25 Of The Best Moments People Stood Up To A Toxic Boss

Good bosses are rare in the world unfortunately. It’s more likely for employees to encounter a toxic boss who enforces obsolete rules and practices an archaic management style. But with the internet, more and more people are becoming aware of good leadership qualities and demanding that supervisors cultivate a better working environment.  Recently, Redditor u/JessyGlow shared a post online where she called out her exploitative boss. This inspired the members of the ‘Coworker Stories’ online community to recollect their personal experiences dealing with or witnessing an instance of standing up to an entitled manager. We’ve run through the stories and shared a few favouries in the gallery below. 

#1

Image source: BlueGolfball, atice Baran/Unsplash (not the actual photo) My first job was nagging groceries in a smallish independent-owned grocery store. The owner was one of the worst people I have ever met and he was unnecessarily mean to all of his employees which were teens in school or adults who needed the job. He ran his butcher away and his reputation kept all of the other butchers away because they get paid more and get treated better almost anywhere else. One of the managers hired his friend who had butchering experience and he happened to be the dad of one of my friends in school, which I thought was weird because he was in real estate. He was warned that the owner was an absolute jack off before he got the job. The first day at the job the owner had the morning meeting and was going off about the smallest things that didn't matter. The new butcher cuts off the owner mid-rant and says "You need to calm the f**k down and quit talking to people like this. You have short man syndrome and it's showing! I don't have time for this bullsh*t. Do you do this every morning? This is my last "meeting" and I'm going to cut some meat.". There was stunned silence in the room and everyone's jaw was on the floor including the owner. The butcher says "Haha, you people seem uncomfortable" and walks out of the door. The owner was fuming and stormed out after him and all we hear is "you better shut the f**k up before I make you. You be black and blue and have no butcher and I'll go home and have a beer!". He didn't get fired or even reprimanded because the owner had to have a butcher or he would lose thousands of dollars per week. All of the employees loved that guy for the 3 months he worked there. He would always stand up for the employees and embarrass the owner when he got out of line. I told my friend how cool his dad was and he didn't believe me. He was about 20 people's idol for 3+ months. He also pulled pranks on customers a lot and was just a complete joy to work around.

#2

Image source: Avaunt_, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) An old boss of mine was once yelling at my team for some dumb sh*t. I stopped him and said, calmly, "I sing in a hardcore punk band. If you want to yell, I can yell louder. Your choice." He actually laughed and took it down five levels. He and I are friends to this day. We're all just people.

#3

Image source: JessyGlow, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) This happened a few months ago but it lives rent free in my head. our boss (he's 6'4 and LOVES to remind people) was kinda grilling one of my coworkers during a team meeting for a mistake that wasn’t even really her fault. he kept raising his voice and getting all aggressive and she just… looked at him, completely calm, and goes: “you’re not intimidating, you’re just tall and loud.” dead silence. then someone coughed. then the boss just muttered something and moved on. never brought it up again lol. honestly legend behavior. she still works here. she drinks her tea like nothing happened. i aspire.

#4

Image source: sleepygirl39, ebastian Herrmann/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I had a boss once arguing with a new hire about a food safety issue, and the new hire was very very wrong, but kept arguing over and over. The boss ended the conversation by saying “if you wanna argue, you either need to be right, or be smart. And you’re not either.” This was like 4 years ago and I still think about it lmao

#5

Image source: Stewth, Dmitry Vechorko/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Clients construction manager was literally screaming at me in the morning meeting, and he was this 5'0" d**khead who was quite literally the ugliest man I've seen in real life. After he stopped for air, there was a few seconds of stunned silence and I just burst into awkward laughter. Nobody knew what to do including me. How do you respond to an ugly homunculus jumping up and down screaming?

#6

Image source: 69vuman, Brock Wegner/Unsplash (not the actual photo) We had a plant worker that drove out of our parking lot like a bat out of hell onto a 5 lane highway every single day.As the EHS director at the time, I cautioned him several times about his driving. He laughed at me and said Sooo. I called the local PD and described his actions every day at 3:31 pm, and the make, model, and color of his car. They nailed him for reckless driving the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Those points added up pretty quick. Soon his gf was driving him to and from work…and we never saw his car again.

#7

Image source: Zohzoh12390, ahmad gunnaivi/Unsplash (not the actual photo) There's a manager where I work who always works himself up in a fit and starts yelling and complaining at everyone and everything. But his employees always tell him to stop in a very patronising way, like you would to a child or a little brother, and he doesn't stop but he goes to have his fit in his office. It's really fun to see

#8

Image source: kooky_kolie, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I had a VP of a job i worked at where he revved out of our parking lot every day in a hot rod going 3x the local speed limit. Major narcissist who even told me Hitler was a great general. He drove his car up when i was sitting outside on break smirking and acting all high and mighty. I just looked him in the eye and said, "Nice car. Compensating for something?" He just drove off

#9

Image source: AppropriateChain984, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) A former co-worker of mine (who was in her 20s at the time) was known for schooling folks for raising their voices at her by saying simply, “you will not speak to me that way. Let me know when you’ve calmed down.” And then would gather her stuff and leave the room. She even did it to our CEO a couple of times. EPIC and mature and exactly what we all should (be able to) do.

#10

Image source: Broad_Bill3095, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I once had a boss tell me for the third time in a year that I was getting more put on my plate. So, for the 3rd time that year, I asked for a raise. I smiled as he yelled at me for asking for more money for the 3rd time. I waited for him to finish. “Forget the raise, I’m not leaving this spot until you apologize.” I’d let him yell and yell, waiting for him to stop. And each time he did, “still waiting on that apology.” He stormed out of the office. Not just the conference room we were in, but the whole office. Got in his little sports car and sped off. Called me an hour later to give me the raise and apologize.

#11

Image source: KT_mama, Luis Covarrubias/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Way, way back, I worked as a sandwich artisan as my very first job. I was in high school and very much so looked the part. We got this one guy who came in ranting and raving, if I recall correctly, that the PRE-PACKAGED cheese was apparently smaller than he remembered and he was threatening to come over the counter about it if I didn't give him more for free. I just calmly pointed to our shift manager, who was weighing meat portions within view and said, "That's my manager. He's a nationally ranked boxer. You can come over this counter if you want, but he's gonna make you regret it." Manager stared the guys down as he took off his gloves. The cheese was no longer that important. The kicker was that if they guy had just asked nicely, I probably would have given it to him.

#12

Image source: Comprehensive-Dig165, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I got a job welding after I retired from the Army. It was about an hour drive to get there. I was hired when the platform manager was on vacation. First day he's back he walked into my welding booth "Can you explain to me why I should keep you here living an hour away when I have guys that live 5 minutes from here that can't show up on time?!?" My response was, "Well, yer paying me in a week what the Army paid me in a month and so far I haven't had to k**l anyone." I didn't see him again for like 2 months.

#13

Image source: buddymoobs, AllGo - An App For Plus Size People's profile AllGo - An App For Plus Size People/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I was at a large public event on the Mall at DC. I worked my way closer to the stage, and this large, 6'4-6" 50-something gentleman tried to shoo me back because they were keeping the space open for ingress/egress. I hadn't realized that, so I backed up to where other people were standing. He followed me and kept trying to get me to move farther by getting in my personal space and getting loud. I was perfectly fine where I was, other people were standing there and newcomers moved into the space I had just occupied without anything being said to them. I stared him in the eye as he literally loomed over me, then just ignored him. I was there to END this type of misogyny, not be victim to it. I don't know that an older, much shorter female had ever stood up to him before, but after several minutes of him continuing his intimidation while I peacefully ignored tf outta him, he finally grew embarrassed and left. I waited about 5 mins and left the area bc I couldn't see a damned thing anyway.

#14

Image source: Mach5Drive, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) When I was a young man, I had bright red hair. VP of my department had his hair drawn back into a pony tail, but you could tell that he had a bald spot toward the back. He announced loudly one day, "You have the ugliest hair I've ever seen." Without missing a beat, I replied, "At least I have hair, buddy." A number of people chuckled, including the VP, to his credit.

#15

Image source: Marty_Study_20000, Getty Images/ Unsplash (not the actual photo) The boss was shouting at a team member. I was in the meeting just because we had some tasks in common. I belonged to another team. When he finished shouting. I just said: as long as people think they can solve problems by shouting I will not waste my time attending this meeting and left. There was never a shouting in the meeting after. It’s important to speak up to aggressive behavior.

#16

Image source: Cake-Over, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Boss was pressuring me into a promotion I didn't want. He said I was consistently one of the best workers. I responded "Just because I hate my job it doesn't mean I have to suck at it". I relished the pregnant silence that followed. I'm a much better and happier support person to my supervisor, anyway.

#17

Image source: Hour-Craft2432, A. C./Unsplsh (not the actual photo) My tiny male boss asked me (female), at least 10” taller, former rugby player, if I was intimidated by him. Laughing in his control freak face at the question, saying no and walking away was a great feeling.

#18

Image source: gatorslim, Netflix One time the receptionist told the CEO he was the Michael Scott of managers with his corny jokes. He was dead because he thought he was this bad**s business man who everyone respected.

#19

Image source: anniecet, Eduardo Ramos/ Unsplash (not the actual photo) My District Manager called me up one day to chew me out over some piddly bullsh*t. He yelled for a minute… I hung up on him. Yes, my palms were sweaty, my heart was racing and I was seriously considering if I was going to get fired. I was 28 yrs old. He called back a few minutes later. I picked up and said in my most bland nonchalant tone “Are you done? And are you ready to speak like a reasonable adult now?” He took a deep breath and said “Yes. Can you correct this situation?” I said, “Sure thing.” He never attempted to yell at me again and when I turned in my resignation a few years later, he begged me stay. Sometimes you have to lay a boundary. I have learned that as a small “cute” female it was important to not let things escalate. If you don’t stand up for yourself, people will do their worst and some people just can’t respect you if you let them get away with being a**holes. Interestingly, people have told me that I am intimidating.

#20

Image source: daemonescanem, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I was delivering some vegetable oil to one of my companies' bottling plants in Quincy IL back in 2011. There was going to be a wait to unload, so I was invited into their break room. So I'm sitting there. The 2nd shift crew is on their lunch break. There was a group of ladies sitting together chatting. Their boss comes in and start ripping into one lady about something. She calmly says, " You better check yourself before you wreck yourself" to the boss. His face dropped, and he stormed out of the break room. That lady is a legend in my mind.

#21

Image source: Apart-Incident-4188, Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I told my supervisor once, “don’t try to lie to me, you’re not very good at it.” Never again did they say anything lmao

#22

Image source: VoodooSweet, Maks Styazhkin/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I worked with a guy in a kitchen who was 6’ 10” tall, he was literally the “Salad Guy” who would keep the Salad Bar full and clean, he actually had to duck when he walked thru certain doorways, or he’d hit the top of his head. He was also like 350lbs, not fat either, just a huge, muscular guy. He and one of the other Cooks got into an argument one day, and Derek, the big guy would always say things like “Watch out little man” and just subtle sh*t about being “small” all the time, well the Cook said something like “You think you’re big and tough, you’re really just a f***in 7 foot walking D***o” And same thing…..the whole kitchen was silent, just waiting to see what Derek was gonna do, and he just busted out laughing, and the whole kitchen lost it, and started laughing. That was like 30 years ago, and that sh*t STILL lives rent free in my head. It was a lot of fun working in Kitchens back then, kinda sucks now honestly.

#23

Image source: TangerineOld8429, Redd Francisco/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I once said to a very arrogant and unpleasant head of our Infrastructure Dept who was boasting loudly about how if you had "Head" in your job title, you could get people to do anything. "Yeah, well, in your case, you've also got d**k in front of it". He was apoplectic but couldn't really say anything as I was in a different Dept, and my boss, who was senior to him, burst out laughing when she heard it.

#24

Image source: BZLuck, Take the Stairs/Unsplash (not the actual photo) This is my ex-business partner. He was 6' 3" probably 250. Not huge, but not small by any description. By no means would I call him "in shape". He was just large. For some reason I forget, he started shaving his head, and it did make him look more intimidating. His step-father was a Marine, so he had USMC stickers on the back window of his truck like that was his legacy too. His primary "point of defense" was just to speak louder. If he didn't think he was being listened to, he would stand up and speak louder. He was used to being the biggest person in the room and getting what he wanted just by leering at someone. But if you just told him to shut the f**k up and sit down, that's exactly what he would do.

#25

Image source: Lovefoolofthecentury, René Ranisch/Unsplash (not the actual photo) I said something similar to a coworker once, he kept SMOKING in my office (construction site). He was about 340 lbs and liked to yell at everyone. I went in the washroom to chill out after he needled me once again except I was PMSing and saw the red mist descend so without knowing what was happening I march out right up into his face and told him everyone else but be afraid of him but he doesn’t scare me and a few other things I don’t remember. Then I marched down to the superintendent’s office and reported him. He was fired (third warning about smoking inside) and his crew called me a “rat” and tried to make me quit for months after. Worth it? Ehhh..