We've all dreamed about getting sweet, sweet revenge on our rude boss, but let's be honest here, the universe rarely seems to punish the worst among us. That's why, every once in a while, when it does happen, when the worst get the worst of things, it feels so amazingly awesome.
This is the story of Mike, who set a revenge trap for his horrible boss and the boss, like the idiot he seemed to be, fell right in it.
Mike Turns Negative Quickly
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Mike soon realized there were going to be big problems with Bill.
“I quickly discovered that he was on a major power trip. The sort of guy who is super nice and flexible when around the other Senior VPs and the CEO, but as soon as you had him alone in a room he was bloody nuts. He had unreasonable demands in every way possible. Unrealistic targets, management by fear and so forth. A full-blown psycho.”
“Full-blown psycho” is never a great way to have to describe your boss, but Mike wasn’t alone. He said, “I and several colleagues were shocked.” But they didn’t want to rock the boat too much. “We were making good money, and most people directly in contact with him were 5-10 years in (with) the company and had broad respect in the management level – so we just did our best and tried to avoid his wrath.”
Despite their best efforts, the team, and especially Mike, wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever.
Bill Takes On The Whole Department
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Mike and Bill worked closely together and at first, Mike was ok with that situation. But, as he said, things really started to go wrong not too long into Bill’s tenure. Mike explained: “In the beginning it was okay, but he became more and more enraged with minor problems and issues and quickly started firing people left and right. One of our group managers was fired by email on the day after Christmas – with over 90 staff CC’d, because Bill didn’t know how to use outlook. It was crazy.”
It wasn’t long before HR took notice, of course. With Bill firing everyone left and right, they were forced to get involved. Mike described the meetings as screaming matches. “The HR department was bewildered and had weekly shouting meetings with Bill.”
As for Mike, well, Bill “cooled towards me and sent me back to my old department, which was fine.”
But others in Bill’s way didn’t fare as well.
“A few of the PM’s got stressed out and one quit, so we were very busy. I ended up running way too many projects.”
Yet instead of loosening up, Bill doubled down
Bill’s Anger Boils Over, Mike Starts His Exit Plan
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Bill was relentless, demanding more and more out of Mike and the rest of the team under him. Finally, Mike had enough.
“One of our last big clashes was his unreasonable requirements for me to fly to far away places (10-15 hour flights) to attend a simple meeting that we’d usually handle over the phone. After 3 weeks of traveling, he demanded me do another 2 weeks on another continent, and I refused.”
Enough was enough.
Bill wasn’t happy with Mike’s refusal to travel, he was, in fact, “enraged.” Bill’s anger only grew, maybe from embarrassment, when he discovered that Mike was grandfathered into the old travel policies, which meant Mike flew Business or First Class. As he put it: “I was racking up tens of thousands of dollars on airfare and hotels, while other PM’s had to fly cattle class. Bill had no idea, and his power play had backfired. He was livid.”
That’s when things started to come into full focus for Mike. And it started at home with his pregnant wife.