22-year-old employee emails company CEO each time coworkers don't answer their emails, asks if it's a "big deal": 'You [are] being high maintenance'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 13, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Communication is key in almost any job. While some jobs want you to act autonomously, that still usually involves working with other people to achieve your goals. Maybe you work in marketing, and you're constantly "circling back" with the design team. They don't seem to read or answer your emails, which you find frustrating. You have a few options: you can go talk to them in person, or talk to your boss to see what can be done about it, or you can talk to their bosses to set things straight. You may or may not get results. All you really need to do is CYA by keeping a paper trail, plus communicating to your own bosses that other people are stopping you from completing your own job. 

Still,  this is a source of frustration for a lot of workers. The people you're working with are human, and they're going to mess up or avoid doing work they don't want to do. This person isn't handling that frustration well at all. Instead of just covering their bases, this person is CC'ing the CEO every time they have an issue with their coworkers. If that sounds crazy to you, just read the whole story below, as well as the advice that commenters gave to this young worker. They're still very young, and have time to change their ways. I mean, their tenure at this company might come to an end, but there are always other options out there for an employee who can improve and learn from their mistakes. 

Up next, read about some employees who got fired on the spot, like one person who tried to give 2 weeks' notice, only to have their boss coldly inform them, "Don't bother, you're done today." 

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  • 01
    AITA For CC'ing the CEO on emails for my coworkers who don't respond? I work for a company of 10,000+ people within customer service. At my office, there are a lot of people who don't respond to my emails and those that do sometimes take days.
    via u/Familiar-Jacket
  • 02
    This has been frustrating me recently. If I need a certain document/etc, I have to practically chase down the person to get it. Given that most of us are now working from home, this has made the problem worse. I decided to start including the Chairman/CEO of our company on all emails to coworkers who either never respond/or are very slow.
    via u/Familiar-Jacket
  • 03
    To give some examples, IT is usually slow so when I had an issue with my laptop last week, I included the CEO on it. There was another case where a customer had a question that I didn't know the answer to, so I told the customer I'd get back to him and emailed the coworker (as well as CC'd in the CEO) my question. I've only been doing this for a week but the response rate has been fantastic.
    via u/Familiar-Jacket
  • 04
    My supervisor called me up and told me to stop doing this, and I explained the problem to him. He nonetheless still told me to stop and I agreed to it. However, I am planning on resuming if my coworkers start ignoring me again. I haven't gotten a response from the CEO either so I don't think it's really a big deal? EDIT: To people who are asking, I am 22
    via u/Familiar-Jacket
  • 05

    Although this person seems well-intentioned, this is the kind of rookie mistake that an intern might make

    juswannalurkpls YTA. Your supervisor is the one you should be cc'ing, not the CEO. You're making yourself look like an idiot, as well as your boss.
    via u/juswannalurkpls

    By the time you're 22, like this person, you've graduated college (hopefully) and should have a couple of internships under your belt. Acting like this might feel like a power move to this person. But as other commenters explained, they're going to be the most annoying person in the entire office to the CEO. They also remark that they've "only been doing this for a week" and that it's spurned their coworkers to respond. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and if you're being that annoying, you may be laid off ASAP. 

  • 06
    srslyeffedmind YTA. You DID get a response from the CEO. Through your supervisor. The appropriate person to include as a cc is your supervisor in these circumstances. This is the wrong way to get on leaderships radar. You're not on their radar for anything good.
    via u/srslyeffedmind
  • 07
    all02116 YTA- adding the CEO is pretty aggressive especially at a company that size. I would stick to CCIng their supervisor or adding read receipts to emails in the future.
    via u/all02116
  • 08
    YTA. You're inappropriately using your CEO on emails as a power-manipulation tactic on your coworkers instead of being an adult and bringing the issue to their attention. Let's say that before all this mess, you actually humored a scenario of possibly using your words like a grownup and talking to your coworkers. If nothing
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    had changed after speaking to them? That would then be the time to go to a higher-up and tell them the problem. If that, though, since this problem seems like it could've been solved pretty quickly all by yourself.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 10
    But your issue now is that your higher-up, your supervisor, likely won't want to help you solve any of your petty issues. Your supervisor literally told you to stop, and somehow you lack the awareness of your behavior or situation by pondering if you should keep up this childish strategy even though your boss ordered you to stop.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 11
    I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he likely didn't. care about your problem when you told him, when he was confronting you, because you've been abusing the CEO's name to instill fear in your coworkers so that they had to respond to your emails.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 12
    This negatively affected your supervisor, seeing as someone higher-up than him likely confronted him about. you and your poor, unprofessional behavior. You're making your supervisor and yourself look like fools. By all means, keep it up and get fired. Your decision.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 13
    Cheezburger Image 10479525632
    via u/Stephanie Berbec For Unsplash+

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

  • 14
    JeepersCreepers74 YTA for a number of reasons. First, there are 10,000 employees at the company and you want the CEO to help you, just one of them, get what you need faster? You're only filling up his/her inbox and taking the focus away from CEO-worthy things.
    via u/JeepersCreepers74
  • 15
    Second, your supervisor asked you to stop and you're planning on disobeying him? That makes you, not the others, the insubordinate worker.
    via u/JeepersCreepers74
  • 16
    Third, if your complaints were about one or two people, it would be understandable. But when EVERYONE at the company does not cater to your demands as fast as you want, the problem is not them, it's you.
    via u/JeepersCreepers74
  • 17
    [deleted] YTA - I happen to have some insight here as a result of my job. IF YOU ARE LUCKY - and I say IF - the CEO's admin erased those for you. If not, the CEO or his admin flipped that email 2 places: whoever reports to him that is over your organization, and whoever is the head of HR. The message probably was blank - it just gets forwarded. The first couple
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    times. If you repeatedly copy the CEO in on messages like this, those notes are gonna say things like "What the h l is going on in there?" And "Who is this guy?" Then those people will push those messages down the chain until they get to the people who actually deal with you. So, you've ped off everyone BETWEEN YOU
    via u/[deleted]
  • 19
    AND THE CEO. Everyone who might go to bat for you when it's time for promotions or a raise, all of them, every single one, know that you have TERRIBLE judgement. The fact that you can't tell the difference in protocol between a 40 person company and a 10,000 person company speaks volumes about your business acumen.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    Not only that, you've also ed off all those people p who were copied on the messages with the CEO where you were trying to power-play this sh. They hate you, or mock you, and honestly I can't blame them? YTA, but the only person you're hurting here is yourself.
    via u/[deleted]

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