Managers who stubbornly enforce the wrong rules usually end up creating more problems than they solve.

What would you do if your boss kept insisting you follow a system you knew was wrong?

Would you try to argue your case?

Or would you find a way to follow the rules so literally that the mistake became impossible to ignore?

In the following story, one employee finds themselves in a similar situation with expense receipts.

Here’s what happened.

Turn in All Receipts

In a previous job, we had 2 methods of purchasing: a credit card or a program called SAP.

For credit card purchases, you had to turn in receipts once a month with a reconciled expense report.

For the SAP program, you turned in receipts as received to be filed by our secretary.

I worked a 7 days on 7 days off schedule, and on returning to work, I was admonished by my boss for not turning in receipts as soon as I received them.

I reminded my boss that I only make credit card purchases, and those receipts get turned in monthly, not immediately.

My boss told me I was wrong. We always turned in receipts immediately.

Ok, whatever. I kept doing what I knew to be right.

The secretary finally got through to the boss.

We had this discussion at least 3 times over the course of 6 weeks.

I even asked a coworker at one point, and he agreed that I am right and the boss is wrong.

So, I started making copies of the receipts when I received them and turned in the originals.

Because the secretary worked at different locations, I rarely saw her.

But when she got the first receipt, she wrote a note on it telling me not to turn this in; it goes on an expense report.

I left a note for her explaining the boss’s insistence that I turn in receipts immediately.

Apparently, the secretary has a stroke, I do not.

The next week, when I came into work, my boss explained to me that I do not turn in receipts immediately; I save them for the expense report.

Wow! The boss should’ve just listened.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit have to say about this story.

This probably catches people off guard.

This is what he should’ve done.

According to this person, the real boss is the secretary.

Here are some interesting thoughts.

Talk about bad listening skills – this guy is the worst!

Let’s hope he learned an important lesson this time.

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.