As a manager, it is your job to make sure that everyone who works under you is doing their job correctly and working well with their co-workers.

What would you do if you had a supervisor under you who was abusing their power and treating their reports very poorly?

When the manager in this story found out that this is what he was dealing with, he went undercover to catch the guy in action and demoted him to an entry level position.

Check it out.

Abusive boss “accidentally” picks on his own boss and pays the ultimate price.

Let us begin with the back story, which is quite long, but necessary for you to get a feeling of what was going on at the time.

It was just months before the financial crisis and I was working for the tech department in a very large company.

It was quite a large department in which we handled electronics.

That department stood out from most of the company, as it was receiving a bit of a different treatment.

The company thought if they create an extremely pleasant working environment there, they could get away with paying those stationed there with considerably lesser wages than they could be eligible for.

This is a great way to run a company.

And it was also a “meritocracy.”

Your rank and station was based on what you were capable of, not how long were you in the company.

I say that because just after two years, I was running the whole department!

The reason for that was that because aside from being a computer technician, i also had skills in electrotechnics, electronics, programming and online advertising, which the company realized and put me in charge of the whole bunch.

However before you question the validity of this story, you should know that while I had the rank.

I made only marginally more money than the rest of the department, the only plus was the rank, and that I had half the working hours of the rest of the department.

My only job was to make sure that everybody was at their best while doing their job and paperwork, along with comms and coordinating with the rest of the company.

I felt it was important that you knew the entire story because now I want to introduce you to Richard (fake name).

Richard was a hard worker, but a sick, evil, miserable jerk who was at the company for over 6 years but couldn’t get any higher up the ladder other than shift supervisor for the machinery boys because all he knew how to do.

He was 2 ranks below me.

Richard was an utter jerk.

He constantly picked on his subordinates, berating them, yelling at them, picking on the “coffee boy” (it was the rookie, bringing coffee was an initiation ritual).

Essentially Richard being in charge of you was a very unpleasant experience.

At the time I didn’t know this was going on, Richard was not in the group I ascended over and I dealt with that group over his superior.

I didn’t know was going on because I had my hands full with running the whole thing from an office halfway across the company building (big building).

Before we continue, you should know that my country has a law against workplace abuse called “bossing.”

In which, if there has been emotional harm inflicted, the person who performed bossing could even face jail time, and the company in question could pay massive fines.

To continue, suddenly I received an email from my superior, telling me there was an incident regarding Richard and that I have been scheduled for disciplinary action.

He should have known about this as the area manager.

Apparently there was a coffee girl in his group which he utterly destroyed to the point where she had a nervous breakdown.

As a department administrator I received huge flak for “not sustaining a pleasant working environment,” which was department policy so that people wouldn’t complain so much about the subpar pay they are getting.

Richard got me in so much trouble that I had to spend a week of constant damage control with my own superior.

In the end, I was ordered to take appropriate action against Richard to prove that I was still “the man for the job”.

Richard got me in a lot of trouble. Richard was going to pay.

There was just one problem- there was no evidence against Richard.

So, I was going to have to be sneaky.

I send a message to Richards superior, notifying him that that they will be getting a replacement coffee boy from another group tomorrow.

ME! I was going undercover to stick it to Richard.

This is a major mistake to make.

There is a saying: you see a guy in a suit and tie and you think he’s successful, until you realize he’s working for a man in jeans and and polo shirt.

This hold true as Richard is a suit and tie guy while I wear jeans and a polo shirt to work.

It’s the day of revenge.

I take no special preparations other than a hidden recording device, and I even wear the aforementioned outfit.

I arrive at work and ask two security guards to go with me to wait just outside Richard’s work area.

I purposely wait until I am 5 minutes late, then enter the work area with Richard’s people, greet everyone and go straight for the coffee pot.

Richard notices my tardiness and starts ranting:

Richard: Coffee boy! What the heck do you think you’re doing? Come late on your first day? Get your butt moving and serve everybody!

ME: Yes sir!

I serve coffee to everybody, but one of the techs recognizes me.

I pour some coffee in his pot and tell him to say nothing because I am recording Richard.

At that time Richard was across the room, insulting another employee for misplacing his tools.

After I finish serving coffee I go to “my” workplace and start working.

I intentionally fumble at my work, as a rookie would, in order to get Richards attention. It works and Richard notices me and races right towards me.

Richard: What the heck do you think you’re doing boy? What is this mess you made? You are completely useless! I cannot use you for anything! I should send you to mop the floors and you will even screw that up!

I turn towards Richard, put my hands at my hips and lean forwards, going in Richards face.

Richard presses his second and third finger against his thumb and starts to wave it my face:

Richard: Don’t you get uppity on me boy, I am your boss, I know the administrator and I can get you on the street in 5 minutes! Do you want to go home? ANSWER ME!

Oh, I bet he was shocked at this.

ME: I am the administrator. SECURITY!

Both guards arrive, going to into full hard core mode, grabbing hold of their mace pockets with one hand and fists clenched in the other.

I swear, Richard immediately dropped a couple of spoon full into his pants.

GUARD: Yes, Mr. OP?

ME: Escort Mr. Richard to my office immediately for (I lean right into his face) SEVERE disciplinary action.

GUARD: Mr. Richard come with us.

Later in my office, Richard was sat down, and listened to the audio recording of the incident, as well as I made him read out loud an extract of the labor law concerning “bossing”, then I go full cold turkey on him:

ME: Mr. Richard, you have been caught severely abusing your employees, which is not only against department policy, but is also a criminal offense, punishable by jail time in certain circumstances. Do you have anything to say in your defense?

Sweating, shaking, stuttering: Richard: I would, I, but I, I am…

ME: It’s what I thought. Let me tell you what is going to happen.

I have brought evidence to pin the breakdown of coffee girl on you, which means that I have the power to send you to jail. (Not sure if true, I was bluffing).

So your disciplinary action is going to be as follows.

Firstly, you are to be demoted for at least a period of two months.

Your previous group was lacking a coffee boy, I think you would be perfect for the job.

Secondly. You are going to love it.

Thirdly, your are going to send flowers and a letter of apology to the girl you broke down.

But if you: #1, try to quit within the time allotted for your punishment, and #2, so much as look as your former subordinates in a way they wouldn’t like it.

And #3, not do your work with utmost distinction, I will send this evidence to the authorities and use every scrap of power I have in this company to send you to a jail so bad that when you come out of it, you will be wearing diapers for the rest of your life, HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?

He finally got a taste of his own medicine.

Utterly pale and defeated Richard: yes, Mr. OP.

To add insult to injury, I inform his group of Richard’s demotion.

I told them that he has absolutely no authority over them anymore, and that he is going to serve them coffee until a time I see fit to rejoin them, but only as a serviceman equal in rank to the group.

Richard was also forced to clean out his office in front of the group, as the coffee boy wasn’t even entitled to his own cubicle, let alone a desk.

I feel that he got exactly what he deserved.

He is now going to have to lick the boots those he treated so badly before.

I am but no means an angel, after all, I did fail to notice the abuse that was going on underneath me, but to fair, nobody was brave enough to stand up to Richard in fear of losing their jobs due to the crisis looming overhead.

Great job taking action once the abuse was discovered!

Read on to see what some other people have to say about this story.

I’m pretty sure it is a made up story.

Yeah, I wonder if this is blackmail.

I would be curious about this as well.

Yeah, this doesn’t make sense.

This story is simply unbelievable.

But highly entertaining.

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.