Some managers think they’re the smartest person in every room, and they quickly shut down anyone who tries to help.

So, what would you do if your boss flat-out told you to stop thinking and blindly follow orders?

Would you keep trying to save them from themselves?

Or would you do exactly what they asked and wait for the fallout?

In today’s story, one writer does exactly what she’s told, and it doesn’t end well for her boss.

Here’s what happened.

“You’re Not Paid to Think”—Okay, So I Didn’t.

A few years ago, I worked as a copywriter at a small PR agency run by a tyrannical boss—let’s call her Marcy.

She was all about control.

One day during a strategy meeting, I pointed out a huge flaw in a campaign that could have cost our client major money.

Her response?

She should’ve chosen her words more wisely.

“You’re not paid to think, you’re paid to write what I tell you.”

Cool. Got it.

From that point on, I followed her instructions exactly.

No suggestions, no edits, no heads-up when things were obviously going sideways.

Just pure, flawless compliance.

Within two months, two major clients left over tone-deaf campaigns.

Ones I had tried to fix but was explicitly told not to.

After those mistakes, she didn’t last much longer.

Guess who got blamed? Me.

Guess who kept receipts? Also me.

I forwarded my “just doing what you told me” email chain to HR.

Turns out, this wasn’t the first complaint.

She was “restructured” out of the company three weeks later.

Yikes! Few people would help her after that.

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit have to say about it.

Sounds like a good system.

Here’s an interesting way to look at it.

This person would use it to their advantage.

According to this person, their friend says the opposite.

Hey, that lady asked for it!

She made it abundantly clear that no one thinks as well as she does, so why would anyone help her?

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.