Most superiors are nice to you… until you dare even slightly to contradict them.

An employee at a major bookstore shared what they did when their new assistant manager stepped over the line.

I’m working my section like you said.

About a decade ago, I worked at a well known bookstore as a seller of books. For anyone not aware, there were sections/duties that people were assigned to during shifts and it changed frequently. It wasn’t uncommon for shifts or duties to be swapped (relevant later in the story).

There had been a recent change in management, and a fresh employee (let’s call her Lexa) received a promotion to be an assistant manager despite having limited experience and quite the undeserved chip on her shoulder.

Pretty sure she got the job because of her friendship with the departing AM whose position opened up.

She was very much a delegator who spent a lot of time hanging out in the back office.

I knew Lexa wasn’t liked by a few of the veteran employees for the seemingly undeserved promotion.

She had a lot to learn from the veteran employees, but her pride didn’t let her see that.

I was a part-timer going to school, so I wasn’t invested in moving up or challenging the store leadership.

Didn’t make much of a difference to me. She and I got along just fine overall and usually exchanged pleasantries with bits of conversation.

Until one day.

*Sigh*. Here it comes.

I showed up to work, clocked in, and saw my department was Kids.

I hated working in Kids as it was a Saturday (super packed), and the person who I relieved was terrible at cleaning up whatever section she was assigned to.

I called up Lexa and asked her if I could switch with another bookseller (who liked working in Kids) that also just clocked in.

Before waiting for an answer (yes, it was partially my fault), I asked the bookseller if she would be cool switching with me.

Lexa, hearing me ask this question, yells over the phone, “NO! YOU WERE ASSIGNED TO KIDS, SO GO TO YOUR SECTION!”

I replied with a simple, “Okay.”

Way more composed than most people would’ve been. But will it last?

I go to my section, and as expected, it’s a disaster. Books on the floor, kids running around, toys strewn about – it was exactly what I anticipated.

I got right to work on recovering messed up shelves, making stacks of the books to return to their proper locations, and picked up toys/trash.

I was a man on a mission.

Wouldn’t you know it, but apparently there were some shelves and furniture that needed to be moved around.

I get a call on my store phone.

It’s Lexa.

You know she is about to learn a lesson.

She needs my help with said task.

Mind you, there were enough people on the book floor to help if she also left the back office to get it done.

Her tone was much different, and she sweetly asked if I can leave Kids to go help with the project.

Well, Kids is a mess. I was diligently working just to keep up with the unrelenting entropy due to the Saturday afternoon crowd.

Could I have helped? Sure.

Did I have an excuse not to? Sure did.

I firmly replied, “Sorry, I’m busy in Kids.”

Nothing more, nothing less.

She had it coming, and her demeanor changed after this reality check.

The shift ended, and we went go to the break room post shift. Lexa talks to all of us and mentions how we need to remember to work as a team.

Her demeanor was mildly sheepish, and she avoided making eye contact with me.

I sat there, staring right at her with a dumb look on my face, pretending I don’t know she’s indirectly talking about me.

I did find out from a couple of friends she did help out which required her actually doing some work instead of hiding out.

The employee was playing the long game.

We never had any run-ins after that and she moved a couple of months later. In any case, I worked my assigned section like she told me to.

On the bright side, I cleaned up Kids and organized it so well that the Kids lead thanked me the next time we worked together.

What an elegant way to deal with a rude person.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

Sarcasm FTW!

A fellow bookseller chimed in.

A retail worker shared their experience.

This user had some thoughts to share about working in a bookstore.

I think most of us can agree: the yelling and the denial of a good suggestion were so uncalled for.

She really wasn’t ready to be a manager.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.