Manager told employee to stop writing long reports — the next update was so short it sparked a 20-minute meeting
After that incident, the manager never questioned the worker's report and had no issues with 'longer' updates.
A logistics employee (u/duneparallax on Reddit) was asked to submit a weekly report summarizing everything that happened at work. Sharing the story on March 18, the employee noted how the reports included all significant details and were mostly about a page or a page and a half long. However, the manager wasn't really satisfied with it and insisted the worker keep the reports short, since people are too busy for such lengthy updates. The worker didn't argue and agreed to follow the manager, but the very next weekly report was so concise that the manager was left flabbergasted, unsure if it was a joke.
The worker shared that they would usually mention detailed information about shipments, delays, carrier issues, etc., in their report. However, three weeks into the new job, the manager pulled them aside and said, "Your reports are good, but they're too long; cut out the fluff. Nobody has time to read all that." That was it; the worker decided to comply and submitted a single-line report next week that read, "Week 34: All shipments delivered. Two delays resolved. One carrier changed. No outstanding issues."
The report was accurate, but it did miss some really important details. "Did the delayed shipment involve a fairly heated call with a vendor that probably needed documenting? Technically yes. But he said no fluff, and vendor drama felt like fluff to me," the worker explained. The manager responded within four minutes, asking the worker to elaborate on the weekly report. "So I added the word 'successfully' before 'resolved,'" they recalled.
Confused, the manager confronted the worker in person. They discussed for about 20 minutes, and the worker took notes about everything the boss said. "The notes were longer than any report I had ever written," they recalled. But after that incident, the manager never questioned the worker's report; in fact, suddenly, he seemed to have no issues with 'longer' one-page updates.
It's difficult to work under an overtly critical boss who only focuses on your mistakes. In 2018, Comparably asked 2,000 American employees about what qualifies as the worst trait in a boss. While 39% of people chose "micromanager" as the worst trait, 22% complained about their boss being "overly critical." When it comes to Gen Zs, they are more concerned about managers being "disorganized" than micromanaging work. While 26% of Gen Z picked disorganization, 22% chose micromanagement, and 25% picked overtly critical as the worst quality in managers.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit story, u/maarsmom commented, "My husband always complains I take too long to tell him stories or recount events. Whenever I know he will need details to understand what happened, I only give him the bottom line. He just sighs loudly and says, 'Okay, give me the details.' Yippee!! We've been married over 40 years, so it's all good." u/kindquail502 shared, "A newspaper reporter was once reprimanded for his lengthy reports. His next assignment was about a death in a skyscraper. And his story went: A man looked up the elevator shaft to see if the elevator was coming down. It was. Funeral tomorrow."
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