Some people don’t want to heed simple warnings, and that can really backfire.

Imagine noticing a huge safety issue at your workplace. If your supervisor told you to ignore the problem, would you keep pressing, or would you stand back and watch the problem get worse?

Read how one Redditor reflects on their time as a quality control manager and how one plant got shut down because of the supervisor’s pride.

Not My Lot, Not My Problem.

This happened decades ago for a food production company where I was a Quality Control manager.

I regularly checked the quality of the food we produced and the food production lines for four plants in the area.

And with that, came reports that the manager would pass along to supervisors.

One plant I inspected was operating within tolerance and received a generally good report, but I had to note one potential hazard: the parking lot was in terrible condition, and the dust that employee vehicles kicked up as they entered and left work could enter the plant and contaminate the food production line.

I gave a copy of my report to the Plant Operations Supervisor, and suggested he get it taken care of before the USDA inspector noticed it.

But this supervisor’s response was less than unsavory.

His response: “You were here to inspect food production, not the parking lot!”

“I’m here to ensure the quality of the food product that leaves this plant.”

“Bull–!” and then he said the words every malicious complier thrives on. “Don’t tell me how to run my plant!”

Fast-forward, guess what happens…

Six weeks later, the USDA inspector shut down the plant, citing the quality of the parking lot and the heightened risk of dust entering the food production line.

Who knew?

The OP had a solution for this, but unfortunately, the plant had made a previous demand…

But even then, there was a workaround that could have kept the plant open. Only…plant operations had demanded that I don’t tell them how to run their plant.

Even so, I had to ask, the following month after the lot had been repaved and the inspector had finally approved the plant to be reopened: “Why didn’t you just close down the parking lot and have the employees park on the street?” Schedule the repave on a weekend, the plant could have stayed in operation.

And the supervisor? He made his exit.

He didn’t lose his job. In fact, he retired from that company. So I guess it was a lesson learned?

But, he didn’t talk to me again.

What does Reddit think of this situation? Was the supervisor silly to ignore the quality control manager’s advice? Let’s read the comments below to get a better idea.

One person reminded everyone the whole reason being a consultant is so great.

Another relished in the hard evidence.

One person questioned if the OP didn’t tip off the USDA.

And finally, one commenter pondered if water could’ve done the trick.

This supervisor learned the hard way — pride is never worth it.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.