Pexels/Reddit

If it ain’t broke, someone in management will eventually find a way to fix it anyway.

The following story is about a small print shop where finished orders sat in neat stacks behind the counter, sorted by last name and ready for pickup. Nobody had ever complained.

Then the regional manager, who only visits a couple of times a year, decided the stacks made the place look “messy.” The employees were told to move every completed order into a storage room each morning and fetch them one by one when customers arrived.

Soon after, a customer waited almost twenty minutes because his order had landed in the wrong stack.

Their manager blamed the staff for being disorganized, even though the mess started with his own rule.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

My job now involves hiding finished work so the store looks more organized

I work at a small print shop. Our regional manager visited last month and complained that the stacks of finished orders behind the counter made the place look messy.

Everything was sorted by last name and ready for pickup. Nobody had complained.

Of course, the boss still made everyone upend everything to do things his way.

Now we’re required to move all completed orders into a storage room every morning and retrieve them individually when customers show up.

The consequences were fairly immediate.

Yesterday, a customer waited almost 20 minutes because someone had put his order in the wrong stack. Our manager blamed us for being disorganized.

We had a perfectly functioning system until someone who visits twice a year decided it looked bad.

Why can’t bosses have a little more humility?

What did Reddit have to say?

This user doesn’t think any of this is right.

Luckily, the solution here is pretty simple.

Or maybe some new problem solving is in order.

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If you enjoyed this story, check out this post customer wants a refund for his faulty brakes, but an inspection finds the brakes aren’t the issue.

Why not go behind the boss’ back?

This regional manager cared more about how the counter looked for ten minutes than how it worked for the other 360 days.

And, of course, when the predictable happened, he blamed the people who’d been following his orders. That’s a manager who wants credit for the idea and none for the result.

A tidy counter is nice, but a happy customer pays the bills.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.