Incompetent coworker, convinced of his effectiveness, leaves to start competing business: 'He's potentially mishandling client funds by mishandling their accounting'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Feb 22, 2025 12:00 PM EST

The problem with competence, general intelligence, and understanding of something is that you'll generally also have an idea of the limitations of that understanding and your ability to comprehend.

Whereas the willfully incompetent and running a few cylinders short will have no idea how shallow their perception is, oblivious to the depths of the ocean that they're wading into—mistaking it instead for a pond whose bottom lies within their reach. This is the basis of the "Dunning-Kruger effect," a cognitive bias in which those with low competence have a tendency to overestimate their abilities in that area.

But as a bonus result, the incompetent are, and come across as a whole lot more confident, which has an amazing psychological effect on employers and the like who assume that these confident incompetents must really know what they're doing, meaning that as a result they end up in offices above their station.

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  • 01
    "He is likely to lose the only 2 clients we know he has..."
    via TheStandingDesk

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

  • That's basically what happened with this coworker, who was hired without having the necessary experience. He then managed to play himself by convincing himself that he was competent enough to start his own competing business, setting himself masterfully up for failure by mismanaging the clients who were silly enough to follow him.

  • 02

    "Carefully study these 2 files and tell me what's going on here"

    I'm very sorry that I am bad at being brief, but I'm going to be cackling about this one for a while. Background: I work for a company that does work for HOA's (yes, they do S k, but I like being able to afford my bills, so...). A lot of HOA's have Management Companies that give them a Manager to advise them on stuff. This is who gets our bills.
    via Emmyisme
  • 03
    At one point, one of the Managers at one of these companies was looking to leave, and my boss (in all of her brilliance) ignored me when I said he's not the right type of person for her to work with (she's...difficult, and needs. employees who can stand up to her without "challenging" her, and he's a challenger). She hired him anyway, because his background appealed to her. After 2 months of my life being h_I trying to train someone who thinks he knows more than me, but can't use a computer - sh
    via Emmyisme
  • 04
    He started his own Management Company, and went after some of our Clients that hadn't found management yet, so we still have to interact with him. Both Clients he landed were absolute messes, with past due balances that meant we stopped doing work for them until they get caught up.
    via Emmyisme
  • 05
    The Story: We sent him all the past due invoices for both clients when he took them on at the end of last year, and have not done any real work for either since. He keeps emailing and asking for meetings to discuss the billing, and then doesn't pay it, but comes back and complains that they got another bill because we billed them for the meeting time (this is very standard in our industry). Yesterday he decided for some reason to involve me. And he should not have done that.
    via Emmyisme
  • 06
    He and my boss have been going back and forth in emails for hours, and have racked up thousands of words back and forth about how we've explained this billing to him so many times, we aren't going to spend anymore time on it (yes she's ACTIVELY ARGUING - WITH HIM while telling him she's not going to spend anymore time on him). That's when he comes back with "carefully study these 2 files and tell me how last month this client had a balance of $5100 and this month they have a balance of $8400"
    via Emmyisme
  • 07
    The Compliance: So I opened both files. Insert Kendricks Halftime Smirk.gif Remember when I said he got 2 of our clients to sign on with him? The $5100 balance was for the other client. So I shot back with: Please note, the $5100 invoice is for Client B, not Client A, as you have attributed. Please see attached email from December with all outstanding invoices for Client A up until that point, and a second email from January with the newest invoice. for the time we spent explaining the billing a
    via Emmyisme
  • 08
    with your accounting, I have also attached an Account Summary for Client A. Just a reminder that Client A and Client B are 2 separate clients, and their accounting should be accordingly handled separately." Suddenly he "is very sorry for the confusion, and will go back over all the documentation before letting us know his findings"
    via Emmyisme
  • 09
    Moral of the Story: Don't go full bore on an argument if you aren't ABSOLUTELY SURE some admin somewhere isn't going to step in and destroy you with 1 email after hours of acting like WE don't know what we were doing.
    via Emmyisme
  • 10
    Edit: I realize in my attempt to be somewhat vague, I didn't really relay the implications of fallout here. I work for lawyers, and this man handed us proof that he's potentially mishandling client funds by mishandling their accounting. Since the Clients are all non-profits, that means their funds are held in trust accounts, which have A LOT of laws and red tape involved, so if he's charging the wrong clients for vendor invoices - there's likely some legal recourse. At the very least, he is like
    via Emmyisme
  • 11
    Since the attorneys have been battling with him about this for months, no one else was opening anything he sent anymore, because we had provided everything he could possibly have needed multiple times, so we couldn't figure out what he was still arguing, and were already considering going directly to the client, but didn't have anything tangible. It wasn't until that line in his email irked me enough to get directly involved (prior to this I was cc'd on this particular chain, but I hadn't respon
    via Emmyisme
  • 12
    UPDATE: It's fairly boring as an update, but he did finally respond with very few words - he said the "client" had accepted the credit my boss had offered before he proved his incompetence, and was sending payment. Since both clients had been difficult before his involvement, we will be terminating them both as clients once he brings them current, and didn't argue the credit so I likely won't have any further updates,
    via Emmyisme
  • 13
    as I won't be kept privvy to whether or not they cite their choice of Manager and his incompetence as to why we won't be working with them anymore, but ultimately - I'm about to lose 3 headaches. I'm very sorry that I am bad at being brief, but I'm going to be cackling about this one for a while.
    via Emmyisme
  • 14
    mysteresc Your new competitor isn't going to last long. And with screw-ups like that, could very well find himself facing lawsuits.
    via Emmyisme
  • 15
    Emmyisme OP • 4d ago Oh he's not a competitor. Him and his company folding won't affect us in anyway - we had the clients before he was involved, and we'll have the clients after he's involved. Unfortunately for him...we're his clients lawyers. I assume one of the attorneys involved will inform the clients of how his
    via Emmyisme
  • 16
    incompetence is the reason. we can't finish our work for either of them, so I would be surprised if both clients don't decide to find new management soon.
    via Emmyisme
  • 17
    CoderJoe1 No longer a coworker yet you still had to train him
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  • 18
    PiercingBrewer Its always a pain when someone insists on being your problem. Nice job op
    via Emmyisme
  • 19
    No-Friendship-1498 This is just compliance, not malicious compliance. He directed you to do something, you did it, he benefitted (because he now understands what is going on). Just because he got a bruised ego does not make this malicious compliance.
    via Emmyisme
  • 20
    AlgaeDizzy2479 I love it when a person who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag tells me they're going to report back on their "findings."
    via Emmyisme
  • 21
    grumbleycakes I read your edit and it's still very unclear to me what improper behavior is implied by his "carefully study" email. I can barely tell what's even going here at all. So he thought Client A owed $8400 instead of Client B and you corrected him?
    via Emmyisme
  • 22
    ReallyNotALlama Sorry, but I don't see malicious compliance. You're just doing your job, and as far as I can tell there weren't any consequences.
    via Emmyisme
  • 23
    Drachefly We sent him all the past due invoices for both clients when he took them on at the end of last year... On what basis?
    via Emmyisme
  • 24
    Outrageous_Ad5290 • 3h ago He didn't have a non-compete preventing him from stealing those two clients?
    via Emmyisme

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