A Tyrannical Boss Kept Making Up “Company Policies” On the Spot—Until an Employee Caught On and Exposed His Power Trip
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A rule that only applies to some people isn’t really a rule.
One employee grew increasingly frustrated with their boss’ blatant micromanagement in the office.
Her boss would enforce strict rules about timing and email etiquette, only for those same rules to conveniently disappear whenever the manager or a favored coworker broke them instead.
But every time the employee pointed out the inconsistency, she got confusion or silence in return, never an actual explanation. Leadership wasn’t much help either, brushing the whole thing off as just a management quirk rather than a real problem.
That’s how a series of small annoyances built into a much larger workplace dysfunction to untangle.
Keep reading for the full story.
My manager creates arbitrary rules just so she has something to enforce, and it’s exhausting
I work at a place I genuinely like, but I’ve realized my manager doesn’t feel like she’s doing her job unless she’s correcting or managing someone.
She’ll frame things as “company policy” or “professionalism,” but a lot of it is just her personal preference dressed up as a rule.
The employee gives an example.
She’s a huge stickler about starting and ending on time. Won’t let me end even 10 minutes early. But a coworker mentioned he’s ending his class 30 minutes early and it’s apparently fine.
If it were actually a policy, it wouldn’t bend for one person and not another.
But that wasn’t even the worst of it.
And it gets better, I’ve seen her end her own class 30 minutes early, and when I was visibly irritated about it, she genuinely seemed confused about why.
So the rule is: I can’t end early, ever, but she can, and I’m not even supposed to react to the double standard.
Her email etiquette also leaves a lot to be desired.
Another example: she insists all emails are BCC so you can’t see people’s sensitive info or emails. I found an email that the DIRECTOR sent where she did not BCC. I pointed this out and manager said nothing. I
t’s not a “company policy,” just something the manager is trying to enforce.
The higher-ups refuse to offer any help with this.
When I’ve brought this up to our director, the answer is basically “every manager is different” or “that’s just her style.” Which sounds neutral, but really just means nobody has to hold her accountable.
The company’s culture seems to only enable this kind of behavior.
On top of that, the company culture leans heavily on a “manager is always right” mentality, so even when something is clearly made up on the spot and passed off as a standard, no one questions it. There’s no actual recourse when she invents a rule and calls it policy.
The employee has begun to suspect the worst about their boss.
I don’t think it’s really about the rules. I think she doesn’t feel relevant unless she’s watching and correcting people, and when she gets busy with other stuff, all the “standards” suddenly relax. It’s not about the work needing oversight, it’s about her needing to be needed.
Classic middle manager trying to justify her position.
Now the employee turns to Reddit for advice.
Anyone else deal with a manager like this? How did you handle it, especially when leadership treats it as just a personality quirk (or an unquestionable one, given the “manager is always right” culture) instead of a real problem?
Oh boy, this is a tough one.
What did commenters have to say?
Some problems just don’t have a solution.
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Maybe what the department needs is some turnover to sound the alarm.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who decides to mute her boss’s number after he insists on calling her at home after hours.
Maybe bad bosses are just part of being employed.
At the end of the day, this manager needs to be needed, and the silly rules are just the excuse she uses to meet that goal. No one wants to be under a toxic boss, but it’s the position this unfortunate employee has found herself in.
When you really think about it, real company policy doesn’t magically stop applying the second the person enforcing it wants to leave early herself.
Of course, upper management doesn’t care about anything unless it affects their pockets, so it’s not too surprising they chose not to get involved.
It’s time for this employee to either just start checking out or starting to look for a better place to land.
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