Sometimes it’s best to let arrogance run its course.

That goes for managers at work, too.

In this story, a troubled employee helped a manager to see that he couldn’t solve every problem.

Read along to see how it went down.

“I’ll show ya how it’s done”..ok boss, let’s see what ya got

Here are some of the ways this employee of mine was wired differently.

She accused my fellow supervisor of altering the employee handbook, while she was reading it.

She said our company was a secretly a company who worked for the NSA or FBI (it changed daily).

Then we got a new manager, Dan.

He was a fun and smart, but a little full of himself thinking he was THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM SOLVER.

We’ll see, Dan. She’s is pumped.

After around two weeks as my boss, he came to me and my fellow supervisor wanting to know what the problem was with Kay.

We told him she had a little screw loose, and she couldn’t be reasoned with.

He told us we didn’t know how to talk to her. He would personally show us how to handle someone like her.

Around 4pm Kay had a huge issue. She was demanding she had paid time off for Columbus day. This was not a paid holiday.

I asked Dan if he was busy because Kay would love to talk to him. He asked what the issue was , and I told him about it all.

Dan’s quest became quite an odyssey.

“I’ll handle this…send her in” he typed.

Good thing I could see him in his office from my desk. I had a fantastic view.

He was in the office with her until 10pm. I watched the entire time.

I could see her gesturing wildly the entire time, probably about this or that.

His face would go from amusement, bewilderment, frustration, and back to amusement.

I watched him trying to get out of this whole ordeal. He knew he had bitten off more than he could chew.

“You were right.” He said. “Next time, send her to HR.”

Here’s what people are saying.

There were a lot of jokes like this. I don’t like when people make light of mental illness.

I think it was revenge on both, but I agree: spending hours at the office isn’t satisfying.

It’s nice to see at least a little humility in a manager.

I’m really curious what they were even talking about.

Good question. I hope so, but the people in this story don’t seem to care.

Consult a mental health professional on these issues, please.

Do not try this at home.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.