You would think that a boss or manager needs to know what their employees actually do and why they do it. So it’s pretty sad that in the real world, there are way too many people in positions of power with only the slightest inkling of how things actually work. Fortunately, the internet is full of cases where managerial ignorance backfires spectacularly.

One internet user shared a story about a coworker who ended up losing their job after one such boss. A new manager decided that an experienced worker was not useful, so she decided to make him redundant. So on his way out, he maliciously complied with the organization’s strict data protection rules and showed her how his job worked the hard way.

Some bosses feel that if they can’t immediately understand what an employee’s role is, than they must not be doing anything useful

Image credits: Glenn Carstens-Peters (not the actual photo)

An experienced analyst for a health organization learned his new manager wanted him gone

So when he learned he was about to be let go, he decided to comply with the companies data security rules very thoroughly

Image credits: Iyus sugiharto (not the actual photo)

Soon the new manager learned the hard way why ‘Ted’ was necessary for the organization

Image credits: Firmbee.com (not the actual photo)

Image credits: littlewasknown

Managerial incompetence is frighteningly common, with predictable results

Image credits: bialasiewicz (not the actual photo)

‘Ted’ from this story was surprisingly lucky. He was close to retirement anyway and received over a year’s pay for his trouble. Many individuals quit or get fired by terrible managers and have no recourse. In the US, bad bosses are cited as the main reason employees quit in over half the cases looked at by Gallup. While this data might be a bit outdated now, since payment, or lack thereof, is becoming one of the most important points for workers, it’s still a considerable number of incompetent leaders.

This raises a longstanding question, how do such bad workers get positions of power? Managers get more privileges, payment, and prestige than most of their employees. Simultaneously, the Gallup statistics show that many are simply bad at their job. One would assume that a business needs to be run rationally, in the interest of profit. So you wouldn’t hire someone to do a job unless you were quite certain that they would do it effectively. But so many bosses have the opposite effect, all while taking higher salaries, and benefits and even causing problems for the day-to-day operations of the organization, as seen in this story and countless others.

High-performing employees don’t always have the people skills to manage well

Image credits: DragonImages (not the actual photo)

So how does this happen? Very often, well-performing employees will be first in line for promotions. But technical skills often do not at all translate into interpersonal skills. Even worse, the traits that make someone a salesperson of the year might also make them an insufferable boss. Studies have shown that narcissists often end up in positions of power since they feel a strong compulsion to manage their appearance and status. So outwardly, they can seem confident, competent, and well-put together. But working with or under a narcissist is a horrible experience. The old cliché applies here if you want to see what a person is really like, watch how they treat their inferiors.

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One way companies can fight this is to tone down the importance, both literal and symbolic, of managers. Titles, massive salaries, and executive perks might be necessary to attract competent individuals to your company, but, at the end of the day, much of the actual work will be done by employees. Quality, motivated employees remove much of the work managers would be doing in the first place. And above-market salaries for ‘regular’ jobs are less likely to attract narcissists who just want another reason to brag on their LinkedIn profile.

Commenters shared their sympathy with how ‘Ted’ was treated and OP gave some extra details about the event

Others laughed at ‘Sally’s’ incompetence and wondered how these people got their jobs in the first place

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Some shared similar experiences with clueless managers and the disasters they create

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