Boss refuses to read emails, demands employee print them out for him instead, employee complies by making his desk look like a filing cabinet: 'He couldn’t find anything’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 20, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

We all have to deal with technologically illiterate people every once in a while. With how rapidly technology evolves and changes, it makes sense that some people feel like they have been left behind. When that happens, some accept their fate and refuse to learn or adapt to the new reality, while others insist on learning and evolving along with the technology. We all probably know people who belong to both groups, and it is honestly hard to determine which is harder to deal with.

That being said, if my 93-year-old grandmother managed to learn how to use a smartphone, and even plays Candy Crush on it (she's at level 800-something, mind you), I firmly believe that no one is hopeless. Anyone can learn the basics required for the world we currently live in; it is only a matter of willpower and open-mindedness. 

The boss in the story below refuses to learn how to open his email and insists on having employees print out every single email they send him. Thanks to my grandmother, we already know everyone is capable of learning something as simple as how to open your inbox, so it is only a matter of educating this boss and proving to him that he must move along with the rest of the world. And that is exactly what this employee did.

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    "I printed every single email sent to him"
    via Elnur

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

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    You want every email printed and handed to you? Sure thing, boss

    I used to work for a middle manager who hated reading emails. Every time we'd send project updates or questions, he'd ignore them. When called
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    out on it, he loudly declared, "If it's important, PRINT IT and hand it to me. I don't read emails!" Alrighty then.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    Cue the malicious compliance. I printed every single email I sent him-reminders, client follow-ups, even memes someone accidentally CC'd me on. I'd walk over to his desk 6-
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    8 times a day with a mini stack of paper like, "Per your request!" Within a week, his desk looked like a filing cabinet exploded.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    He couldn't find anything. He started snapping, "Why are you printing all this!?" I smiled sweetly and reminded him: "You told us to."
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    Two weeks later, he sent out a company-wide email (yes, really) asking us to only email. him from now on. Guess he learned how to open Outlook.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
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    CawlinAlcarz I had a boss like this, who had his secretary have full access to his email account and required her to print his emails and hand them to him for comment/reply. He'd
    via CawlinAlcarz
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    comment on them in handwriting, and it was his secretary's job to then log back into his email and reply with his comments added as if she were him.
    via CawlinAlcarz
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    I know how ridiculous that sounds - and it WAS ridiculous TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO when it was happening... to have it still happening today is beyond the pale.
    via CawlinAlcarz
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    Elliott2030 My boss had me print out the websites of 6. different companies last week. Yes the websites which are not designed to be printable, so I had to screenshot each page, add it to a Powerpoint, then screenshot the next page.
    via Elliott2030
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    He also has me go to the printer for him and bring him whatever he prints multiple times a day. He prints off every Outlook meeting request and each email in a long chain, even the ones that say "Thanks Joe, I'll get on that" or whatever. Apropos of nothing, I start a new job in 2 weeks LOL!
    via Elliott2030
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    Cheezburger Image 10507297024
    via kanchanachitkhamma

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

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    BronyxSniper I don't understand how people become the boss with this type of attitude in the first place.
    via BronyxSniper
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    Tremenda-Carucha Maybe this is karma's way of teaching him to get comfortable with the digital age... or maybe he just got printed out by a rebellious employee.
    via Tremenda-Carucha
  • 16
    Graybeard13 Did you print out that final email and give it to him? I would have.
    via Graybeard13
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    DetroiterInTX Nice. I had someone tell me (just last year) that people couldn't be expected to read their emails regarding things they are required to do... Um, really?
    via DetroiterInTX
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    Sterek01 My mother in law is 85 and runs her own accounting business and adapts and absorbs all new IT tech.
    via Sterek01
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    Found her on her knees the other day under a desk tracing a cat 5 cable because it was knocked loose (yes she knows wi fi but prefers cable)
    via Sterek01
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    CoderJoe1 It's like everyone agreed to communicate through smoke signals and he communicated with a giant fan
    via CoderJoe1
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    Annual Union33 Forget printing email, I have heard of someone who acquired a company and then required the software engineers to print their code
    via Annual_Union33

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Tags

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