Colleague micromanages their office's bagel orders and singles out the employee who is in charge of placing said orders: 'There are bigger things to focus on in an AEC firm'

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Sep 18, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

When working with micromanagers, it's best to keep your whereabouts to yourself. This includes which tasks are under your name, who you report to for what, and everything else that happens in the workplace. Why? The alternative is having a colleague breathe down your neck for something as unimportant as office bagel orders. Yeah… So much so that they insist you create a spreadsheet to track the bagel orders paired with the shop's reward points system.

It's not fun ostracizing a colleague, but it's worse to deal with one who makes your job (and life in general) more difficult. Though you might have a certain level of empathy for the micromanaging colleague in question, you must remember how ridiculous a fixation this bagel ordering situation is…

At the end of the day, the office is what you make of it. If the bagel-obsessive coworker insists that you make a spreadsheet, tell them to do it instead. Consider reporting a colleague for harassment (if applicable). And last but not least… Always remember that you are replaceable to your employer—no need to be loyal to a company that doesn't prioritize your well-being. 

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  • "He asked me to create a spreadsheet tracking the points accumulated for the bagel orders..." PLAIN WHOLE WHEAT CINNAMON RAISIN
    via Zoshua Colah for Unsplash

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

  • "Coworker from my last job went as far as trying to micromanage bagel orders"

    My most recent role was at an AEC firm where I was part of admin team as I was the marketing administrative assistant.
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  • The only person I didn't enjoy working with at this company was the staff accountant as he had a tendency to overstep and
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  • micromanage - even my supervisor was annoyed by his attempts at overstepping as he was not in a managerial position.
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  • At first it was the little things like him trying to tell me how to do my job. rather than giving me space to do what works for me (as my supervisor
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  • was doing). Then it snowballed into him trying to find ways to get his way by ordering me around. One of the earliest examples was him insisting we buy a new
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  • toaster after we JUST REPLACED THE OLD ONE as he was unhappy that the new toaster had a lever, as the previous one was motorized. I didn't like
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  • that he used me as a middle man to relay the message to my supervisor as he made it clear that he didn't want me to mention he said it - but I did
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  • anyway as my supervisor was ped off at the complaint and I didn't want her to believe that I agree with it as I do think it was wasteful and entitled of him to suggest that.
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  • Yes, going back on technology isn't fun but it's a toaster, and motorized toasters are like $200+ given most on the market have a lever.
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  • I was in charge of placing all food orders in the office, and every Thursday we ordered bagels. It was his idea to sign up for the rewards program they rolled out, so I did that. A
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  • few months later he asked me to create a spreadsheet tracking the points accumulated for the bagel orders, and when I mentioned this to my supervisor she rolled her
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  • eyes and told me not to do that as she thought it was bs. A few weeks later he asked me what phone. number is connected to the bagel rewards account
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  • and I mentioned my number was connected for convenience as it had to be a mobile number and I'm the one placing the orders, and he was spamming me messages
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  • making a fuss about this then brought up the spreadsheet task again. I forwarded these messages to my supervisor as he was irritating me and she told
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  • making a fuss about this then brought up the spreadsheet task again. I forwarded these messages to my supervisor as he was
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  • irritating me and she told me not to worry about that task previously, so she told him to drop it and he stopped.
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  • microsoft excel spreadsheet icon
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  • About a few weeks after that crash out, he brought up the concern about my number being linked to the rewards account again when my supervisor was on vacation. He insisted a
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  • new account be made with the business development manager's phone number, so assisted in doing that along with transferring the points.
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  • However he asked me to cancel all orders placed on the account with my number, and I didn't follow through on that as I felt he was asking too much as I was not benefiting from
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  • those orders since they were getting delivered to the office regardless. I think he didn't like that I placed the bagel orders in advance or something, even though my supervisor didn't mind as it worked for me.
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  • When I was laid off, my supervisor made it a point to apologize for how this coworker gave me a hard time and mentioned that he has a tendency to get worked up over little
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  • things, and she also stated that I wasn't the first to have an issue with him. Additionally, he made it a point to call the bagel shop to cancel all remaining orders placed in
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  • advance by me. I ended up getting free bagels as a result since the manager canceled a personal order I made, and when I asked why he called me and explained that he saw my
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  • name and thought it was another order I placed on behalf of the company that he missed, and he comped the order for the mistake. I just know this former coworker is happy now that he can oversee bagel orders since I'm gone.
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  • I understand he probably thought I was using the rewards account for personal gain, but I wasn't and if it was a problem that my mobile number was linked to the account, the concern should've
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  • been addressed when signing up for the rewards rather than much later. It was very clear that he made a fuss over how I was ordering bagels as he wanted something to have
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  • control over, he didn't get his way with the bagel points spreadsheet, so he waited until my supervisor was out to make a fuss about my number being linked to the rewards
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  • account. There were other ways in which he would micromanage and overstep boundaries, but I just found the bagel crash out to be very petty and
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  • childish as it really wasn't that deep, and there are bigger things to focus on in an AEC firm. I once told this story to some people and one of them asked if
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  • worked at a bagel shop, which should tell you how crazy it is for someone outside of that profession to care this much over bagel orders.
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  • sapphirewhimpsy It's always the ones who have zero authority trying to control everything. The bagel rewards spreadsheet thing is wild lol, like it actually matters. Glad your supervisor had your back though.
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terrible coworkers micromanagement workplace-stories micromanager work coworkers spreadsheet reddit story micromanaging entitled people karma workplace bagels reddit thread excel entitled people
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