20 Times People Realized That They Were Actually Working For A Complete Idiot Disguised As Their Boss

It's kind of a given that in life, the smart people who always seem determined and persistent about reaching their goals will inevitably achieve some sort of success in their prime. It's really admirable for these hard-working, ambitious individuals to never back down from any opportunity that would enable them to elevate their careers and personal growth—because that's just what they are: fearless and diligent.

However, there are some people who have reached success and are already the CEOs and bosses of successful companies that will make you scratch your head about how they actually got there. When you experience working for them firsthand, they often say or do questionable things that make you rethink whether they are actually as intelligent as everyone believes they are. It's truly a wonder how so many incompetent people have managed to claw their way up to the pedestal—or perhaps they have simply been handed their positions due to connections and family privilege.

That being said, when a user with the handle u/ColossusXT asked, "Employees of Reddit, how did you first find out your boss was actually just an idiot who makes more money than you?", people were, of course, quick to jump in and share their own stories; proving, once and for all, that incompetent bosses are far too numerous in this world for our liking.

Check out some of the best responses in the thread:

1. "When he told me instead of taking my new higher-paying job, I should just work more hours at my current one for him."

- Lauer99

energepic.com

2. "She has no idea about basic 101 things related to our industry that a fresh intern could demonstrate on the spot."

Now, every job I do, I have to explain from the beginning what it is, why we’re doing it, and why it’s important. She nods, makes an “insightful” comment, then forgets it completely. I’m the only one on my team with actual experience in certain areas and naturally have to do all the work in those areas. When it comes time for credit, it’s a “team effort” where she led from the front. - forumdestroyer156Canva Studio

3. "I worked for a production company that never put a dollar into advertising our products."

- PokyCivi

Eleni Afiontzi

4. "Spends money on “fun events” instead of hiring people when we are severely understaffed."

- Wazards

Greyson Joralemon

5. "Once I told my boss I was 1/3 done with the work I had to do..."

He said, “Well, you better hurry; the others said they had finished 1/6 of the work.”He walked away, and I just stared at him for a few seconds.

- Queen_lucya

6. "When she told me I should have no problem with this new task because 'it's not rocket science.'"

Also, she says “pacifically.” ? - TheRealWookyMonsterGlenn Carstens-Peters

7. "The time he got really b***hy/passive-aggressive a few months after he hired me, which finally boiled over when he got mad and said, 'I HIRED YOU BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO RUN THIS COMPANY FOR ME!'"

I’m a graphic designer, by the way.

- Axl_Bundy

Timothy Exodus

8. "My manager (*a woman* who’s in nursing school) thought that women were pregnant for 12 months."

- birb_in_disguisenastasiia Chepinska

9. "I told my boss that since he wouldn’t listen to me, we needed an industrial engineer to make our department/machine more efficient."

He said, “No way in hell are we bringing in an engineer.” Three weeks later, my company hired an engineer, and when they came to our department, the engineer asked him what he wanted to do differently. He froze, turned, and said, “Well, let’s go talk to Themonkeymen; he’s worked here a long time; he knows what needs to be done.” … This boss makes at least double my salary, if not more. - TheMonkeyMencottonbro

10. "I write “: )” on papers I grade for a professor..."

He accused me of writing slurs in my native language, even though it’s just a f*****g smiley face. - aRationalShillDomingo Alvarez E

11. "When they fired the woman who did HR (she wasn’t qualified for it and had no training to do it, so whatever), and I overheard the owner/boss having this conversation with a co-worker."

Boss: “So, what is HR anyway?”Co-Worker: “Human Resources.”B: “Yeah, but, like, what do they do?”CW: “Well, they take care of employee conflicts, deal with internal complaints, stuff like that.”B: “Well, we don’t need that. Besides, you can do that.”So now we don’t have HR, and as a bonus, the co-worker they were talking to deals with conflict by telling people to “fill out a hurt feelings report.” And yes, it is a family-owned/operated business.

-davidmitchellseyes

Pablo Varela

12. "When they wanted to charge $30 for 4 items and $70 for 8."

- anon

Artem Beliaikin

13. "When I created functions for similar procedures instead of copying & pasting the exact same code & modifying it in various spots throughout the program."

“What if we hire a developer who doesn’t know how to use functions?”Then we shouldn’t have f*****g hired them.

-FoleyX90

Florian Olivo

14. "Asks me to do stuff that helps no one or makes nothing better. He has us doing things that he literally can’t explain why."

- Lufernaal

energepic.com

15. "My boss thinks he is a programmer."

(SQL) He told me he did not like that I have one table that contains both active and inactive computers with a field that indicates active/inactive and told me (demanded) that I should create two tables, one for each computer state.

-LeftChoux

16. "Oh, he straight up told me he didn’t know what he was doing and was glad I was hired so I could do all the complex stuff."

Good guy to work for; he trusted me to handle the very technical side while he took care of the simple projects and kept idiot managers off my back. -zerbeyAndrea Piacquadio

17. "Dropped a ton of cash renting art from a museum’s art bank for our (decrepit Chinatown) office."

Then didn’t have money to pay salaries. - Peregrine2976Dom J

18. "He couldn’t do basic math while pretending to have a master's degree."

Couldn’t use Excel either… - abad84

19. "My manager told me to mop the breakroom floor..."

I did. She freaked out that it was slippery (two seconds after I was done). - necrocripplePixabay

20. "I had a boss once who refused to register to vote because she didn’t want jury duty and then got jury duty because that’s not the only way they pick."

She ended up serving for a week. - adeinerElement5 Digital

It's really bittersweet to know and realize that you might even be better and more intelligent than the person you are working for because it's kind of unfair that they get to be paid or earn so much more than you do, even when they're not doing anything significant. But even with their convoluted thinking, you can't help but be in awe of how they managed to secure their position in the first place, especially when it clearly didn't come from inheritance.

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