Boss Always Found Fault in My Reports, So I Used Hers and Let Her Tear Them Apart
This happened about 19 years ago when I worked at State Street Bank for one of the worst managers I’ve ever had, Paula. Real name, real place. If you’re in Boston and thinking about working there… maybe reconsider. Anyway. I had just joined Paula’s team, which was pitched as a small, high-visibility project group handling complex financial operations issues.
In reality, it was more like a mushroom farm, we were kept in the dark and fed garbage.
My job mostly involved compiling reports and collecting data from people who were intimidated by our team. It was a classic bait-and-switch, and I started looking for an exit not long after I arrived. Paula, meanwhile, had a habit of nitpicking everything you did, tearing into formatting, wording, and trivial details that had nothing to do with whether the numbers were accurate. One of my responsibilities was a weekly update on certain oil warrants out of Nigeria.
For those unfamiliar, a warrant is a contract allowing the purchase of a commodity at a fixed price, regardless of current market value. In this case, there was an option to buy at $30 per barrel when oil had peaked at $90. If exercised, the liability could have been enormous, so we had to monitor and report on it carefully. Week after week, Paula would review my report and tear it apart, not over the financial accuracy, but over layout, phrasing, or minor stylistic issues.
Endless nitpicking. One day, while digging through the shared network drive, I stumbled across an old folder from a similar project, Paula’s work from before she was promoted to manage a team. So I made a decision. I restructured my report to mirror hers exactly. Same format, same organization, even similar language in the cover letter, just updated with current numbers and relevant details. I brought it to her office for review. She absolutely lost it.
Asked what happened to the old format. I explained that since she hadn’t seemed satisfied with my previous versions, I thought I’d try something different. She said this was worse, maybe the worst submission yet. She went on for what felt like ages while I just stood there quietly.
Finally, she demanded to know what I had been thinking when I made these changes. I calmly told her I had used the formatting and language from her own reports from a few years back. I’d found the folder on the network and followed her prior work almost word for word, only changing the numbers and specifics. I even handed her printouts of her old reports for comparison.
She just stared at me, completely speechless. I asked, “So if this is bad, should I switch back to my format?” Less than a minute earlier she had called it unreadable.
