Employee maliciously complies with letting her overbearing manager take credit for all her work, by intentionally sending off manager's proofreading errors, prompting the client to question the manager’s credibility: 'She no longer wanted to proofread'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Sep 9, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

This employee is fed up with her manager taking credit for all the positive feedback she and her coworker receive at work, simply because the manager insists on proofreading every outgoing email. One day, after reviewing an email, the manager "corrects" something that was never wrong to begin with. The employee tries to raise the issue, but the manager dismisses her concerns and orders the email to be sent as is. Knowing the email now contains an obvious error, the employee sends it anyway, making sure the credit still goes exactly where the manager always demands it.

Let's just say... that would be the last time the manager was so eager to attach her name to someone else's work.

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  • It's sort of like taking credit for someone else's artwork… when you sign your name onto someone else's painting, it's essential to remember that art is subjective, based solely on taste…Some will appreciate your time and effort shining through each brush stroke, whilst others will flip through it, as if it were a coupon page in a rich person’s magazine, not needed, nor valued. So ensure to only take credit for what is yours, because what you think may resemble ‘perfection’, may often be filled with mistakes that only the original artist would have noticed…

  • 01
    Business meeting
    via gettyimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    The manager of the agency was a total micromanager and wanted a say in absolutely everything.
    via overeasyallie
  • 03
    She micromanaged everyone so badly that she wanted to proofread any emails that any staff member was sending externally.
    via overeasyallie
  • 04
    She also want to be CCed on every single outgoing external email.
    via overeasyallie
  • 05
    One day one of my coworkers got a response back from an employer who gave some positive feedback about the email she wrote.
    via overeasyallie
  • 06
    Our manager made sure to reply all and take credit for the email and explained she oversees all outgoing emails.
    via overeasyallie
  • 07
    A few days later in a staff meeting she made a point of saying she should get credit for any feedback the agency receives since she proofreads everything.
    via overeasyallie
  • 08
    The thing is, this manager was not well spoken or smart and not even a particularly good writer.
    via overeasyallie
  • 09
    I regularly spotted issues with her sentence structure and use of commas but just didn't say anything.
    via overeasyallie
  • 10
    One day she's proofreading one of my emails that would be going externally to an employer who pumped a lot of money into our agency.
    via overeasyallie
  • 11
    was stating in the email that I thought so-and-so was a great fit for their vacant position based on so-and-so's past experience.
    via overeasyallie
  • 12
    Miss Manager comes to my desk and tells me the email looks good except it should read 'passed experience.'
    via overeasyallie
  • 13
    Employee proofreading text at work
    via gettysignature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 14
    I told her that was incorrect and she told me I was wrong and she knows the difference between the two words.
    via overeasyallie
  • 15
    I wasn't in the mood to argue so I wrote it as 'passed experience" and CCed Miss Manager on the email.
    via overeasyallie
  • 16
    The employer writes me back and says as an employer who hires people to work on printed literature they wanted to correct me and let me know it's actually 'past experience.'
    via overeasyallie
  • 17
    That's where malicious compliance kicked in.
    via overeasyallie
  • 18
    I hit reply all and thanked them for the feedback and explained my manager values all feedback and since she proofreads all outgoing emails, she was the one who insisted on writing 'passed experience.'
    via overeasyallie
  • 19
    The next day she announced she no longer wanted to proofread outgoing external emails and didn't want to be CCed on them any further.
    via overeasyallie
  • 20
    Malicious compliance put that witch in her place!
    via overeasyallie
  • 21
    Jerseyboyham I wouldn't have sent it. I'd have gone over her head.
    via Jerseyboyham
  • 22
    overeasyallie OP There really wasn't anyone I could go to outside of the owner who was relatively unavailable for daily operational stuff
    via overeasyallie
  • 23
    Initial-Shop-8863 Congratulations OP. You also managed to do something that reminds her, every time she sees the words past or passed for the rest of her life, exactly how arrogant and inept she is. I hope she's come to terms with the humiliation. But I doubt it.
    via Initial-Shop-8863
  • 24
    Wild Butterscotch977 There's a time and a place for grammar police and this is it.
    via Wild_Butterscotch977
  • 25
    TheBrandNewDay As someone who also works in a print shop/printed literature, imagine my surprise when I had to teach my new manager how to copy and paste. After 2 years she told me she still didn't know how to create a folder on the desktop.
    via TheBrandNewDay
  • 26
    BCR_Dave Was it a job in an Italian restaurant? If so it should have been pasta experience.
    via BCR_Dave

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Tags

management taking credit agency responses employee manager meeting errors fixing bosses editing controlling emails wrong proofreading Horrible Bosses trust-employees spelling mistake
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