I’ve been working for the same company for several years. We’re quite renowned (no, I’m not going to tell you the name) and I’m proud of what we do. Big part of our reputation is thanks to my boss, who built the whole thing up from scratch. He has impeccable business acumen and it’s been a pleasure to work with him and witness it first-hand. He’s inventive and original, and even when he sometimes gets a bit unhinged with his ideas, that’s just part of his creative process. Whatever he sets out to do, he accomplishes with flying colours.
At least that’s how it used to be. Lately, he’s been slipping. I really don’t want to bad-mouth him, but I can see that he’s not focusing on the business as much as he used to. So, I’ve been picking up his slack (I work in the middle management) and making sure that our operations continue to run smoothly. If our competitors found out that my boss is losing his touch, it wouldn’t take long for them to exploit the situation and implement more aggressive business strategies to push us out of the market.
A while back I was about to close a deal regarding some financial assets. I won’t go into the details, but due to some very unprofessional behaviour from a rival company, I got only half of what I had set out to acquire. Sure, business is business, and sometimes you don’t get the deal you wanted. I can live with that. It’s just that the CEO of the rival company (I’m going to refer to him as The Twat from now on) has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. No sense of business at all. He’s old money, and apparently one day he just decided that it would be fun to own a company, so he used his daddy’s money to start one. Imagine losing a deal to someone like that. It didn’t help that The Twat had the nerve to explain to me how business should be conducted.
I told my boss what had happened, because I needed to vent about it. I expected him to share my views about how ridiculous and irritating The Twat was and we could have bitched about him together. Maybe my boss would have even wanted to retaliate in some way.
To my surprise and horror, he got curious and wanted me to set up a business meeting with The Twat. A friendly business meeting. I tried to talk him out of it, because there really was no point in wasting time with someone like that. He didn’t want to hear any of it, and even ordered me to contact him personally instead of just sending an email. Not even a phone call would do, I had to go and meet him in person to deliver the invite.
The Twat was being his usual rude self when I told him my boss wanted to meet with him—and of course he declined, being the arrogant idiot he is. That suited me just fine, and when I relayed his message to my boss I was sure we could let the whole incident behind us. But nope, my boss insisted we keep trying to get his attention.
Eventually he managed to meet up with The Twat. It was a private meeting, just the two of them, so I have no idea what they were talking about. My boss wouldn’t tell me anything in advance, which is a bit unusual but not unheard of. Sometimes he just likes to be secretive and keep his cards close to his chest. I don’t like it, but I’ve grown used to it. It’s his company after all, and I usually trust he knows what he’s doing.
This time I should have doubted his judgement, because the man was clearly going insane. Instead of telling The Twat what’s what, he had negotiated for a merger between his and The Twat’s companies! It made no sense business-wise, The Twat’s company was completely unprofitable and staying afloat only because he was pouring his own money in it.
There was nothing I could do to sway my boss’ decision. He appointed me to reorganise The Twat’s business; streamlining the processes, orientating the personnel etc. to make it more profitable. Apparently he saw something worth salvaging in that wreck of a business.
It was immediately apparent that even if The Twat’s company happened to have some hidden redeeming qualities, it wasn’t the personnel. Useless fuckers, all of them. The whole place looked like a sheltered workshop, except that nobody was doing any work. It was impossible to make them do even the most basic tasks, either because they didn’t know how to do them or because they just ”didn’t feel like it”. No matter what I told them, they just shrugged it of the moment I turned my back. I had to repeatedly order them to do what they were paid to do. It was like herding cats. I even caught two of them having sex in the break room—on company time! And they had the nerve to question my authority. Said they’d only listen to The Twat. Which of course was very fine and dandy for them, because The Twat wasn’t around to tell them what to do.
While I’m doing my damnedest to turn this sinking ship into something that’s worth my boss’ time, single-handedly managing the day-to-day operations, being responsible and doing my job, what is my boss doing? Fuck if I know. He’s off somewhere with The Twat, paying absolutely no attention to the business. He claims to be ”mentoring” him, but their relationship doesn’t look like a professional one. They’re constantly together and I can hardly get any time alone with my boss so that we could discuss what his plan for this whole merger was. He’s only given me some vague explanations that don’t really line up with the way he’s behaving.
So, I’m doing all the work and getting no respect, being ignored by my boss while trying to make sure his reputation doesn’t get tarnished because of this idiotic business arrangement. If the word got out that he’s making these sorts of decisions, all the goodwill he’s managed to gather would evaporate overnight. But I don’t want that to happen, because I still respect him, even if he’s off his rocker. We share a lot of history, him and me, and I can’t just throw that away.
My problem is that while I’m doing my job and trying to protect my boss and his company, The Twat’s employees seem to think I’m the biggest asshole there is and they’re not being subtle about it. At first it didn’t bother me that much, I’m not here to make friends or anything. But now it’s been going on for weeks and it’s starting to get to me. I’m trying to assure myself that they are being unprofessional and childish, but what if I’m the one who’s wrong here? This place is messing with my head because the workplace culture is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Maybe by some bizarre logic they are actually right?
Am I The Asshole?
The situation has escalated, and some of you wanted me to keep you posted, so here goes.
I managed to get a hold of my boss and explained my concerns to him. I told him that this whole merger is a mistake and he should just cut his losses as soon as possible, because the longer he waits, the worse it’s going to get. He seemed to be very reluctant about it, like he didn’t actually believe me.
Then The Twat got a hint of a potential big deal. In order to land it, he’d have to be cunning, plan ahead and tread carefully. I knew he’d be incapable of pulling it off, being the sorry excuse of a businessman he is. I could have told him to back off, let someone else handle it. But since this was an excellent opportunity for me to demonstrate what sort of an incompetent idiot he is, I didn’t. Instead, I encouraged him to execute his stupid plan. I thought that if my boss didn’t trust my judgement, maybe he just needed to witness The Twat botching this deal for his eyes to open.
Of course it didn’t go the way I wanted. Nothing does anymore. Instead of seeing The Twat’s true colours my boss got involved and saved his ass and closed the deal. The whole thing just worked as a bonding experience for them both and now they are thick as thieves.
After the deal had been closed and everyone was celebrating the big win, I finally snapped. In retrospect I know I shouldn’t have, but in that moment I just felt so powerless that I lashed out. I had to speak my truth. Unfortunately I did this in front of the whole company. Didn’t realise this would be the moment when The Twat decided to grow a backbone. Long story short, I got kicked out of his premises. My boss did nothing to stop him from doing it.
I guess I should be glad I got out of that dumpster fire, but as long as my boss is still in the clutches of The Twat I just can’t feel any sort of relief. I’m starting to think I really have to come up with a proper plan to stop The Twat from destroying my boss’ lifework.
I just can’t help feeling like I’m some sort of evil scheming bastard. AITA?
At this point I’m fairly sure the answer will be YTA, because people around me have made it abundantly clear that they see me as one. I know why they think so, and maybe they’re right. But because I still feel like I had a good reason for doing what I did, I want to tell you what has happened since my last post. Who knows, maybe some of you will at least understand me, or agree that the end justifies the means. I may be an asshole, that I can accept. I just don’t think I was the only asshole here.
Some of you probably read my earlier replies where I mentioned that there were some rumours going around about The Twat’s company. Of course rumours are rumours, and I know they shouldn’t be taken at face value. So I did some digging, talked to some of my business contacts etc.
Turns out The Twat had really messed things up. Big time. He had the whole NECC looking into his business dealings, trying to find something tangible to bust his ass. I don’t have all the details, but he was basically in the top 10 of their Most Wanted list. They had been investigating him for months, building their case, and it was only a matter of time when they’d make their move.
In addition, I found out that the lead investigator had some sort of a personal vendetta against The Twat. Apparently his brother’s company had gone under thanks to some shady business dealings of The Twat and it had ruined his life.
So, when I had all this information, I assessed the situation.
I knew for a fact that The Twat was going down sooner or later. There was no way he could elude the NECC forever. Why not make it sooner, then? Why not turn this to my advantage, make the NECC take care of my problem? It’s not like this situation was my fault in any way. The Twat should be held responsible for what he’s done.
I got in contact with the lead investigator, offered to share some information and told him I could help him out. We agreed that I’d let him know when and where he and his team could arrest The Twat.
There were a couple of problems with this plan, though. First, I didn’t have any access to The Twat’s schedule. Second, I needed to separate him and my boss before the NECC would make their move.
Luckily I had a solution to both of these problems. I reached out to an old colleague of my boss. They used to work together before my boss founded his own company, and even though they hadn’t had that much contact lately, I knew my boss still valued his opinions and trusted him. When I explained the situation to him—how The Twat was ruining my boss’ reputation and how he was going to end up being collateral damage when The Twat eventually got arrested—he was more than happy to assist me.
After this, it was surprisingly easy to execute the plan. My boss’ colleague approached him, apparently with some sort of a sob story that got my boss to integrate him into his and The Twat’s entourage. Then we just waited for the opportune moment. When I got the word, I relayed it to the lead investigator and let him handle the rest.
Not everything went as expected, though. The Twat did get arrested, but my boss’ colleague hadn’t been able to separate them, so when the NECC raided them, they also arrested my boss. I pleaded the lead investigator to look the other way and let my boss go. I told him he owed me that much, because hadn’t I saved him a lot of time and money with my cooperation? It was a desperate move, and I didn’t really think it would work—but it did! Finally everything was going the way I wanted, The Twat would be locked away and my boss could return to his usual business and we could put this unfortunate episode behind us.
When they released my boss, I knew I owed him an apology, because it was clear that he was very upset, and it was partly because of me. I never wanted him to get hurt and I had tried my best to avoid this exact situation. I tried to explain him that I had acted out of loyalty, that The Twat had it coming, that I only every wanted my boss and his business to thrive. I begged him to understand.
Well, seems that I completely fucked it up. My boss decided to strike a deal of his own with the NECC. After being in the business for as long as he has, he had all sorts of dirt on several of his rivals who also had been conducting some shady business deals. He basically offered himself as a consultant to the NECC in exchange for The Twat’s freedom.
Long story short, it looks like my boss’ reputation did eventually get ruined, even when I tried to stop it from happening. The merger is still in effect (I won’t bore you with the legal details) and I got appointed as the acting CEO for the time being.
At first I thought I might be able to salvage at least something, given that this time my authority was undisputed and there should be no ambiguity about it. No such luck. I’m stuck with The Twat’s personnel (you wouldn’t believe the clauses they have in their contracts) and it pains me to admit that my hands are tied here. ”Acting CEO” my ass. I’m forced into being a rubber stamp. I’m fairly sure all of them are focused on driving me out.
I might just let them do it. I’m so fucking tired. I should have listened to the advice I got here earlier, I know that now. But hindsight is 20/20.
So, there you have it. Confessions of a sad bastard who realised his mistakes too late.
I’m not even sure if you people deserve an update, but since I’m writing this, you’re going to get one.
My boss came back. Without The Twat. Which should be a good thing. Initially I was relieved, because there had been far too many defenestration jokes thrown around amongst the employees. They hadn’t even been that subtle. After my boss came back, they at least calmed down a bit.
Unfortunately, even when my boss was back, it didn’t feel like it. Do you know how in Pet Sematary everyone who gets buried there comes back Wrong? That’s how it felt. I don’t know what had happened between him and The Twat, and I didn’t ask. Whatever it was, it had changed him.
Right after returning, my boss locked himself up in his office (technically, The Twat’s office, but at this point it didn’t make much difference). He slept there, ate there (not that he even ate that much), didn’t want to meet anyone. Kept drinking all the time, too. I was the only one he allowed inside, but only to bring him more booze or food. It felt like he wasn’t really there, like he was just existing.
I tried to keep up the appearances so that the staff wouldn’t get suspicious. Made up excuses for why the boss wasn’t running the operations. I actually managed to make them do their work, because now they were under the impression that the orders were coming from my boss and I was just relaying them. The situation wasn’t ideal, but it was manageable.
Then one morning I go to my boss’ office and see that he has built a blanket fort. A fucking BLANKET FORT. This man is in his mid 40s, he’s one of the most talented people in our field and now he’s built a fucking nest and crawled inside it to mope.
I was at my wits end. I knew he needed some sort of intervention, something to shake him out of his slump, but I had nothing. He hadn’t really been that responsive to my earlier attempts of talking some sense into him, and I was tired of trying. Still, I told him that he really needed to sort his shit out, because he could not keep doing this, he could not stay inside his office for the rest of his life, hiding from the world.
To my surprise, I actually got through to him this time, at least partially. He asked me to get The Twat’s PA. Now, I despise that little fucker, he’s been nothing but a lazy bitch the whole time I’ve known him, and I had no idea why my boss would want to talk with him out of all people, but at least this was a change of pace. So I did what he asked, sent the PA to him, but not before making it abundantly clear that he was to keep his mouth shut about everything he witnesses. I feared that he would gossip about the mental state of my boss, and we really couldn’t afford that.
It didn’t go as I feared it might.
It got way worse.
Sure, the PA somehow coaxed my boss out of his office and got him to interact with the staff again. But now I was truly worried about my boss’ emotional wellbeing. Before this, there had been that ”he came back Wrong” feeling. Now? Now I wasn’t even sure if it was him. It felt like some doppelgänger shit, very Invasion of the Body Snatchers—the only difference being that this version of my boss was definitely not devoid of human emotions.
He had written a song, and wanted to perform it to the staff. Got one of them to accompany him on guitar while he sang. Was it a good song? Maybe—if you were a 14 year old girl who just got dumped by her first boyfriend after two weeks of dating. Did anyone tell this to him? Of course not. The staff praised him for it, almost falling over each other in their haste to kiss his ass, telling him how good it was that he was sharing his emotions.
My boss was getting all chummy with them, and then he started talking about how the company could use a total change of course, how we should pivot and focus on a completely different industry. He wanted to throw away our position as the market leader and focus on something more creative, more artistic. He wanted to host a fucking talent show for the whole company! And the staff was of course loving all this hippie bullshit, because it meant that they didn’t have to do any actual work.
That was my breaking point. If my boss truly wanted to turn his thriving business into a circus, I would not stick around to witness that. So, when he got back to his office, buzzing with his new plans, I decided to speak my mind. For once, I told him exactly what I thought about his plan of action. I told him that if he wanted to throw his whole empire into the gutter because The Twat hurt his feelings, he was not the man I knew and I had no desire to work for him. I made it clear that if he wanted to go through with the whole farce, he would have to do so without me.
It might sound like I gave him an ultimatum, but I was just being honest with him. I am not willing to change careers, and I am not willing to work under an incompetent boss, no matter how much history we share or how much I once respected him. At this point, I was quite certain that I could not make him change his mind, but I needed him to know why I was going to leave.
After our little chat it actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I could do this. I could leave him and find another respectful company, get another job. I knew my worth, and because I finally saw that he apparently didn’t, I was ready to move on. There’s no time like the present, as they say, so I went to pack up my office without further ado.
It took me a couple of hours to get everything sorted. When I was almost finished, my boss suddenly barged in. And this wasn’t the sad mopey version of him nor the rainbow-farting hippie who wanted to turn the place into a community theatre. No, he was back in his business mode, sharp and ruthless as ever. It was as if he had been under some sort of spell, but now he was wide awake. Apparently my words had really struck a nerve and he had finally seen reason. He was going to set the company right again, return to what he knows best. I was thrilled, but before I had the chance to say anything, he continued by telling that I was going nowhere. He had used his connections and made sure that I would never work in this field again if I left. Nobody would hire me. And since we had a lot of work to do, all vacation days were cancelled until further notice.
It felt good to know that in the end, he truly appreciates and values my work performance and dedication to his company.
He had already given the boot to The Twat’s PA. The next step was to finalise the merger by rebranding The Twat’s company so that it aligned better with my boss’ brand. Most of The Twat’s personnel got sacked, too. My boss didn’t give a flying fuck about their fancy contracts. If they’re going to sue him, they better get good lawyers, because the ones my boss has are the best. Same goes for the couple of employees he decided to keep, if they feel like resigning, because that’s not going to be easy either.
We’re back on track. Business is blooming. My boss is once again at the top of his game. So no matter what happened or how we got here, whether I was an asshole or not, it all worked out just fine in the end, right?