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A manager can ruin an otherwise great job, especially when they seem to be cruel and heartless.

What would you do if you got a promotion that moved you to a new store, but part of that was working for a manager who was absolutely awful?

That is what happened to the woman in this story, and that manager was rude and mean when she asked for bereavement time after her grandma passed away. So, the next time the regional manager came through, she asked for a meeting and made sure to tell him every little thing that her manager was doing wrong, and got her in big trouble.

I think she handled it really well, and while the manager didn’t get what she deserved, it was a good start. Read through the full story here and see what you think.

Revenge On Store Manager

I got moved to a new store as part of a promotion years ago, and I was already pretty nervous.

I can see why they are nervous.

New store, first time as a department manager, and unfortunately for me, the former department manager had really messed things up in every way possible.

The store manager Marlene, immediately started micromanaging me.

This would be awful.

She had me on scheduled breaks and just rode me for everything, in some weird “Well, your predecessor was always sneaking off for cigarettes, so I’m sure you are too” attitude.

I had to find her and tell her I was going on break. It’s still one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever had a manager do to me.

Heartbreaking.

A couple months into me being at that store, I found out that my grandma was being taken off life support that afternoon.

I was gutted, and luckily, my assistant was there (we usually worked alone), so she comforted me and we worked out the schedule so I could go to the funeral.

Whoa, take it easy, Marlene.

I went to find my manager to ask her about our bereavement leave, knocked on her door and leaned in.

Me: Excuse me, Marlene?

Marlene: [whips around in her chair] I am ON THE PHONE.

She sounds absolutely awful.

Me: Sorry!

I found one of the assistant managers who helped me enter it on the scheduling software, and decided I needed to go for a break to go cry somewhere. Marlene saw me and yelled at me to get into her office.

As soon as I got in there, she started yelling at me for interrupting her earlier. I apologized again, and said since she had her back to the door, I didn’t see the phone.

I would hope that this would make Marlene nicer, but I doubt it.

Marlene: Well what was so important?

(I really can’t put into words the level of contempt this woman was able to load into a single word.)

Me: Oh… uh, they took my grandmother off life support today, and I just wanted to ask about the bereavement leave. I asked [asst] about it, it’s all taken care of.

She doesn’t even care that she just lost her grandma.

Marlene: You can’t just barge into the office, you know. I would have said yes if you’d knocked first and waited. Work on your presentation next time.

(It’s probably been five years, but I swear to god, I’m still stunned at that line when I think about it.)

Let’s see how this goes.

She yelled at me for a little longer before snapping “I’m sorry about your grandma.” I managed to make it out of her office before I started crying.

A few weeks after the funeral, our district manager was touring the stores and asked me how I was liking it at the new store.

She is really putting on a show.

I cheerfully asked him if I could speak to him in my back office. He agreed, and Marlene started to walk with us. I looked her dead in the eye and cheerfully said “No. Just him.”

Once we were in the back room, he asked what was going on, and I started crying as I told him. There were some real tears (my grandma was awesome and I still miss her), but I was wrenching up every bad thing that had happened to me – my first girlfriend breaking my heart, my cat dying when I was 12, my parents divorce, all just to bolster my performance.

She played this perfectly.

Men can’t handle women crying. I saw this grown man panic. I relayed the story exactly as it happened, down to the “work on your presentation.”

(His jaw hit the fucking floor at that one.)

He told me he’d take care of it, and as I followed him out of the office, Marlene looked like she was about to puke.

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I wonder if there was any backlash from this.

I don’t remember how long they were in her office for, but it wasn’t a quick meeting, and she came over to give me a very begrudging apology with all the sincerity of a petulant child being forced to apologize by their parent.

This woman is a legend in the company. She retired a few years ago, and even at different stores, people heard how evil she was.

It might be a small victory but I’ll take the W.

I bet it felt great to throw her under the bus, but I also wonder if there was any revenge.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

This is very true. Some people are awful.

Yes, she handled it perfectly.

It is good to stand up for yourself.

Something similar happened to this commenter.

She was beyond heartless and deserved to be fired.  I don’t know why some companies insist on keeping the worst managers around no matter what they do.

Maybe she generates a lot of sales or something, but that still doesn’t make it right.

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Author

Michael Levanduski