Manager gives employee a formal warning for following a protocol she created: ‘I wrote a detailed breakdown of every single violation’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Feb 21, 2026 10:00 AM EST

Narcissistic bosses tend to reprimand their employees for simply following orders.

Why is this a common phenomenon? Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that many poor-performing managers give bad orders. When they see the repercussions of those orders play out in front of them, they don't know how to handle it. So, instead of taking it like a champion and admitting their faults, they punish their employees instead. It's much easier to do, if you didn't know…

Take the boss in this story, for example. They are enforcing a rather unpopular protocol in the office, having to do with keeping employees' personal belongings off their desks. The employee doesn't want to write down their colleagues' "violations" each time they occur, but their boss insists. So, they follow the demands to the letter. The boss didn't like that one bit.

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  • A businessman writes notes down in a notebook while looking at his tablet.
    via Vitaly Gariev for Unsplash

    A businessman writes notes down in a notebook while looking at his tablet.

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

  • "A stupid policy was formed as an overcorrection, I was written up for enforcing it"

    A few years back I was a team lead in a call center for a bank.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • Our building was secure, but policy required any personal information for ourselves or customers be locked up along with the obvious things like passwords anytime we weren't at our desks.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • A separate compliance group would do random desk checks periodically and violations would result in a write up for the individual which also rolled up to leadership.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • Us team leads were responsible for completing the checks and were frustrated despite our being the ones responsible for the nightly desk checks.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • One of my peers had the suggestion that NO personal information, including photos, knickknacks, that sort of thing should be allowed out except for the small shelf everyone had in their cubicle.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • The person making this suggestion was a friend and was one of the closers who had to do these checks on a regular basis.
    via SomethingCleHver
  • was not and only had to do these on weekends. I said something to the effect of "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
    via SomethinCleHver

  • Though we don't condone “potty” mouth in the workplace, there are some instances where there is genuinely no replacement for it. If you're listening to a colleague spew idiocies, and they seemingly don't know just how terrible their ideas are, the moment might allow for some harsh critiques.

  • That's an overcorrection and no one is going to follow the policy and it's just making our jobs more difficult" I was written up the next day by my boss, who wasn't there, as \her\ boss was part of that discussion and wanted me disciplined.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • I observed nearly no one outside of my team was complying by their ridiculous policy. That Saturday when it was my turn for desk checks I wrote a detailed breakdown of every single violation.
    via SomethinCleHver

  • Enter malicious compliance. Writing down each violation is excessive, but that's exactly what you need to do in a situation like this. Spell it out in front of them, reveal just how flawed their idea is by executing exactly how they said it should be executed. This is a momentous occasion.

  • A man writes down information on a clipboard at work.
    via Mina Rad For Unsplash+

    A man writes down information on a clipboard at work.

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

  • There were dozens. I kept my feelings on the policy out and stuck to the facts.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • Cheezburger Image 10607287296
    via SomethinCleHver

  • And that, my friends, is why an egotistical boss will never gain the approval or respect of any of their subordinates. How does one demand respect from people they do not give it back to? If anything, they've just created a war that they won't be able to finish. 

  • ShadowDragon8685 Sounds like you need to take that "formal warning" along with a copy of the stupid policy to HR and tell them you are not taking kindly to being written up for [checks notes] following company policy.
    via ShadowDragon8685
  • OP SomethinCleHver This was all years ago but another post from this sub came up in my feed and reminded me of this incident. Previous contact with HR about inconsistent application of company or department policy didn't get me anywhere and I didn't have the energy to try again. Had it led to termination I'd have probably explored my options, but it didn't come to that.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • Scared_Hand902 So you enforced the policy... and got punished for it. Classic
    via Scared_Hand902
  • OP SomethinCleHver Yup! It's because of the reaction from a few days prior, but the communication was like any other email for a desk check violation. Typically there would be 0-3 at the end of a day on a Saturday. Due to the asinine new policy there were dozens. HR had already proven to be relatively worthless for this sort of thing, I got past the warning period and moved on with my career so I didn't push back on it any further. They silently reverted that change after this incident.
    via SomethinCleHver
  • NatashOverWorld Written up for what? Saying it was the dumbest king thing? Like, did your manager think she was a kindergarten teacher?
    via NatashOverWorld

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Tags

employee malicious compliance work Horrible Bosses workplace malicious compliance
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