When some people get a taste of power, it goes right to their head and they can’t treat people they see as below them with respect.

What would you do if you had to go into a workplace to do some tech work, but the manager was causing problems and making it impossible?

That is what happened to the IT professional in this story, so after the manager tried to get him fired, he finished his work and then saw her getting escorted off the property by her boss.

You want to talk to MY manager? OK…

This happened about 13 years ago.

I was a field service engineer for a national retail chain.

Basically, I was the IT guy who drove around in a company vehicle, servicing the computer networks in the stores.

The way the company was organized, there were “corporate” employees and then there were “retail” employees.

Being a “corporate” employee, I received corporate stock as a small part of my salary.

And my starting pay was three times the rate of any store manager.

Some people just can’t accept that they aren’t in charge.

Because I was always “putting out fires” I often found myself in the awkward position of dealing with store managers who honestly thought that they were the store owners, and that I was just the hired help.

(This was truly ironic, as I actually did own a very small piece of the corporation, whereas the average store manager did not.)

One day, I got orders to replace a server in a store not too far from my house (I worked out of my house, but kept parts in the truck and also the back room of another store nearby).

So, I show up to the store where the server needed to be replaced.

It was my 2nd stop of three scheduled that day.

I walk in the store wearing my very obvious corporate uniform and name tag with logo.

The store owner (errrr…retail manager) instantly DEMANDS to know what I am doing in “her” store.

I get this all the time, nothing new.

I calmly explain that my boss wants me to upgrade one of the store servers (hardware replacement) and I even show her where it is that I will be working.

I explain that it will take about an hour, and that the (POS) registers might go offline for about 5 minutes.

Couldn’t this be done before or after business hours?

She isn’t happy, but she reluctantly allows me into the room where the server is and I start working.

When I’m just about done, the (POS) registers go down as I am switching them to the new server, which is not fully hooked up yet.

It was at this point where I realize I have forgotten to bring in a couple of cables that I need to finish hooking the new server into the store network.

So I RUN out to the truck to get the required cables.

I’m gone about 2 minutes.

When I get back the store manager is sitting at the table in front of the server, and she’s got food spread out all over the table.

The server is under the table. I tell the store manager I need to finish hooking up the server (gesturing under the table).

The store manager tells me I’ll have to come back in an hour, after her lunch break.

I’m shocked into total silence.

They should have been given a warning.

Then a cashier bursts into the room, panicked that the registers aren’t working and the checkout lines are getting backed up.

I explain to the manager that I have to fix the server now, or the registers will not work.

The manager tells me I should have thought of THAT before I started working in her lunch break area.

I calmly tell the store manager that she’ll have to take a break later, or find somewhere else to eat her lunch.

She tells me I’m rude and incompetent and DEMANDS to speak to MY MANAGER, immediately.

Hokey Dokey…

I call up my manager using my corporate-issue iPhone, and quickly explain the situation, and then walk into the server room to hand the iPhone to the store manager.

While she’s on the phone with my manager, I head out to the front of the store to explain (and apologize) that the registers are going to be down for a few more minutes.

I can’t hear exactly what the store manager is telling to my manager, but I can tell that it’s a heated conversation and I clearly hear the word “fired” mentioned a few times.

How did she think she was in the right here?

It’s clear that the store owner (errrr, retail manager) wants me to be fired for daring to try to interrupt her lunch break.

Unfortunately for her, my direct supervisor was about 5-6 levels above the retail district manager.

So, the store manager was complaining loudly about *interrupting my work* to the manager of her manager’s manager’s manager’s manager’s manager’s manager.

A few minutes later the store manager walks out of the room awkwardly balancing bits and pieces of her lunch spread.

I immediately go back to work getting the new server up and running and re-booting the POS registers so that they will sync on the new server and cashiers can get back to work!

Everyone is happy now except the store “owner”, because her lunch break was ruined.

The main part of my task is done now, but it takes me about another 15 minutes to clean up my mess and re-organize my truck to get ready for my next stop which will be about a one-hour drive from my current location.

As I’m doing this, I see the retail district manager (I’ve met her before) going into the store.

Ouch, she really shot herself in the foot.

She walks back out of the store with the former store manager, who is carrying a box of her personal items.

When some people get a little bit of power, it goes right to their head.

Read on to see what the people in the comments think of this.

She should have been expecting him.

She was such a fool.

Never let the sales system be offline.

She definitely deserved it.

Always respect the IT guys.

This manager sounds like a nightmare.

They need to chill out for real.

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.