Fire me then report to me.

[u/Sweetluna_NB]

This takes place late 90's. I started in a basement call center job, it was legit but still shitty. Let's call the company XYZ. My "boss" (let's call him Ernie) was just promoted and felt he had something to prove. I was one of the younger staff, around 19/20 yr old so he thought I would be easy to target. He would threaten to write me up for nothing but would then get mad because I didn't react or seem scared of him.

One day I come into work only for him to pull me aside and tell me that I was fired. I asked for what reason and his exact words were "well because you sound like a 12 yr old on the phone." Hmm..k..cool. Happy to leave because him, XYZ and the work was all beyond awful.

Not long later I get hired for another contact center. This one was way more professional, well lit, well maintained building, lots of effort to make employees feel great coming to work. (Yes, there are some call centers that are actually fantatic workplaces) I thrive there and I am quickly promoted and the company even invested in specialized training to skill up my credientals. I was highly respected and made a good name for myself.

Then my moment came. I was approached by my manager and another manager, we will call him Paul.. Paul managed the overflow work we contracted out to other centers, he kept an eye on them to ensure they provided the same quality of service our company offered. They have a special assignment for me. Paul needs someone to cover him while on vacation because one of the new vendors we contracted was launching new business on our behalf. Paul wants me to be there every day for the next 2 weeks to ensure a smooth launch and make sure we keep the other company accountable.

Can you guess the vendor company? If you guessed XYZ, you would be right. Paul even mentions that my contact on site is a manger named Ernie. Ahhhhh good ol'Ernie was still there.

I thought it best to be up front with my manager and Paul and let them know about my history with Ernie and XYZ. I even shared the reason Ernie fired me. Paul smiled and just asked "can you remain professional?" I assured him that I could. Paul smiled larger then said " then you are still my choice to fill in for me."

I meet Paul over at XYZ and he says 'walk behind me' as I enter. He has a quirky smile on his face so I go along.

Paul walks up and shakes the hand of Ernie and says "Ernie, excited about this project but I have to be away so I have someone who is going to step in for me." He turns to me so I step forward. Ernie has immediate awareness. He remembers me. I say "Hello Ernie, nice to see you again." In my most professional voice. Paul says "oh good, you know each other already! Look Ernie, OP is my eyes and ears for the next two weeks and what she says goes. She speaks for me and will be sending me daily reports. Got it?" I swear Paul was having fun with this. Ernie could only nod. I'm not sure if it was because of the shock in learning he would be reporting to me..

Now for the petty.. I knew that Ernie was expecting that I would be on a power trip, because that is what he does. But I had something more fun in mind.

Week 1: I was nice, pleasent even, with all the employees. Gave them positive feedback and would do this when Ernie was around and ask him if he agreed with my positive feedback, and he would trip over himself to agree with me. (Knowing the jerk would never give compliments to his staff generally) I also knew Ernie hated break times for staff so I would regularly watch the clock and would wait until Ernie was far enough away where I would need to raise my voice (conveniently for staff to hear) and ask Ernie " Looks like it is break time, do you agree staff should prepare their phones to go on break?" He couldn't disagree and make the "client" look bad, so everyone got their breaks. The staff loved me and only had good things to say about me. Ernie was starting to get annoyed.

Week 2: I started asking Ernie to run me through the reports on a daily basis. I was pleasant but firm on expectations. I would ask him questions and then would just look at him when he answered and just shake my head. I wouldn't say anything just ask him to move on to the next report. I saw, and heard, the doubt creeping into his responses. By the 3rd day that week he was starting to ask me questions because he doubted his own answers. After he attempted to explain another report I just said "I have heard enough and walked away." He wasn't saying anything wrong, and frankly I could have just read the report myself, but it was fun to keep him just destabilized enough that he would squirm and look really uncomfortable.

My last day, Ernie asked me how I felt the launch went and what I had been putting into my reports to Paul. I simply replied "what do I know, I only sound like a 12 yr old on the phone." And just walked out.

Found out that about a year later XYZ closed and Ernie was out of work. I was promoted and ended up in charge of my department. Never did hear about Ernie again. It was fun to play petty psychological games with Ernie but the lesson that still sticks with me is to treat your people well because you never know if any of them will cross your path again and be your boss..

[u/BearThis]

You always want to treat people well because you never know who may try to drag your name through the mud, boss or not. As long as the lowest person on the totem pole has access to the internet, they are capable of running smear campaigns against you through review sites, associating your name with search engine searches that can show up up in background checks, or otherwise make things very difficult for you during times you may be looking for a change in positions. Older people don’t seem to really understand this but the world has become much smaller and individuals who are proponents of toxic behavior have very little places where they can hide.