‘I'll keep my mouth shut’: Boss demands employee stay silent during project presentation, trying to take credit for employee's work, VP puts boss in her place

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Dec 9, 2025 1:00 PM EST

At work, more often than not, you do not get the proper credit you deserve for the hard work you put in. You can spend countless hours at work, even lose sleep on a certain project, and never even get a pat on the back after you hand it in.

What's even worse than not getting proper credit is to be forced to sit back and watch as someone else takes that credit instead, like the boss in the story below. Not only was she not properly appreciative of her employee's hard work on a project, but she actually demanded that they stay quiet during the project presentation. She wanted to get all the credit for a job she actually had not part it.

The funny thing that happens almost every time someone tries to take credit and present a project they took no part in is that it becomes quite clear as soon as they open their mouth. So when the VP in the story below asked the boss questions during the presentation, everyone there became fully aware that the boss didn't have any idea what she was talking about…

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  • Woman Presenting at the Office
    via Kampus

  • Sure; I’ll keep my mouth shut

    This happened years ago but it still makes me grin, Grinch-style. I was working on a really big project at the time.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • The VP was aware that I was the main resource on the project, so he included me in the status meetings.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • My manager did NOT like that; she didn't want anyone else getting any kind of recognition for the project.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • so I was instructed to sit there and keep my mouth shut. The next status meeting came around and I did just what she told me to do: I sat there, taking notes and saying nothing...
    via VisionAri_VA
  • right up until the VP started asking questions about project details, which she couldn't answer because she was the only person attached to the project who did not actually \work\ on the project.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • She was furious but what could she do? After that disaster, I was allowed to attend \and\ participate.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • BlitzAceSamy So your VP knew you were the main resource of the project so included you in the status meetings, but directed questions to your manager who couldn't answer, and then just not redirect those questions at you, instead allowing you to stay silent at your manager's expense? Were your VP aware of the shit your manager was trying to pull or something?
    via BlitzAceSamy
  • The New Buying Funnel sales A-A sales -awareness -interest Consideration intent walvation rchase sales
    via FatCamera

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

  • OP VisionAri_VA I don't think the VP really liked her (hardly anyone did, tbf), so I suspect he enjoyed putting her on the hot seat.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • likeablyweird Was your manager punished in any way by VP? That would've been glorious. Or was it a lesson for her and she became more knowledgeable about projects in her queue? What if every time the VP heard her name attached to a project, he asked to speak to the people who were Really doing the job. Hehe.
    via likeablyweird
  • OP VisionAri_VA He punctured her inflated ego by letting her look stupid, lol.
    via VisionAri_VA
  • Frogsama86 I was put on a project to provide field related assistance. Guy in charge was not happy, and sent an email to keep my opinions to myself(had not even said. anything yet). A few weeks later I noticed that his draft had some flaws. I said nothing and it ended up costing 15k to rectify. Department head who put me on the project asked if I saw it, to which I confirmed. Showed him the guy's email and the head ripped the guy a new one.
    via Frogsama86
  • robjeffrey I have seen this play out as a third party in many project meetings. It's very clear to everyone what is going on and I love sharing a smile with the actual silent adult in the room.
    via robjeffrey
  • Imaginary-Yak-6487 I've had this happen me too. Just sat there with my shut. I'm a community manager for an apartment complex & have been in this industry for almost 20 years. I've been at my current site for almost 12 years. I know a little bit. I try to help as much as I can when asked. But... Sometimes a new regional comes in not knowing a damn thing about what's going on or even trying to learn about their own portfolio, site staff & treating us like 5 yr olds in a condescending, patronizing
    via Imaginary-Yak-6487
  • Coder Joe1 Either her mind reading failed or your telepathic communication is on the fritz.
    via CoderJoe1
  • BrainWaveCC I had a related situation to this one. I had a relatively new boss in a merged org, who was a huge gatekeeper for everything that pertained to the part of the org they had been from. They were quite successful in keeping me away from any contact with key players in that part of the org -- in fairness, I wasn't trying to do more work if no one wanted me to do more work. Then they were away from work from one full month, and in that time, people who had needs decided to reach out to me
    via BrainWaveCC
  • No_Group5174 I joined a team as the most junior project engineer (but closest to the work) but was still invited to customer meetings. The boss was happy for me to jump in and answer a customer's questions. He had two rules. "No lying to the customer and the responsibility for what you say being correct is on your head". The customer confided that our project was his favourite as he could rely on what he was being told. He was very forgiving and would work with us when things went wrong. Best jo
    via No_Group5174
  • nicksteron Many times yes, when leadership sees and lets so called leaders hang themselves, it is impressive.
    via nicksteron
  • Flicksterea I've had similar experiences wherein a business leader wanted to look knowledgeable and specified to me that she would handle the Q&A with a potential new client. Idiot woman couldn't answer their questions. I could have but she was very specific about my not answering. I still laugh about this years later!
    via Flicksterea

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job presentation tales-from-the-workplace vp ceo project overworked-employees workplace company funny
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