'Micromanagement isn’t cheap': Manager demands detailed reports from IT consultant regarding their daily work, causing the company's IT bill to double

Getting what you asked for often proves how ridiculous your request was in the first place.

After you meet and deal with your first micromanager, you get to experience firsthand how much micromanaging doesn't make any sense. The more micro the manager gets, the less actual work gets done, but they never seem to come to that conclusion. They need the control, and they don't really care what they sacrifice to achieve it.

That is exactly the case in the story below. This IT consultant provides IT services to a few companies, charging by the day. Every day they work for a certain company costs a set price, and the consultant divides the weekdays according to how many companies they currently work with.

At one company, this IT consultant had the misfortune of working with a micromanager. This manager wanted to know everything the consultant does during their days with the company. He demanded full reports about their every action, basically as an excuse to throw his authority around. But here's the thing. If you force a worker to spend precious hours on meaningless reports, you are going to have to pay for it. At the end of the day, this IT consultant bills the company according to how many days they worked that month, and if they are forced to spend a big chunk of their days crafting reports for a micromanager, the company must pay for this waste of time.

It wasn't long before this manager's director noticed the doubled price of the IT consulting services and confronted the consultant about it. Luckily, the consultant was well prepared to prove that they were simply following the manager's directions. This left the director no choice but to put the manager in his place.

Micromanagement isn’t cheap

via No_Bit7786
via Getty Images

collaboration and analysis by business people working in modern office.
^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via Getty Images

young broker in formalwear listening to his colleague and making notes in notebook during interaction at meeting in cafe.
^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via No_Bit7786
via CotswoldP
via No_Bit7786
via Mad_Maddin
via No_Bit7786
via tsian
via No_Bit7786
via ZirePhiinix
via No_Bit7786
via algy888
All this consultant had to do was follow the orders they received, to ensure that this micromanager learned they shouldn't throw their authority around. This behavior has consequences, ones that the manager is now dealing with.
How would you have dealt with a situation like this? Would you have acted as the IT consultant and let the compliance do its thing, or would you have taken a different approach?