Manufacturing company's product manager decides to quit after getting a bad review over vague expectations from his manager: ’This is my last straw tho and I will not tolerate this’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Feb 9, 2026 4:00 PM EST

Some companies pretend they are investing in you while quietly practicing emotional sabotage with a side of pencil‑pushing

Performance reviews are supposed to be about clarity and growth not about guessing what someone secretly wanted you to do after the fact. Here we have a product manager who entered a role with almost no onboarding apart from a couple of generic LinkedIn videos anyone could watch on their coffee break. 

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  • Bearded man sits at a table with a laptop, looking attentively at a woman during a face-to-face conversation in a bright office setting, with notebooks and computers on the desk suggesting a collaborative work discussion.
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  • I (33M) am a Product Manager at an engineering/manufacturing company. I was given a “below expectations” review. I don’t agree with it at all. AITH for deciding from this point on, I need to part ways with the company?

    I am an engineer by degree. Over the course of my ~10 year career, I've transitioned from engineering to project management to now Product Management.
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  • I moved to this role a little over a year ago. I was basically thrown right into it.
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  • Hardly any training or shadowing - only thing was some basic LinkedIn videos that pretty much anyone could just find on their own.
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  • My genuine self- assessment for myself is that, while it was a long process, I did genuinely consistently improve throughout the year.
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  • I am way more competent now than I was even a few months ago. I am able to see and understand how different different things are all intertwined and connected (pricing/cost decisions, sales feedback, MOQs, manufacturing efficiency, VOC, etc).
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  • I've been more proactive and am fully comfortable being the main point of contact. Every other department that I interact with, seems to be happy with my expertise and advice and they always appear satisfied with my responses.
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  • Man wearing a long-sleeve sweater works at a desk using a computer mouse and keyboard, focused on a screen in a modern office or laboratory environment with glass walls and equipment in the background.
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Whether I help them easily or if I can't, I give them their best course of action options.
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  • That all being said, I've really locked in and feel capable. I just had my performance review and I received "below expectations".
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  • I was genuinely surprised and do not agree with it. I scored myself "achieved" or "exceeds" for all 5 of my goals.
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  • It appeared that my manager would find and small thing to nitpick so that he could give an overall below rating for me.
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  • First and foremost, my revenue $ numbers were above my target by a few million. Naturally, I put exceeds.
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  • Over the year they actually did the work they learned the systems they connected the dots between pricing sales manufacturing and customer feedback and other departments consistently signal that they are happy with how things are going. Then comes the review and the manager fishes for microscopic flaws just to justify a “below expectations” rating that does not match any of the real‑world outcomes.  

  • He changed it to "Meets". Ok. Then I created an entire matrix scoring evaluation process from scratch for determining special case business opportunities.
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  • He at one point admitted it's very useful and works very well. So I felt confident that this could be my one "exceeds" goal.
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  • Nope - he gave me below! He said that I failed to do the final part of it, which was to inform another department of it.
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  • Which is fine. But we literally ran out of time in December, management was traveling, etc.
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  • Then another one was a LinkedIn training I was asked to do, late last year. There were 3 modules, all labeled beginner (job title), intermediate (MY job title), advanced (job title).
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  • Naturally, I worked thru the intermediate training for my job title... He could have accessed the portal to view my training anytime for about 2 months, but then he wait until my review to point out that I didn't complete it.
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  • I did... but in his mind I should have done both the intermediate AND the beginner for some reason.
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  • He never told me that, I had no idea. I just asked and he said, you were supposed to do both.
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  • I'm not the only one that has mentioned that he thinks things, but doesn't say them.
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  • The revenue numbers are above target but get downgraded. A matrix and evaluation process the manager once said was useful and effective gets marked below because one department did not hear about it yet as if the calendar suddenly stopped being a factor. A training that was supposed to be intermediate gets attacked for not also being beginner when the manager never told anyone that was the plan. The pattern is not about competence it is about control. The manager forgets things misremembers emails and then treats everyone else’s confusion as proof of incompetence instead of bad communication.  

  • And not to be rude, but I have noticed that he doesn't remember things very well.
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  • He needs lots of help with basic things like names, places, etc. but then the moment you don't know what he is thinking of, or what email he is referring to, he basically blames you and implies your ill prepared.
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  • I've realized that this is a great job/place for learning - I've learned a lot here.
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  • But it's a dead end role. The experienced employee I replaced, left abruptly because she had enough..
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  • The company then slaps on the investor hat. They sign the person up for a multi‑day boot camp worth serious money and say they want to help. It reads less like support and more like a last‑minute saline drip on a relationship that is already hospice. The employee is not refusing to grow they are refusing to keep running a maze where the walls move every time they get close to the cheese.

  • and now I realize why. I have had my fair share of bosses in my career and I honestly liked and got along with all of them.
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  • This one is an issue tho. They are saying they want to help me? Signing me up for trainings, taking multi day boot camps (I'm signed up for one in May for $2600.
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  • Of course they are not wrong for deciding this is it. They are just the person who finally realized that some offices are better traded than tolerated.

  • So they are investing in me. AITAH for deciding this is my last straw tho and that I will not tolerate this?
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  • DaDuchess-1025 Take the training if it will help you in a new position. Otherwise let them book it and give your notice a week before it starts. Edit to add if they ask why are you leaving tell them the experience has been below YOUR expectations and you've been looking since your review!
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  • GonzoTheGreat22 Not even gonna read it but NTA. You have all the right to move your career in any direction
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  • joesnowblade So it seems you need to add mind reader to you job description. Sounds like you have a solid grasp on your situation and abilities. I believe it may be time to bring those talents to where they may be better appreciated and recognized.
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  • dmmee It sounds like y'all don't have regular 1:1 meetings because your buffoon of a boss doesn't really care about your performance or your career advancement. It's very possible you intimidate him. Leaving will likely get you a pay raise. Just get something nailed down before you leave. The sad part is, wherever you go, management will likely end up the same eventually.
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  • Last_Past4438 nta - take advantage of any employer-paid classes they're offering. keep a list to mention while you are interviewing for a different job, because it's nice if you can highlight your effort to continuously gain skills and knowledge.
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  • Ashkendor My last manager used to do this. He "didn't believe in" giving people higher than three stars on their reviews because "then they don't have anything to strive for." The thing is, those scores directly impact the amount of your raises (when you actually get them, the company is notorious for pay/hiring freezes). After a while of busting my ass and going unrewarded, I just decided to be the employee he already thought he had. I stuck precisely to my job description, nothing more and not
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  • SuitableLeather This is one of the only moments where I would get HR involved. If you're going to get fired anyway you might as well try
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  • Training Tour7601 NTA. If they want to spend money on you, go for it and wring everything you can out of them. If the benefits are good and you like the company, and want to give it another year, put EVERYTHING in writing to your boss. Ask if whatever you completed met his expectations. If next review is the same, leave. If you are just Palin done right now, leave. Good luck!
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  • Even-Permit-2117 As someone in upper management my guess is you are actually doing amazing but you have a boss that is not. So your boss is threatened by you. You could take his job. So as long as he gives you poor reviews you won't advance.
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management workplace discussion employment issues boss workplace-stories hr resignation
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