Micromanager implements new policy requiring employees to notify management whenever they leave their desks, team maliciously complies by spamming micromanager's inbox: '[Their] mailbox was so full that even important emails were overlooked'

Working for a micromanager can be overwhelming, but if you play your cards right, you might be able to give them a taste of their own medicine.

This micromanager was not prepared for how her team was going to comply with her own new policy. Out of nowhere, upper management at this bank decided to be strict about the premium customer service team's productivity level. This was not based on any data suggesting that folks were not performing up to standards. It was purely anecdotal. Clearly, one day this micromanager needed to talk to someone while they were in the bathroom. So after that moment, she suddenly decided that everyone was shirking their responsibilities at work.

So what was the next move? Well, management decided to enforce a team-wide policy in which employees had to submit a report when they were going to be away from their desks. The customer service knew immediately that this would backfire, so all they needed to do was follow the rules to the exact letter. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from several members of this online community.

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  • Two businesswomen speak at a desk in a busy office environment.
    via Vitaly Gariev

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

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  • The team decided in that moment that moving forward, they would notify their micromanager every time they went to the bathroom, every time they needed to take a quick phone call, and every time they needed to temporarily leave their desks for a meeting or collaborative work with other employees. After a while, their micromanager's inbox was full of such unnecessary information that they started to miss the important emails coming in. That's what she gets for not anticipating a better solution…

  • "You accuse us of time theft and being unproductive? Then look forward to an inbox full of unnecessary reports."

    I work in premium customer service at a bank, where we serve the bank's higher-value customers. This usually gave us
    via ZZiggs124
  • more freedom because, unlike in traditional customer service, the focus is more on quality than quantity. However, since regular customer service team leaders took over the project, our
    via ZZiggs124
  • freedoms have become more restricted. We were accused of time theft because we didn't log out for two minutes to go to the bathroom. All of a sudden we had to report whenever we are not productive.
    via ZZiggs124
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  • Many of us were threatened with warnings that could lead to us losing our jobs, and even if we just needed to talk to other colleagues about a customer
    via ZZiggs124
  • case, we had to let them know, otherwise we could be accused of unproductive behavior. And well, we complied. A little too ambitious. Every time we went to the bathroom, we reported it to our project managers by email.
    via ZZiggs124
  • Every time we went to get a drink, we reported it. Every time we took a break, we reported it. Every time we talked to a colleague about a customer case,
    via ZZiggs124
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  • each of the two colleagues reported it separately to the project managers by email. Every time we left our computers, no matter what for, we reported it by email to the project managers'
    via ZZiggs124
  • mailbox. After a while, the project managers' mailbox was so full that even important emails were overlooked because there were too many of them. The project
    via ZZiggs124
  • managers were completely overwhelmed. And shortly afterwards, the rules were abolished again.
    via ZZiggs124
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  • Two colleagues discuss work at their desks in a busy office.
    via Vitaly Gariev

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

  • Hizere404 2h ago . Why do people, that are higher up in the chain, always think they know better? Something like a mandetory 6 months of working in the "low"end would show them whats good or bad :)
    via ZZiggs124
  • Bare-Knuckled 48m ago Premium customer service who delight high value customers are an important asset to any bank. Pissing them off is a bad idea because mass affluent and high net worth customers
    via ZZiggs124
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  • form deep bonds with them and if they discover they've left, they're likely to change over to whatever bank they end up at.
    via ZZiggs124
  • It amazes me how stupid micromanagers can be about strategy.
    via ZZiggs124
  • CoderJoe1 • 2h ago The term micromanager comes from their microscopic ability to manage people.
    via ZZiggs124
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  • GM_Solspiral · 2h ago There's a certain type of manager that thinks that everything can be evaluated by plugging some metrics into an excel spreadsheet.
    via ZZiggs124
  • They are blind monks thinking an elephant is a snake because they are only touching the trunk. Particularly with high end accounts the people side of the business is so much more important.
    via ZZiggs124
  • Striking-Mode55... .29m ago I used to install security cameras for a restaurant chain franchise and the Director of Operations said he wished he could get an alert every time the back
    via ZZiggs124
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  • door was opened. I stated I could have the system send an email and he was elated! It took him less than 90 minutes to ask me to stop the emails.
    via ZZiggs124
  • A businesswoman presents to her colleagues in a modern office meeting.
    via Vitaly Gariev

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

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micromanager work stories toxic-workplace malicious compliance work toxic-boss workplace workplace malicious compliance toxic-work-environment
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