Manager ignores employee's written requests, then blames everyone else for work mistakes, leading employee to confront him in front of client: ‘I stopped letting vague instructions become my responsibility’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jul 25, 2026 5:15 PM EDT

Is it really that important to ensure you have written proof of everything important you are told to do at work?

Anyone who has worked under a boss or a manager will tell you the answer is always "absolutely yes, always document everything."

Why, you ask? Well, because managers don't love to be held accountable for their mistakes, so if they get a chance to pin them on someone else, they will take it without a blink of an eye. All you can do to keep it from happening to you is to have as much proof as possible that you did your job right. That proof can only be explicitly written.

Which leads us to how collecting these proofs should be done: Basically, every time your boss gives you a task or a note, you should go to your email, start a new one, repeat the boss's instructions, and ask for confirmation. Don't make any drastic changes without said confirmation. That way, even if your boss asks you why this one task didn't get done, you can pull up that email and show them that they never confirmed execution.

That was how the employee below got their manager to finally start replying to written requests. At first, the boss only gave vague instructions verbally, so if something went wrong he could pin it on his employees, while they had no way to prove that it happened differntly that how he described it. After taking the blame one too many times, the employee decided it was time to teach the manager a lesson and took it upon themselves to make a change. So, instead of following the boss's vague verbal instructions, the employee asked for confirmation via email. They obviously didn't get a response back, so they didn't do what the boss asked, and when it was time to present the presentation to the client, there was clear proof of the boss's lack of communication.

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  • Business meeting with a client.
    via Getty Images

    Business meeting with a client.

    Subjects are models.

  • My manager kept ignoring written requests, so I made him answer one in front of the client

    I had a manager who hated answering written questions.
    via MarblePetric
  • If you asked him something in person, he would give vague instructions. If the project later went wrong, he would say he had meant
    via MarblePetric
  • something else. If you emailed him for clarification, he usually ignored it. After getting blamed twice for following unclear verbal
    via MarblePetric
  • instructions, I stopped accepting hallway answers. On one project, he told me to remove a section from a
    via MarblePetric
  • client report because he thought it made the numbers look worse. I asked him to confirm by email because the section was
    via MarblePetric
  • part of the original client scope.He ignored the email. The next day, during the client review, he asked why the section was still there.
    via MarblePetric
  • He started implying that I had missed his instruction. So I opened tthe email chain on the screen and said, "I left it in because I
    via MarblePetric
  • asked for written confirmation to remove scoped work and never received approval."
    via MarblePetric
  • Work meeting.
    via Getty Images

    Work meeting.

    Subjects are models.

  • The client immediately asked why scoped work was being considered for removal.
    via MarblePetric
  • My manager had to explain the reasoning himself, in real time, without being able to pretend the decision had been mine.
    via MarblePetric
  • After that meeting, he suddenly became much more willing to answer written questions.
    via MarblePetric
  • I did not raise my voice or accuse him of anything. I just stopped letting vague instructions become my responsibility.
    via MarblePetric
  • u2125mike2124 ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, CYA with management, especially ones who don't follow procedure
    via u2125mike2124
  • No_Blackberry5879 An email response to your question is a recorded of his intentions or actions. It would be easier for him to deny they did
    via No_Blackberry5879
  • anything wrong or throw someone else under the bus if there's no evidence of it. Supreme job on calling him out on it publicly
    via No_Blackberry5879
  • SugaKookie69 It's really about time we start holding these mediocre men in management positions accountable.
    via SugaKookie69

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Tags

boss workplace-stories employee manager job email tales-from-the-workplace client mistakes workplace bad bosses company
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