Employee Puts Toxic Boss in Place by Doing Exactly What He Asked, Even Though He Knew It Would Put the Company's Work in Jeopardy

One micromanaging boss can turn a routine job into a daily headache, especially when he has no idea how the work actually gets done. In this story, an employee in the pre-internet mailing business was pushed to follow a bad order that would cause serious problems for the company, and he decided to let the boss learn the hard way.

The setup is simple enough, a new manager was brought in through a favor, then immediately started questioning everything and overruling the people who knew the process. When he told OP to remove a permit box that was actually required, OP followed the instruction exactly and waited for the fallout.

What happened next cost the company a lot more than the boss expected, and the reactions were just as satisfying. Read on.

An employee smugly put their unqualified boss in place because they were tired of his micromanagement tendencies.

But instead of just quitting the job, they seized the perfect opportunity to devise a plan for revenge that would demonstrate to everyone in the company how dreadfully unqualified their boss is.

He worked with the catalogs and was responsible for mail sales. This was before the Internet boom.

They had to send their catalogs through a mailing service—because emails were just not a thing yet back then.

They had to manually handle everything, from sorting the catalogs to obtaining the required permits.

Now, here's where the story begins: a new boss was hired at the company as a favor to a friend from the higher-ups. He micromanaged everything right from the very start of his tenure and questioned everything the employees did.

That kind of setup usually ends badly for everyone involved.

Note that computers were still pretty much non-existent in offices during the setting of this story posted by OP. So everything had to be done with double the effort without the aid of technology.

OP had to manually handle almost everything.

Naturally, time was always tight.

He complained to the owner about the time constraints but failed to reach a compromise. So he decided to discuss it with the new boss, whom he referred to as Ron, but was met with a much ruder response.

The situation arose as summer was approaching.

And guess what? Because he thought he was right about everything, he asked OP to remove the "ugly permit box" because, in his eyes, it was unnecessary.

He had no idea that it was actually needed.

OP subtly asked him to initial the changes.

He knew what was coming, but he let the new boss discover the consequences for himself, since OP technically followed exactly what he asked.

That decision came back to bite him immediately.

It also echoes the AITA post where OP tossed a coworker’s lunch after repeated theft.

And yes, the catalogs couldn't be mailed. The new boss got angry.

But he couldn't exactly blame anyone else because it was his fault in the first place.

Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)

Now they're angry at OP. Like, really, really angry.

OP, on the verge of being fired, explained what happened.

50,000—that's enough to make our hands fall off!

As it turns out, what the boss did cost the company around $200K in total.

Fortunately, OP documented everything because they said goodbye to the new boss soon after that.

That paperwork made all the difference.

Take a look at people's reactions below:

People who used to work in the mailing business pre-Internet era also chimed in.

It's a habit many people should learn to adopt, honestly.

The boss messed up, that's what.

Indeed!

That would have been so satisfying.

Maybe it's because they were immediately placed in the boss position.

Something to live by.

Some bosses really do learn the hard way.

For another office meltdown, see the worker who confronted a coworker over stolen elaborate lunches.