FAIL Blog

terrible-management

'You can't fire me; you should fire her instead': Employee gets boss fired during HR disciplinary hearing designated for himself

'You can't fire me; you should fire her instead': Employee gets boss fired during HR disciplinary hearing designated for himself

When management fails to step up and do what is required of them to create a change in an employee's behavior, you bet it won't go unnoticed, even if by the employee themselves. In this case, an employee we'll call Ivan was the type of hopeless that not even a boot camp could fix, and the only employee more hopeless than him was his own boss, who we'll call Karen. Ivan was called into a disciplinary hearing by HR along with OP, Karen, and a few other employees after having 50 complaints filed a…
View List
'You can't use your work phone unless you're on the clock': Company suffers drop in production following employees' conformance to new guidelines, HR fails to mediate

'You can't use your work phone unless you're on the clock': Company suffers drop in production following employees' conformance to new guidelines, HR fails to mediate

It's quite something when incompetent leadership and management destroy initiative and morale. In this case, OP was working at a job that required a lot of communication and coordination. Often, a lot of things required from them were time-sensitive. The employees all had a work phone, which they would use for work calls outside of work hours, as well. One day, the company decided to forbid its employees from using their work phones outside of work. They would use scare tactics to make sure the…
View List
Advertisement
boss workplace-stories employee toxic-workplace workplace-story malicious compliance revenge malicious-compliance-reddit quit horrible boss workplace Horrible Bosses terrible-management - 20197125

'Sure thing boss': Insurance worker told to just do their job, makes sure customers are covered

At some point in your life, your boss might ask you to do something that isn't entirely ethical (and possibly not entirely legal either), and it will be up to you to decide whether you will follow that demand. But, when your boss inadvertently gives you the authority to go against the business's policy and do the right thing, you might be more than happy to comply—especially if you don't like your job all that much in the first place. That's the chance that this worker had at the medical insura…
View List
'I stopped working overtime. Then I quit’: Employee hands in resignation after boss says he's ‘slacking off’ despite working unpaid overtime

'I stopped working overtime. Then I quit’: Employee hands in resignation after boss says he's ‘slacking off’ despite working unpaid overtime

Working overtime often goes unappreciated in companies whose only concern is that you follow strict guidelines that were put in place for the sole reason of creating obedient little soldiers who march to their intended tune. In other words, you're a worker bee, working tirelessly within a system, who cannot physically retaliate to these unfair work conditions because stinging would result in an early grave. In this case, an employee, OP, decided to maliciously comply with his boss, who kept cal…
View List
Top Coworker Memes for Understaffed Teams of Employees With One Foot Out the Door (May 3, 2023)

Top Coworker Memes for Understaffed Teams of Employees With One Foot Out the Door (May 3, 2023)

Claiming overtime gives us brief jolts of joy when receiving our monthly paycheck, but the reason for said overtime is that we're seriously understaffed, so although we can hear the cha-ching of dollar bills entering our sad accounts, our sanity has slowly declined. Employees have been complaining about this lack of manpower for longer than they care to remember, and although bosses around the globe have continuously assured everyone that there will be new hires, it's simply not happening.
View List
Advertisement
management boss workplace-stories toxic-workplace workplace-story manager malicious compliance workplace Horrible Bosses terrible-management - 20248581

'I am in dress code': Boss shortsightedly bans shorts but not kilts

Rules are usually there for a reason, but sometimes that reason is that a middle manager was bored and didn't have any actual work to do to pass the time. https://amp.cheezburger.com/20248581/i-am-in-dress-code-boss-shortsightedly-bans-shorts-but-not-kilts This worker was told off for wearing shorts to work by their new boss. They went home and consulted the employee handbook and were disappointed to find that the defined dress code backed up the boss's tirade. However, the dress code said noth…
View List
'I got a disciplinary hearing; he got fired': New manager made redundant following absurd orders he gave employee

'I got a disciplinary hearing; he got fired': New manager made redundant following absurd orders he gave employee

New managers tend to make the same, common mistake of entering a workplace and attempting to prove themselves by ‘bettering the environment’, usually by changing policies that actually work. What then follows is a string of mistakes that either cost the company good employees, a lot of money, or the ‘environment’. In this case, a small AV company that dealt with thousands of NEC displays a year hired a new general manager who had absolutely no idea what he was doing, per usual. The employee in…
View List
'I got fired for speaking up': Tyrannical boss fires employee for protesting working conditions, employee reports boss to DOL, boss gets fired and closes shop

'I got fired for speaking up': Tyrannical boss fires employee for protesting working conditions, employee reports boss to DOL, boss gets fired and closes shop

This story is about a fellow advocate of the working class who was working at an automotive repair shop as a tech guy; unfortunately suffering from the shenanigans of his tyrannical boss, who would constantly yap at him and his fellow coworkers for a variety of unfair reasons. Eventually, OP realized that this was not the kind of environment he wanted to work in, so he gave in his two-week notice over the phone. This proved to be a mistake, as his boss had a total meltdown, resulting in him bei…
View List
Advertisement
‘Welcome to the Loonies Playground’ : Top Tone-Deaf LinkedIn Lunatics

‘Welcome to the Loonies Playground’ : Top Tone-Deaf LinkedIn Lunatics

Bla bla bla
View List
'My boss snubbed me after I saved the company $45,000' : Boss refuses to promote burnt out employee despite increased profit margins, leads to malicious compliance, boss gets made redundant

'My boss snubbed me after I saved the company $45,000' : Boss refuses to promote burnt out employee despite increased profit margins, leads to malicious compliance, boss gets made redundant

Managers often have the tendency of getting employees to jump through hoops in hopes of getting promoted, then don't end up delivering. This employee did so much extra work that she actually saved the company $45,000, but alas, she was told she was still not ‘deserving’ of a promotion. In other words, even if you do a good job, it's not good enough. Fed up, OP decided enough was enough, because if the company was saving $45,000 but still couldn't ‘afford to give OP a raise’, then why bother put…
View List
20+ Memes of the Week for Work Wardens Who Roast Their Coworkers (March 22, 2023)

20+ Memes of the Week for Work Wardens Who Roast Their Coworkers (March 22, 2023)

When in doubt, don't ask your Karen coworker, or so I've been told. In fact, stay as far away from her (or him, we don't discriminate against Karens around here) as you can. Sure, your team may be severely understaffed, but it's the rule of thumb, so no cheating. On top of the fact that you're overworked because of said lack of employees, you also aren't making close enough to what you should be making. Why? Because companies are greedy, bosses don't like promoting good workers, and all in all,…
View List
Advertisement
'You don't understand business' : Employee reports mechanical manufacturing problems, gets ignored by terrible boss, leading to malicious compliance and loss of $300,000 in company profits

'You don't understand business' : Employee reports mechanical manufacturing problems, gets ignored by terrible boss, leading to malicious compliance and loss of $300,000 in company profits

The person with the most mechanical knowledge is usually the person who is running the machine, but this boss didn't seem to think so. What led to this mess was the fact that this same boss refused to do regular maintenance on the (expensive) machine, so it began breaking down, as expected. An employee tentatively approached him, explaining that the company was going to lose a lot of money if they didn't shut it off in order to fix it. This advice fell on deaf ears.
View List
'Sorry Karen, I don't do work I'm not compensated for' : Delusional customer calls employee's manager after being refused service from employee on break

'Sorry Karen, I don't do work I'm not compensated for' : Delusional customer calls employee's manager after being refused service from employee on break

It's almost alarming how many customers assume it's their right that an employee drops everything to help them, whether the employee is on break, off the clock, or busy helping another customer. This was Karen's assumption as well, as she scoured the store for someone wearing what resembled a uniform. This same Karen expected a retail worker to help her, even though the worker was on break. She took offense when told that, and went straight to the manager, as any good old Karen would do. There…
View List
'Save £80 on flight cost? No problem, pay £1000 instead' : Employee plays petty game of malicious compliance with incompetent boss who attempts to cut travel costs on work trip

'Save £80 on flight cost? No problem, pay £1000 instead' : Employee plays petty game of malicious compliance with incompetent boss who attempts to cut travel costs on work trip

Put incompetent management and a travel budget in the same room, and this will be the result. This man's company wanted to save £80 on a work trip he had to go on, and being one of the biggest security companies in the world, they could have easily absorbed the cost, no question. But alas, someone in the head office wanted to talk a big game, and look good, possibly to get that promotion they so dearly desired. So they looked at cutting travel costs and changed OP's flight. Apparently, this per…
View List
Advertisement
'Now I have to bring these to the contracting officer' : Boss flips out after he sees employee's vacation expense reports, even though they are well within company budget

'Now I have to bring these to the contracting officer' : Boss flips out after he sees employee's vacation expense reports, even though they are well within company budget

The unspoken rule that it's against company policy to have fun is not always so unspoken… One man completed 4 years of contract work to the US Army in Germany, and at the end of said contract, was homeless as he and his family waited for their household goods to arrive back in the States. The company authorized a rate for the hotel he would stay at in the following thirty days. He figured out budget-wise what he could and couldn't do, and took his family to visit EuroDisney in Paris, staying in…
View List
‘HR emailed me about a bug in the ERP system, and I wished them good luck’ : Employee maliciously complies with boss after he tells him to stick to his 'job title'

‘HR emailed me about a bug in the ERP system, and I wished them good luck’ : Employee maliciously complies with boss after he tells him to stick to his 'job title'

The correct response to an employee doing good work outside of their job title is ‘thank you’, but there was one supervisor who has apparently lived under a rock his whole life, instead getting mad at an employee who did exactly that. See, this employee was working at a construction company, his job title being related to inventory. He quickly became good at it and took it upon himself to study the company's cloud-based ERP service that they used for all internal and external transactions. He q…
View List
1 2