Manager Believes Age Equals Seniority And Demands Employee Do As She Says, They Maliciously Comply And Leave Her To Deal With The Fallout
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It’s always funny when someone shows up and bosses you around, thinking they know your job way better than you do yourself, and you can just tell that they’re blundering more and more with every step. It’s especially funny when people think seniority makes them smarter than everyone else around. Doesn’t matter if it’s 1 year or 20, they’ll feel like the sun shines out of their back end no matter what.
Reddit user dannybau87 shared their story of putting such a person in their place, after he honestly tried helping out first.
More info: Reddit
If a person thinks they know your job better than you do, why not let them make the stupid mistake and learn for themselves
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
A man shared his malicious compliance story about how a new manager at university would always say they knew better than everyone else on account of their age
Image credits: dannybau87
Image credits: Abby Chung (not the actual photo)
The university manager was about 30-40 years senior of her staff, always thinking she knew best because she was their senior
Image credits: dannybau87
Image credits: Caleb Oquendo (not the actual photo)
Seeing she had made a staffing error which would have led to the cleanup of an event being unstaffed, the poster tried warning her, but was shut down as usual
Image credits: dannybau87
When the time to clean up came, she was left all alone, doing an hour’s work with no help, the poster going away for “personal plans”
Image credits: dannybau87
The poster’s personal plans were playing video games at home and while the manager put in a complaint, it went nowhere
According to the poster, he had loads of event running experience, when a new College Head showed up, 30-40 years his senior, thinking that this seniority somehow bestowed infinite wisdom.
When he noticed that she had staffed an event poorly, he attempted to explain the mistake to her, but she had none of it, once again saying: “I’m older than you, I know best – just do as you’re told.”
He considered that this really wasn’t a hill worth dying on and just let her blunder on.
When the event came, due to her tragic planning, she was left to clean up all on her own, with OP ditching her for “plans” – playing Xbox at home.
The poster clarified in the comments that it’s not really about age at all, only about listening and thinking. They also said that the one time she did something illegal it was only technically illegal, so unfortunately he didn’t have the chance to get her into hot water over it.
For a bit more context, Bored Panda reached out to the poster of the story, dannybau87. If you were wondering, yes, she had to clean up everything after the event without any help at all. Despite that, OP’s butt was safe, as he had left a paper trail, so when she put in the complaint about his attitude, he had 0 worries whatsoever.
Asked for more stories about the mean manager, dannybau87 said that he couldn’t take working for her and left an otherwise fun position in “less than stellar circumstances.”
“Bad bosses grind you down,” he added, even adding a sad face at the end.
If you’re stuck in a similar situation, they’ve got a clear and concise piece of advice for you: “I would suggest to anyone with a bad boss – start updating and sending out your CV ASAP, doesn’t matter why they are a bad boss – get out.”
A person on Quora was wondering why some older people feel as if they are superior because they have lived longer. There were lots of different arguments amongst the answers.
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
Peeps in the thread mentioned that a lot of the time they’re just trying to prevent younger folks from making the same mistakes that bit them in the butt later on, which may come off as condescending.
Others said that all the experiences older people have gone through does impart a sort of wisdom and that they’ve realized that a lot of youngsters’ troubles will look meaningless in only a couple of years.
A user by the name of Elfrid thoughtfully summed the answers up: “Maybe they have felt superior to others all their life? Being old is just a useful way to point it out. I think humble people stay humble all their life.”
Funnily enough, someone asked “As an older person, do you get pleasure from being condescending to younger people?” on Quora too. Which seems kind of ironic, as the question is seemingly asked by a younger person and is condescending on the face of it. Go figure.
Nevertheless, the story of older people thinking less of newer generations is a tale as old as time itself. The younger generations don’t back down without a fight as well – they rebel and ignore seniors’ advice and instructions as often as they get the chance to.
Apparently, as early as 1 AD, the Roman writer Seneca the Elder wrote: “Our young men have growth slothful. Their talents are left idle, and there is not a single honorable occupation for which they will toil night and day.”
If we look close and read the sources remaining by people that preceded us, this sentiment has been parroted by any generation and in any era – no young person was safe.
Image credits: RODNAE Productions (not the actual photo)
You may be wondering why this is and according to a Vox article, it may be because of the way human memory works. It cuts corners when it retrieves information and reaches for the nearest ones, so your experiences from 20 years ago may be somewhat mixed up with your more recent memories.
This is called presentism and, for example, the way we remember a person from long ago is colored by how we think about them now. The same goes for political views – older people disagree with younger peoples’ politics, but it’s because brains attach your current political views to your memories of the past.
So while your grandparents may have been a lot more like you in their younger years, in their memories they think that they’ve thought the way they think these days all their lives – leading to misunderstandings between the generations.
Another thing is that we’ve got this tricky feeling of nostalgia for the past, making us look at our past experiences through rose-tinted glasses, which may also be contributing to young people looking worse nowadays to the older generations.
Finally, if you were to Google “why do old people” you’ll be met with the frequently searched-for suggestions of “fart so much” and “get mean.” On the other side of the barricades with “why do young people” you’ll get “vape”, “join gangs”, and “commit crimes”, so there’s no love lost on both sides.
Although something tells me that being a crime-committing gangster who, worst of all – vapes, is a bit too harsh, especially when compared to excess flatulence. But what do I know? I’m a whippersnapper!
The poster’s story got more than 6k upvotes and about 180 comments from people who basked in the success of OP’s revenge and shared stories of their own. Tell us what you thought of this story in the comments below!
The comments mainly laughed at the manager, saying that there is never a reason to feel superior to people who have more experience than you
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Please believe me when I say AGE is not a factor here. This person has always been an A-hole. Age generally mellows most people. Signed: older broad.
Dumbass. My team are 20 years younger than me, I bow to their experience in certain things as they've been there double the length of time I have. Every time I want to make a major change I run it by them to make sure it won't affect any of their processes or if they can see any adverse effects. I'm more experienced than them technically but they know our systems and processes far better than I do.
Great comment - same here. I know the technical stuff the best but they work the system day to day and I don't.
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"Anyone who gets to 50-60 and has their age as their primary means of commanding respect is obviously pretty useless." And so is someone who thinks age is a valid reason to DISrespect someone.
Please believe me when I say AGE is not a factor here. This person has always been an A-hole. Age generally mellows most people. Signed: older broad.
Dumbass. My team are 20 years younger than me, I bow to their experience in certain things as they've been there double the length of time I have. Every time I want to make a major change I run it by them to make sure it won't affect any of their processes or if they can see any adverse effects. I'm more experienced than them technically but they know our systems and processes far better than I do.
Great comment - same here. I know the technical stuff the best but they work the system day to day and I don't.
Load More Replies... "Anyone who gets to 50-60 and has their age as their primary means of commanding respect is obviously pretty useless." And so is someone who thinks age is a valid reason to DISrespect someone.
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