Good leadership is about generosity… and some common sense.

This man once worked under an incompetent manager who only got her position through family connections.

The manager organized a farewell lunch for an intern and then demanded that each employee cover it.

As a response, he willingly shouldered the entire cost… and told her to “keep the change.”

Check out the full story below for all the details.

No free lunch

Once upon a time, I worked for a nepot manager.

She got the job as a Marketing Manager because the Head of Marketing decided to give her a shot.

Based on the performance of my boss’s husband.

In short, with zero skills, she ran “a department.”

This man received two emails from his manager.

Story time: the president’s son was the summer intern.

My manager, “Karen,” thought a goodbye lunch would be a nice gesture.

Karen sent two emails to the entire department.

The lunch was twice an agenda item for the weekly meeting.

Lunch was at a national burger chain.

One of the emails said that each employee should pay $0.87 for the lunch.

Following the lunch, again an agenda item, the department was asked for $0.87 each.

The admin could not help herself and said, “I think I can swing that.”

Alright then. Karen and hubby had about a $250,000 salary (adjusted for inflation).

Springing for lunch out of Karen’s pocket might have been nice.

Or the whole department’s meals could have been expensed.

He decided to pay for everyone’s share.

Nope.

The cost of sending so many emails is real money (far more than the total cost of the meal).

I took the high road and spent the afternoon chatting with members of the department.

And asking if they would mind me paying their $0.87 debt to the boss.

Near quitting time, I gave the boss a ten-dollar bill.

I told her to keep the change.

Instead of a good bonding experience, the manager ruined the moment for the employees and the intern.

What might have been a good bonding experience was ruined by a boss who penuriously asked for under a dollar per employee.

With my time and the rest of the department’s time spent on reading multiple emails, Karen wasted more than $1,000 in lost time.

Was this her biggest blunder?

Of course not.

Let’s see how others reacted to this story.

This person shares a similar experience.

Short and straightforward.

This one shares their honest opinion.

Finally, here’s a perfect conclusion.

True leadership is measured by actions, not titles.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.