants with the heavy lifting. Most of the time, this didn't interfere with our main responsibilities and actually sped up the process, especially since our shift, the afternoon shift, had an issue with trucks arriving late. Many times, we wouldn't finish everything on time, leading to overtime and sometimes having to leave the remaining work for the night shift, which wasn't ideal since each shift had its own list of stores to attend to, and this delay
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    Each inspector worked with at least one assistant, but sometimes more, depending on their workload. Some inspectors had more stores to handle that day, some stores required extra loads, or other situations that called for additional help.
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    We had a supervisor who had been with the company for many years and had worked in the department before being promoted. The job was great, and everything ran smoothly, until a crisis hit another department, leaving it without a supervisor. Management decided they needed someone experienced to lead that department, so they transferred our supervisor there. In his place, they promoted someone from another department who had no leadership experience.
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    Our department was running well, with no need for drastic changes. But our new supervisor didn't see it that way. One day, I arrived at work, and as usual at the beginning of the shift, the supervisor printed out a sheet listing the stores to be handled that day, along with which inspector was assigned to each one. So far, so good, he made some changes, but nothing too concerning. However, before we started working, he called the entire department for a quick meeting.
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    In this meeting, he announced that he had reassigned which assistants would work with which inspectors and showed us a printed list. To my surprise, there was no name next to mine. In other words, I was expected to work without an assistant. I protested immediately. I don't remember the exact details of the discussion, as it happened a long
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    time ago, but basically, his idea was that as other assistants finished helping their assigned inspectors, whoever was available would come help me, something that already happened naturally, as we had a strong sense of camaraderie in our department. Plus, no one wanted to be seen by the bosses. standing around doing nothing. But it wasn't enough, it would overburden me.
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    I tried to argue my case, but I couldn't convince him. Other inspectors were also left without assistants, but they were relatively new to the company and didn't say anything, probably out of fear of losing their jobs or something similar.
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    Well, since I couldn't change his mind, I accepted that I would be working without an assistant. I took the signs for the stores I was responsible for, found available docks for them, placed the signs on the dock gates, noted on the printed sheet which stores were at which docks, then went to the dock of the first store I would handle. I leaned against the wall, crossed my arms, and waited. Goods started arriving, but I didn't touch a single box. The dock filled up, and I didn't move an inch.
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    After a few hours, the supervisor walked through the department to check on things, saw the state of my dock, and asked why the load wasn't being prepared. I simply said, "I don't have any assistants, how am I supposed to prepare the load?" and remained standing with my arms crossed. Eventually, some assistants came to help me, and when they did, I helped them with the heavy lifting. But soon, the inspectors they were originally assigned to needed more help, and of course, they left my load behi
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    By the end of the shift, one load was ready to be loaded onto the truck, but another was only halfway done. I placed the paperwork with the load details in a visible spot for whoever would finish it and left. As I was leaving, my supervisor asked about the loads. Without turning around, I told him where the papers were. He asked if I wasn't going to finish them, and I didn't even respond.
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    The next day, he called me in for a meeting. When I arrived, the manager was also there. They asked me what had happened the previous day. I replied, "Nothing that I remember." They brought up the incomplete loads. I explained that my shift had ended, and I couldn't stay for overtime, so I left the information for whoever would finish the job, and I even told the supervisor where the papers were. Then, I took out my wallet, pulled out my timecard receipt, and showed them that I had clocked out a
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    They mentioned that I had spent most of the shift standing with my arms crossed. I responded that I had done my job, which, as stated in my contract, consisted solely of verifying the load, supervising assembly and loading, entering data into the system, sealing the truck, and printing the load summary. Nothing beyond that. I continued by saying that anything else I might do during my shift was purely out of goodwill to help the
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    assistants and speed up the work. But on the previous day, I had chosen to exercise my right not to perform those extra tasks because I felt unfairly treated by my supervisor, who had not assigned me a dedicated assistant. That would have significantly overburdened me with tasks I wasn't paid to do.
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    The manager simply looked at the supervisor and said, "He needs to have an assistant." Then he turned to me and asked me to leave. The two of them stayed there for quite a while. That same day, I was assigned an assistant, and we never spoke of it again. Nothing like that ever happened again.
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    The new supervisor's stint lasted only a few months before he returned to his previous role. He had put too much trust in employees he was friends with, but who weren't very competent at their jobs, and that was his downfall. Our old supervisor came back to his position, and everything improved again.
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    Cheezburger Image 10468876288
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    hill3786 8h ago Nicely handled.
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    Mountain-Butterfl... • 7h ago It'd always a newbie that has to come and screw everything up. As the saying goes goes: If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it!!
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    HMS_Slartibartfast • 7h ago Having seen this happen multiple times, I've learned "Do your job. If you do someone else's job, it becomes your job without extra pay/resources". This wasn't actual "Malicious" compliance, this was what is best for the department. Still a very good post!
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    dedayyt 5h ago Why do employers try to fix things that aren't broken? What's amazing is your old supervisor came back. I love that!
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    limbodog 4h ago . Man. I wish we had more jobs where you could do something like that. Most of them it's just "we tripled your workload. And it's your responsibility to get it done. now.'
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