The image of a tough and demanding boss is a true classic at this point. They’re always dressed in an amazing(ly expensive) suit, don’t say anything more or less, just enough to get the job done, no matter the tone they say it in, always on time…
These are some of the few fairy tale-esque fantasies about “tough” bosses, who are, in reality, just plain old abusive.
Today’s story is how a woman got karmic vengeance on a boss just like that by snatching a much better position out from under their nose.
More info: Reddit
No matter how good or how senior you are at your job, a bad manager will find some way to pick a bone with you
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual image)
The poster came to the antiwork community to share her sister's story about her abusive supervisor
Image credits: u/Ok_Spot_5629
Image credits: Keira Burton (not the actual image)
Over time, the manager got more and more abusive with the sister, so she quit and went to another company for the sake of her mental health
Image credits: u/Ok_Spot_5629
In time she and the now ex-manager applied to a better position in the company, but the poster's sister snatched up the job, leaving bad boss in the dust
The original poster of the story (OP) isn’t the person who went through all of it themselves, but rather that person’s sister, retelling the story of how their sibling would call them crying on most nights.
The tears were caused by OP’s sister’s manager, who, over her 10 years at the workplace, slowly became more and more abusive. It got so bad that on the week the sister had been in a car crash, the manager would still send her work, despite her condition being difficult, with her actually being off work.
Because of all the emotional strain, the sister accepted an offer at another company, quickly putting in her notice.
Nevertheless, the manager couldn’t get off her case even after she quit, as they would badmouth and belittle her to old coworkers, making fun of her new workplace.
Some time went by and the Head of Department position opened up at her new company, which the sister was a shoe-in for.
The now ex-manager also applied for that same position, but it was snapped up by the sister, showing that karma does sometimes smile on some and frown on others.
What’s even more amusing is that according to a comment by OP, the ex-manager would stalk her sister on LinkedIn, not realizing that it notifies when people are looking at your profile, so they got that extra satisfaction that the manager definitely knew who snatched up that job.
The idea of the “tough” boss is everywhere.
You see it in movies, where callous, rude, and, especially, plain old evil managers are the norm, portrayed as cool guys, doing whatever it takes to get ahead.
You also see it directly or not-so-directly in various Instagram hustle culture posts, which encourage people (especially young, impressionable men) to be cold, Patrick Bateman-like businessmen. Disrespecting and using others isn’t usually what’s written on the tin of these posts, but if you read between the lines, you’re likely to find it.
Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual image)
Now, abusive bosses come in many different shades. Some may be perfectly fine, but have a couple of odd quirks they demand people get ‘right’.
These quirks may even be beneficial to workers at times, with the managers being far more lax on some regulations (not saying that it’s a good thing overall, though).
They may also abuse their power in different ways. Some bosses can gaslight their workers, others may have totally unreasonable demands. In this list of management sins, micromanagement, constant and nonconstructive criticism, intimidation, and other types of manipulation are included.
The phenomenon has been analyzed in depth, with even a checklist having been created by researcher Bennett Tepper, which may help you check if your boss' behaviors are abusive.
There actually are ways that you can deal with a difficult boss, according to The Muse.
Once you’re sure that the supervisor is actually abusive, the first thing you could do is understand their motivations. When you figure out what sets them off and what they care about, it becomes easier to deal with them.
You should also try setting boundaries with them. Once work finishes, clock out. Don’t let them contact you after work or on days off, neither via mail or phone.
If you’ve got a paper trail of evidence, you should try to go up the ladder and report them to their supervisor or HR.
And finally, if that doesn’t help, the best thing you can do is quit that workplace and let your friends know what kind of management is accepted there.
The original post collected 7.3k upvotes and more than 150 comments. The community appreciated karma’s judgment and gave out support to OP’s sister.
Share your stories of bad managers in the comments below.
The community enjoyed the story, giving out support to the sister and trashing the manager
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov (not the actual image)
