Manager piles work on employee and then scolds him for staying late. His clever retort made her eat her words

An employee who goes by u/sliding_doors shared a post on March 10, revealing that his manager started dumping a heavy workload on him. While he initially obliged, given that she was a new manager, he soon realized she was just finding ways to get work done. When he brought up the issue, he was told it was his fault for not informing when the workload got overbearing. As a result, he decided to play by the toxic manager’s rules and follow her instructions to defeat her.

The man noted that he was initially happy to have the woman as a new manager because he knew her to be good with her employees. However, a few months in, she started demanding more tasks. “I started working under constant pressure, without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The more I was doing, the more I was required to do,” he remarked. He got stuck in an unending loop and, under the pressure of being a dedicated employee, tried to do it all. When he finally brought up the issue with the manager, she turned the blame on him and said, “It is your responsibility to tell me when it is too much to handle.” 

She further manipulated the discussion by stating that he was being given the tasks because he delivers. “I know you, and you need a little push to work,” she added. When he received this ruthless remark, despite being proactive and hardworking, he knew he had to change things. He decided to play by the rules of his manager. When she was assigned the next impossible task of completing a manual within two weeks, when others took over two months, he let her know it was not possible. However, the only response he received was, “You have to do it.” Listening to her, he stayed up late and got the work done. 

Toxic as his manager was, she gaslighted him once again, saying that he didn’t need to work things out so late, despite being the one who told him to get things done. She then sent him to a mental health coach. “The coach analyzed my situation, and she immediately understood that I was fine,” he said. Even the coach realized that the manager was being toxic and asked the employee to continue practicing boundaries, and he finally got the chance. When she assigned new tasks one after the other to the employee, he had the perfect response. “If I understand correctly, you want me to do this and that when we have to carry out mandatory tasks A, B, C, D, E, F, and G?” 

He then told her straight up that he’d do the tasks, but in due time, as he had to “maintain high quality standards and a work-life balance." She was tongue-tied after the results of a session she arranged with a coach. According to data from Kapable, 87% of employees have dealt with at least one toxic manager globally. 56% reported working with a toxic CEO, while 31% said they were currently working with a toxic manager.

When the higher-ups who are meant to lead, inspire, and motivate do the opposite and gaslight, manipulate, and demean, it affects work-life balance, productivity, and several other factors. Vicki Salemi, a New York City-based career expert for Monster, noted, “A bad boss can make or break your employment,” reported USA Today. She noted that even if the job is great, having a toxic superior can “surpass cumulative positive reasons to stay.”

Fortunately, the employee was able to circle back to the issue and use his manager’s tactics against her. “From that moment, she stopped assigning extra work, at least not without asking me what I was doing, how my workload was, etc.” Her own actions backfired. “You wanted her (the coach) to make me work at your pace; she taught me how to stop you. Kiss kiss,” the employee concluded. u/stromm wrote, “It always pisses me off how many managers don’t know what is on our plate. They do, but they act like they don’t.” u/Strongit said, “Hard work always seems to beget hard work. Good for you for enforcing those boundaries.”

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