Imagine working for a boss who doesn’t understand what anyone who reports to him actually does.

Doesn’t sound like he or she would be a very good boss does it?

In today’s story, a new Army lieutenant knows very little about what he is supposed to do, but his boss knows even less.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Spent a year being boss’s minion, then publicly showed him up in a meeting

This story happened about seven years ago and, ironically, wasn’t even intentional.

Here’s the background:

I reported to my first- ever unit in the Army Reserves 8 years ago.

I was a newly- minted lieutenant and if I was any greener, I could’ve engaged in photosynthesis.

To my dismay, it turned out my boss knew nothing about the MOS our very small unit specialized in and he didn’t particularly care to either.

He didn’t know what he was doing.

Being the brand- new LT I was, I had no clue what I was doing and ended up being his little minion while I attempted to carry out/ enforce his directives.

This meant I spent most drills exasperatedly trying to convince a bunch of seasoned soldiers why they should do a bunch of inane tasks that ultimately served no helpful purpose.

As the cherry on top of the cake, the commander was also a particularly unpleasant character.

He was very certain that he was a smart guy, but listening to him for any period of time would make it clear he wasn’t.

As if that wasn’t enough, he was also the sort who liked to swing between trying to be “one of the guys” and “hey, guy, don’t forget who you’re talking to” when his feelings got hurt.

His boss threw another task at him.

This went on for about a year, during which time I attempted to learn my actual job from the guys in the unit.

About a year after I first reported, we had a battalion training meeting about planning our annual rifle qualification range.

For those who don’t know, ranges like this are one of the most basic training functions that a unit can do and even a brand- new LT like myself should be able to plan one.

However, instead of being involved in the planning process and doing some work, a lot of the work he should have been doing got shoved off on me.

They were the last ones to take their turn in the meeting.

Fast forward to the meeting.

All the other units on the call had given their reports before it came to us.

We were in the room with a neighboring unit’s command team.

His commander looked like a fool.

My commander took the hot seat and absolutely butchered the briefing.

He was completely unprepared, had absolutely no idea where things stood, and completely stammered his way through.

It was absolutely embarrassing to watch for everyone in the room and the awkwardness was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the battalion commander asked me to get the group up to speed.

He knew more than the commander.

I (who hadn’t spoken for the entire meeting) was a nervous wreck because I didn’t have much experience with public speaking, but my notes saved me because, again, I was the one who actually did a lot of the work.

I doubt he got in any real trouble, but it definitely destroyed any credibility he had left in the command.

I still smile about that moment to this day when I think about it.

The battalion commander obviously knew he knew more than his commander, or he wouldn’t have asked him to speak up.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person is glad that he learned from the experienced soldiers.

It doesn’t really sound like petty revenge.

Here’s the moral of the story…

This is true.

It may not have been revenge, but he certainly put the boss in his place!

And I’m sure it felt good.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.