Work

Just because someone runs a company doesn&#39;t mean they know what they&#39;re doing, or anything at all. If we didn&#39;t learn this from watching The Office, we&#39;ve probably learned it at some point in the workforce. There&#39;s a reason Michael Scott resonated with so many people who&#39;ve had to take orders from an incompetent person who makes more money than they do.<h2>In a popular thread, someone <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/e9afbt/employees_of_reddit_how_did_you_first_find_out/" target="_blank">asked</a>: &quot;Employees of Reddit, how did you first find out your boss was actually just an idiot that makes more money than you?&quot;</h2>These 19 people share their stories of dealing with higher management who had no idea what they were doing:1.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Lauer99/">Lauer99</a>:<blockquote> When he told me instead of taking my new higher paying job I should just work more hours at my current one for him. </blockquote>The &quot;gift of gab&quot; can get you far...2.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/olivia0207/">olivia0207</a>:<div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> When I worked in construction, the director was a guy who couldn&#39;t use Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Like at all. He couldn&#39;t even (or wouldn&#39;t even) open a blank page. He also didn&#39;t know what sequence design worked, didn&#39;t know what piles were, and read contracts on the fly. </blockquote><blockquote> He just had a very commanding presence and talked like a politician. But you talked to him about details for 10 minutes and you learned he didn&#39;t know SH*T. Like he seriously bullsh*tted his entire career with gift of gab. </blockquote>3.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/birb_in_disguise/">birb_in_disguise</a>:<blockquote> My manager (woman who&rsquo;s in nursing school) thought that women were pregnant for 12 months. </blockquote>4.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/adeiner/">adeiner</a>:<blockquote> I had a boss once who refused to register to vote because she didn&rsquo;t want jury duty and then got jury duty because that&rsquo;s not the only way they pick. She ended up serving for a week. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>5.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Peregrine2976/">Peregrine2976</a>:<blockquote> Dropped a ton of cash renting art from a museum&#39;s art bank for our (decrepit Chinatown) office. Then didn&#39;t have money to pay salaries. </blockquote>6.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Axl_Bundy/">Axl_Bundy</a>:<blockquote> The time he got really bitchy/passive aggressive a few months after he hired me which finally boiled over when he got mad and said &quot;I HIRED YOU BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO RUN THIS COMPANY FOR ME!&quot; I&#39;m a graphic designer by the way. </blockquote>7.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/davidmitchellseyes/">davidmitchellseyes</a>:<blockquote> When they fired the woman who did HR (she wasn&#39;t qualified for it, and had no training to do it so whatever), and I overheard the owner/boss have this conversation with a co-worker. Boss: &quot;So, what is HR anyway?&quot; </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> Co-Worker: &quot;Human Resources&quot; B: &quot;Yeah, but, like, what do they do?&quot; CW: &quot;Well, they take care of employee conflicts, deal with internal complaints, stuff like that&quot; </blockquote><blockquote> B: &quot;Well, we don&#39;t need that. Besides, you can do that&quot; So now we don&#39;t have HR, and bonus, the co-worker they were talking to deals with conflict by telling people to &quot;fill out a hurt feelings report&quot;. And yes, it is a family owned/operated business. </blockquote>8.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/aRationalShill/">aRationalShill</a>:<blockquote> I write &quot;: )&quot; on papers I grade for a professor. He accused me of writing slurs in my native language even though it&#39;s just a f**king smiley face. </blockquote>9.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/_AlternativeSnacks_/">_AlternativeSnacks_</a>:<blockquote> It wasn&#39;t one big light bulb moment so much as my constantly having to advise him on how to run the office or implement a procedure or use or software.... he&#39;s a glorified babysitter. Love the guy to death but not as a boss. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>10.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/necrocripple/">necrocripple</a>:<blockquote> My manager told me to mop the breakroom floor. I did. She freaked out that it was slippery (two seconds after I was done). </blockquote>11.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Queen_lucya/">Queen_lucya</a>:<blockquote> Once I told my boss I was 1/3 done with the work I had to do He said &quot;well you better hurry the others said they has finishes 1/6 of the work&quot; He walked away and I just stared at him for a few seconds </blockquote>12.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheMonkeyMen/">TheMonkeyMen</a>:<blockquote> I told my boss since he wouldn&rsquo;t listen to me we needed an industrial engineer to make our dept/machine more efficient. He said, &ldquo;no way in hell are we bringing in an engineer.&rdquo; 3 weeks later my company hired an engineer and when they came to our Dept the engineer asked him what he wanted to do differently he froze turned and said, &ldquo;well let&rsquo;s go talk to [my name] he&rsquo;s worked here a long time he knows what needs to be done.&rdquo; ... this boss makes at least double my salary if not more </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>13.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Lufernaal/">Lufernaal</a>:<blockquote> Asks me to do stuff that helps no one or makes nothing better. He has us doing stuff that he literally can&#39;t explain why. </blockquote>14.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/abad84/">abad84</a>:<blockquote> He couldn&rsquo;t do basic math while pretending to have a master. Couldn&rsquo;t use Excel either... </blockquote>15.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FoleyX90/">FoleyX90</a>:<blockquote> When I created functions for similar procedures instead of copying &amp; pasting the exact same code &amp; modifying it in various spots throughout the program. &quot;What if we hire a developer that doesn&#39;t know how to use functions?&quot; Then we shouldn&#39;t have f**king hired them. </blockquote>16.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/forumdestroyer156/">forumdestroyer156</a>:<div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> 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&#39;re doing it and why it&#39;s important. She nods, makes an &quot;insightful&quot; comment, then forgets it completely. I&#39;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 the credit, it&#39;s a &quot;team effort&quot; where she led from the front. </blockquote>17.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/thisisntrealnope/">thisisntrealnope</a>:<blockquote> Boss at a pool was proud that she managed to convince the health inspector to let us stay open when the chlorine levels were well over the allowed amount </blockquote>18.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheRealWookyMonster/">TheRealWookyMonster</a>:<div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> When she told me I should have no problem with this new task because &quot;it&#39;s not rocket scientist&quot;. Also, she says &quot;pacifically&quot;. 🙄 </blockquote>Suits + briefcases do not = intelligence19.) From <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sleepingbeardune/">sleepingbeardune</a>:<blockquote> I was a 20-something woman in a Mormon-owned company with a lot of branches. All the bosses were guys and all the office workers were women, and I was an anomaly ... from out of state, not Mormon, educated in math, neither boss nor secretary. Before this, I&#39;d only had waitress jobs. </blockquote><blockquote> So I was in a lot of meetings with all the guys in their nice suits, excited to be allowed to do real work. It was like, 1980. It took about 10 minutes of the first meeting to realize that of the 8 or 9 guys around the conference table, only 2 or 3 were sharp. Another 2 or 3 were average, and the rest were just putting in time. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> The big boss, who had hired me, was an absolute moron. Unable to follow an argument if his life depended on it, which it didn&#39;t. I found out later that he&#39;d married into the family that held this company, and the branch he was &quot;running&quot; was the most established and easiest to manage. </blockquote><blockquote> But I have a clear memory, 40 years later, of looking around that room with utter bewilderment. My folks were very working class, and I&#39;d never questioned the assumption that the guys who wore suits and carried briefcases got to do that because they were smarter than everybody else. The truth was that my construction worker brothers and waitress friends had more on the ball than these well-paid, comfortable schlubs. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

19 employees share the moment they realized their boss is an idiot.

Just because someone runs a company doesn&#39;t mean they know what they&#39;re doing, or anything at all. If we didn&#39;t learn this from watching The Office, we&#39;ve probably learned it at some point in the workforce. There&#39;s a reason Michael Scott resonated with so many people who&#39;ve had to take orders from an incompetent person who makes more money than they do.In a popular thread, someone asked: &quot;Employees of Reddit, how did you first find out your boss was actually just an idiot that makes more money than you?&quot;These 19 people share their stories of dealing with higher management who had no idea what they were doing:1.) From Lauer99: When he told me instead of taking my new higher paying job I should just work more hours at my current one for him. The &quot;gift of gab&quot; can get you far...2.) From olivia0207: When I worked in construction, the director was a guy who couldn&#39;t use Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Like at all. He couldn&#39;t even (or wouldn&#39;t even) open a blank page. He also didn&#39;t know what sequence design worked, didn&#39;t know what piles were, and read contracts on the fly.  He just had a very commanding presence and talked like a politician. But you talked to him about details for 10 minutes and you learned he didn&#39;t know SH*T. Like he seriously bullsh*tted his entire career with gift of gab. 3.) From birb_in_disguise: My manager (woman who&rsquo;s in nursing school) thought that women were pregnant for 12 months. 4.) From adeiner: I had a boss once who refused to register to vote because she didn&rsquo;t want jury duty and then got jury duty because that&rsquo;s not the only way they pick. She ended up serving for a week. 5.) From Peregrine2976: Dropped a ton of cash renting art from a museum&#39;s art bank for our (decrepit Chinatown) office. Then didn&#39;t have money to pay salaries. 6.) From Axl_Bundy: The time he got really bitchy/passive aggressive a few months after he hired me which finally boiled over when he got mad and said &quot;I HIRED YOU BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO RUN THIS COMPANY FOR ME!&quot; I&#39;m a graphic designer by the way. 7.) From davidmitchellseyes: When they fired the woman who did HR (she wasn&#39;t qualified for it, and had no training to do it so whatever), and I overheard the owner/boss have this conversation with a co-worker. Boss: &quot;So, what is HR anyway?&quot;  Co-Worker: &quot;Human Resources&quot; B: &quot;Yeah, but, like, what do they do?&quot; CW: &quot;Well, they take care of employee conflicts, deal with internal complaints, stuff like that&quot;  B: &quot;Well, we don&#39;t need that. Besides, you can do that&quot; So now we don&#39;t have HR, and bonus, the co-worker they were talking to deals with conflict by telling people to &quot;fill out a hurt feelings report&quot;. And yes, it is a family owned/operated business. 8.) From aRationalShill: I write &quot;: )&quot; on papers I grade for a professor. He accused me of writing slurs in my native language even though it&#39;s just a f**king smiley face. 9.) From _AlternativeSnacks_: It wasn&#39;t one big light bulb moment so much as my constantly having to advise him on how to run the office or implement a procedure or use or software.... he&#39;s a glorified babysitter. Love the guy to death but not as a boss. 10.) From necrocripple: My manager told me to mop the breakroom floor. I did. She freaked out that it was slippery (two seconds after I was done). 11.) From Queen_lucya: Once I told my boss I was 1/3 done with the work I had to do He said &quot;well you better hurry the others said they has finishes 1/6 of the work&quot; He walked away and I just stared at him for a few seconds 12.) From TheMonkeyMen: I told my boss since he wouldn&rsquo;t listen to me we needed an industrial engineer to make our dept/machine more efficient. He said, &ldquo;no way in hell are we bringing in an engineer.&rdquo; 3 weeks later my company hired an engineer and when they came to our Dept the engineer asked him what he wanted to do differently he froze turned and said, &ldquo;well let&rsquo;s go talk to [my name] he&rsquo;s worked here a long time he knows what needs to be done.&rdquo; ... this boss makes at least double my salary if not more 13.) From Lufernaal: Asks me to do stuff that helps no one or makes nothing better. He has us doing stuff that he literally can&#39;t explain why. 14.) From abad84: He couldn&rsquo;t do basic math while pretending to have a master. Couldn&rsquo;t use Excel either... 15.) From FoleyX90: When I created functions for similar procedures instead of copying &amp; pasting the exact same code &amp; modifying it in various spots throughout the program. &quot;What if we hire a developer that doesn&#39;t know how to use functions?&quot; Then we shouldn&#39;t have f**king hired them. 16.) From forumdestroyer156: 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&#39;re doing it and why it&#39;s important. She nods, makes an &quot;insightful&quot; comment, then forgets it completely. I&#39;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 the credit, it&#39;s a &quot;team effort&quot; where she led from the front. 17.) From thisisntrealnope: Boss at a pool was proud that she managed to convince the health inspector to let us stay open when the chlorine levels were well over the allowed amount 18.) From TheRealWookyMonster: When she told me I should have no problem with this new task because &quot;it&#39;s not rocket scientist&quot;. Also, she says &quot;pacifically&quot;. 🙄 Suits + briefcases do not = intelligence19.) From sleepingbeardune: I was a 20-something woman in a Mormon-owned company with a lot of branches. All the bosses were guys and all the office workers were women, and I was an anomaly ... from out of state, not Mormon, educated in math, neither boss nor secretary. Before this, I&#39;d only had waitress jobs.  So I was in a lot of meetings with all the guys in their nice suits, excited to be allowed to do real work. It was like, 1980. It took about 10 minutes of the first meeting to realize that of the 8 or 9 guys around the conference table, only 2 or 3 were sharp. Another 2 or 3 were average, and the rest were just putting in time.  The big boss, who had hired me, was an absolute moron. Unable to follow an argument if his life depended on it, which it didn&#39;t. I found out later that he&#39;d married into the family that held this company, and the branch he was &quot;running&quot; was the most established and easiest to manage.  But I have a clear memory, 40 years later, of looking around that room with utter bewilderment. My folks were very working class, and I&#39;d never questioned the assumption that the guys who wore suits and carried briefcases got to do that because they were smarter than everybody else. The truth was that my construction worker brothers and waitress friends had more on the ball than these well-paid, comfortable schlubs. 

Just because someone runs a company doesn&#39;t mean they know what they&#39;re doing, or anything at all. If we didn&#39;t learn this from watching The Office, we&#39;ve probably learned it at some point in the workforce. There&#39;s a...