Great managers help their employees thrive in the workplace: assist them with any problems they may face and encourage them to bring passion and innovation into their jobs. Sounds great, right? Sadly, not every leader wants their workers to become the best version of themselves. In fact, some even make their life a misery.

Imagine working next to a noisy room full of buzzing and chattering printers—that could get on anyone’s nerves. And that’s exactly what happened to user Magnus_40 when they got a summer job working for an electronics company in the ’80s. They shared their story on the r/PettyRevenge subreddit, telling how the noise drove them nuts and how their boss rejected every solution they suggested.

However, their colleague Bob decided to help out and proposed an improvement to the printing system. The manager saw the benefits and authorized it, not knowing it involves auto-insulting him hundreds of times a day. “Sometimes it’s the petty revenges that mean the most,” the author wrote, so make sure to read on for the full story.

An IT manager made this employee’s life a misery, so their colleague decided to help get back at him by coding an insulting message in the printer

Image credits: German Federal Archives (not the actual photo)

Feeling neglected and disrespected by your manager reflects not only on your work performance but also on your general well-being. Add to the equation being surrounded by intense noise, feeling tense and irritated, and thinking of several solutions that could improve the situation, only to be rejected “out of hand”.

The author of this story called the manager Richard “a real petty tyrant.” Demanding to leave the door open and rejecting the tech wizard Bob’s “remote Out Of Paper system” idea shows how little care Richard has for his employees. Sure, he didn’t hesitate to authorize Bob’s next idea but there’s a catch: “Dick was nominated for an innovation award … and accepted without acknowledging Bob.”

It seems that the manager is the kind of person who can easily get under someone’s skin, making the employees feel distracted and unhappy in their place of work. David N. Peck, partner and Head of Americas Coaching at Heidrick & Struggles, refers to this type of colleague as the “Minor Petty Tyrant.”

“Author Carlos Castaneda coined the phrase … to describe, in anthropological terms, “Tormentors who are fearsome and inflict misery, but do not hold any real power over life or death of others,” he explained.

While they may not hold much power to affect our lives, they can certainly cause harm. Peck said that this type of people can bring out the best and worst in us: “At our best with them, we gain strength by practicing boundaries, healthy choices, detachment from ego, and empathy for the pain of others. At our worst, they fuel our distraction, ongoing stress, frustration, anger, fear, dread, loathing, etc.”

If you enjoy your job and don’t see quitting as an option, it’s all about how to react to their poor attitude. First, dealing with petty tyrants daily can surely make our heads hurt but it’s easy to blame them instead of empathizing with them.

“They are in deep pain, or they wouldn’t have to inflict it on others. Their annoying behavior reflects their own struggle, and it’s truly sad,” Peck explained. Understanding that often their reactions are about them and not you “can lead you to feel more grounded and stable around them.”

Also, creating healthy boundaries can help you let go of your own feelings. “Get to know their specific behavior patterns that trigger you to become stressed, angry, or fearful, and master your own ability to be aware of those triggers in real time,” he wrote. And when it happens, you can tell yourself something like, “They’re under my skin (again), but I am not in danger. This feeling is not a fact, and I can let it go.”

However, when all else fails, and you are out of options, get help: “When you are at a loss, feel trapped/unable to deal with the situation in a healthy way, you must remember to ask for help from a trusted adviser, coach, mentor, friend, or someone else you think might offer a different perspective and help you make good choices.”

Here’s what Redditors had to say about the story

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