Some managers will nitpick the smallest things just to feel powerful.

What would you do if your boss obsessed over meaningless details, desperately trying to catch you making a mistake?

Would you walk the straight and narrow?

Or would you find a way to follow the rules so perfectly that they ended up looking foolish instead?

In the following story, one pharmacist finds herself dealing with this exact scenario and opts for the latter.

Here’s what happened.

Black pants

I was a pharmacist at a Safeway in Arizona, and my boss was a malignant narcissist, like a textbook case.

I enjoyed talking to customers and answering questions, which she hated as it was something she couldn’t control.

She was a fanatic about small things, like putting covers over the computer keyboards every night when closing.

Pharmacist positions in that town were scarce, and I couldn’t afford to quit, so I obeyed her weird directives and didn’t say anything.

She decided it was time to change her entire wardrobe.

When the regional manager came to town, they’d go out to lunch for hours (yay) and gossip.

I grew tired of her intense and constant supervision, but there wasn’t much I could do; she was desperate to find something about my work she could criticize.

One day, I arrived for my shift, and she looked at me closely, then announced that my pants weren’t black enough and proceeded to write me up.

The dress code was black pants or skirt, black shoes, and white coat.

I went out after work and bought a couple of pairs of black Dickies work pants about three sizes too big and a chain belt from Hot Topic as well as some goth jewelry, lots of skulls and stuff.

Also, some Doc Martens, effectively becoming a goth girl in my mid-forties.

I figured out the makeup with the help of a neighbor’s kid.

The boss couldn’t believe her outfit.

Next shift, I showed up and she was speechless, but there wasn’t a single thing she could do, nothing in the dress code said I couldn’t wear that.

The RM showed up and they took a really long lunch, but couldn’t figure out a way to write me up again.

What really got to her was when a secret shopper showed up and I helped him with some over-the-counter items.

He was subsequently awarded a “smile award” (I had made him laugh when I explained how to take Metamucil powder more easily).

I got a free donut and cup of coffee while she was sent to “smile school” because of her dour manner.

Yikes! Working for her sounds like a nightmare.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to this situation.

This person stocked up on fiber as a kid and hasn’t needed it since.

Too funny.

Here’s someone who wants a goth pharmacist.

This person knows all about black clothes.

Some things just aren’t real problems.

Despite what bosses try to say.

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.