‘He created a bottleneck and blamed everyone else’: Project manager demands every request to admin assistant get his written approval, then forgets to approve any of them

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 26, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

You would think that working people would want to get the job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible, but that is often not the case. The key reason: Ego. 

People let their ego control their decision at work, and that often prevents others from actually working. Whether it's bosses, coworkers, or even project managers like the ones in the story below, if things are not getting done the way they want them to, they will go as far as standing in the way to get what they want.

That is what happened in the story below. Even though work was getting done and employees were happy about the flow, this project manager, Rick, had something else in mind. He wanted everything to go through him and demanded that any request from his employees would be submitted to him in writing. Then, he had to approve them himself before the admin assistant could keep going. The problem was that he forgot to approve any request, so for two weeks, the admin assistant couldn't do any of the work they usually did super quickly.

When the boss found out about this matter, they stepped in to make things right. Keep scrolling to read the full tale.

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  • 01
    Handing boss paperwork
    via thodonal

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

  • 02

    You want me to stop helping unless you formally request it? Okay.

    I'm an admin assistant for a small engineering company. I often help our junior engineers with formatting reports, printing large blueprints, etc.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 03
    I do it because it saves time, and they always appreciate it. Our new project manager, Rick, decided this was not efficient and said from now on, all requests must go through him in writing.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 04
    No casual favors, no helping unless he logs it officially. So I stopped helping. For two weeks, engineers were waiting days for simple print jobs and report formatting because Rick never submitted the requests.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 05
    Clients started calling wondering why deliverables were late. My boss finally asked what was happening. I pulled up Rick's policy memo.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 06
    Rick had to sit there while my boss read it, looked at him, and said: Then maybe you should start submitting requests, Rick.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 07
    We went back to normal the next day. I even got a coffee gift card from the engineers.
    via This_Pattern_4245
  • 08
    Woman Experiencing Fatigue at Work
    via shisuka

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

  • 09
    BusinessAnnual3238 it's always the Ricks. Every company has one creates a bottleneck and blames everyone else
    via BusinessAnnual3238
  • 10
    Intelligent-King-555 Sounds like Rick is spelt with a silent P....
    via Intelligent-King-555
  • 11
    Coder Joe1 So he requested the requests he requested?
    via CoderJoe1
  • 12
    Illuminatus-Prime This is the way. Do what you're told and wait for the spit to hit the spam.
    via Illuminatus-Prime
  • 13
    Frankjc3rd This reminds me of a meme, ן" don't know how to do your job but my book says you are were doing it wrong."
    via Frankjc3rd
  • 14
    LuckyWriter 1292 The boss should fire Rick - he is a waste of space.
    via LuckyWriter1292
  • 15
    obxgaga I was waiting to get Rickrolled.
    via obxgaga
  • 16
    subrimichi I really ask myself where they produce these self important "ricks"
    via subrimichi

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Tags

assistant boss workplace-stories employee manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace reddit story project manager overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny
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