A viral Reddit post has sparked discussion about toxic workplace culture and the fragile egos of authoritarian managers. The post recounts an incident where an employee managed to keep a toxic boss in check simply by standing firm and asserting boundaries.
According to the post, the employee made it clear from the outset that he would not tolerate mistreatment and, if needed, would use his “connections and financial resources” to retaliate — even though he had neither. This firm stance reportedly kept the manager’s toxic behaviour in check toward him, though others at the workplace continued to face harassment.
“Recently, my friend was working in a toxic workplace. He made it clear from the starting to his toxic manager that he will not take his toxic s***, if required, he will use his connections and financial resources to make his life hell. As a result, that manager did not behave badly with him BUT he was still bad with other people. In reality, my friend does not have such connections or financial resources,” the Redditor wrote.
“We have to realise that these toxic managers are weak people who get amazed by temporary power. Suddenly, they feel like a hero in a movie because they have never received this much respect in life. ONE thing they forget is they are also replaceable and nothing outside those corporate walls,” the user further said.
The discussion resonated with many users online, who shared similar experiences of workplace toxicity and the importance of standing up to abusive authority figures.
“It’s all mind games in the end ig, nothing called work and productivity in an Indian workplace to land that monthly pay cheque,” a user wrote.
“True. The weak and the venerable always take a hit. Additionally at office , the more you engage in written communication the better. Even if there is verbal discussion , drop an email immediately like “To be on same page , this is what we discussed …” Example : If multiple tasks in plate , mention that over email and ask for prioritization. Make the managers do things for what they are paid. Also ensure , meetings are via calendar . Else that time never gets tracked,” a second user said.
“Yeah. People like these managers have very low self esteem and thus use cheap tactics and power tripping to get their daily ego boost. There’s no need for you to be the source of it, you need to stand up for yourself when you feel someone’s acting up. It works very similarly with animals too. It’s kind of a rule along wildlife explorers that if they’re attacked by a bear, lion etc your best bet is to appear dominant, commandeering, basically appear big. That’ll 99% of the time scare away the animal. Humans too are animals, just in a different way (sic),” a third user wrote.
“Only do this if you have a backup other than job,” another user commented.