Marketing associate cleverly doubles her micromanager's workload, taking their nitpicky demands very literally: ‘By EOD, I had sent her 17 approval requests… By EOW, it was over 100’

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 20, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Working for an office dictator can turn the most amicable employees into malicious compliance operatives, sending them on an Excel sheet-fueled goose chase to make their micromanaging boss's life miserable. This marketing associate found that the best way to teach her boss a lesson in nitpicking was to make her eat her words—and the words of every client communication that comes over her desk. 

Because when a boss wants to be looped in on all communication, they don't realize how many emails would be awaiting approval. Perhaps delegating isn't so bad after all…

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  • If you work in an office environment, you probably see 1,000s of emails and phone calls come through your workspace every week. The catharsis of having 0 items in your inbox feels unattainable during the busiest of times, but at least you can count on your boss to have your back. Well, this woman felt like her manager was tyrannical and taking over everyone's fleeting office peace, so she decided to maliciously comply with her latest diabolical request, forcing her to face the facts of the sheer volume of client communication coming through their doors.

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

  • "You want to review every client interaction? Perfect, your Inbox is about to pop off"

    I've been working at this small marketing agency for just over a year now. It's my first "real" job after college, and I've been thrilled to have actual clients and responsibilities. Well, I was thrilled until we got a new account manager, Debbie (not her real name, obviously).
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  • Debbie came from one of those corporate mega-agencies where apparently they micromanage the living daylights out of everyone. From day one, she had "concerns" about my communication style with clients. Mind you, I'd been praised by these same clients for being responsive and helpful.
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  • Last month, after I sent what I thought was a perfectly normal email to our biggest client about a small scheduling change, Debbie called an emergency meeting.
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  • "From now on, I need to approve ALL client communications before they go out," she announced with that fake smile managers use when they're being unreasonable but pretending they're helping you. "Everything.
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  • Emails, phone call notes, text messages, meeting agendas. Send them to me first for review." When I pointed out that this would slow down our response times, she just waved her hand dismissively. "It's about quality control. Better to be right than fast."
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  • Fine. You want ALL communications? You got it. I started that very afternoon. Every. Single. Thing. If a client asked what time a call was scheduled, I drafted
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  • an email response and sent it to Debbie. "Awaiting your approval on this time confirmation." If a client texted asking for a quick file, I'd screenshot it and email Debbie. "Please approve my response to this text message."
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  • I even created a special folder in my drafts called "Awaiting Debbie's Approval" and set up an automated counter. By the end of day one, I had sent her 17 approval requests. By the end of week one, it was over 100.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The best part? I stopped answering my phone when clients called. Instead, I'd let it go to voicemail, then email Debbie: "Client X called about Y. My proposed response is attached. Please approve."
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  • After about two weeks, Debbie was drowning. She'd fallen behind on approving my communications, which meant clients weren't getting responses. They started escalating to her directly, which doubled her workload.
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  • The breaking point came when our biggest client emailed both of us complaining about delays. I responded to the client with: "I've forwarded your concerns to Debbie for approval of my response. Once approved, I'll get back to you promptly."
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  • The next morning, Debbie stopped by my desk looking exhausted. "I think we need to adjust our approval process," she said, trying to maintain her corporate dignity.
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  • "Moving forward, just use your judgment for routine communications. Only send me things that involve project scope, timeline changes, or budget discussions."
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  • "Are you sure?" I asked innocently. "I have about 30 draft responses waiting for your review right now." She visibly cringed. "That won't be necessary anymore."
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  • I've been happily sending emails without approval for two weeks now. Debbie barely makes eye contact in the hallway, and honestly, that's fine by me. The best part? My quarterly
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  • review is coming up, and all those approval emails are documented proof that I've been trying my absolute best to follow company protocol. Sometimes malicious compliance is the best teacher.
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  • Rubbermayd The phrase "use your judgement" has come up in a few of these recently and I'm really curious about what managers think we're doing before? We're always using our judgements to make the
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  • process work so we're not harassed by managers and the like. And it's usually a similar event where the manager drowns in work they created unnecessarily. No idea how these people get promoted.
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  • PAUL_DNAP That was very well played. - I wonder what her actual intention was with introducing that in the first place some sort of chronic micro management obsession disease or just a simple arrogance that didn't allow her to think anyone else is capable of doing their jobs?
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  • harrywwc. I love me a good bit of "be careful what you ask for, you may just get it" :)
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  • KWS1461. It was also a great learning tool for her to be educated on what exactly you do and how many small fires you put out on a daily/weekly basis.
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