Are you literally f*cking kidding me?

[Ginger42]

35. I once had the audacity

to do a man’s job better than he did it. Production department at a TV station. Production Director was awful at his job – he loved to let the work pile up until the salespeople were frantic about their ads getting done, then he’d slop them together at the last minute. No one could do anything unless he specifically told us to, so some days we just sat around while the work went undone and it looked like we were loafers but we were forbidden to do any little thing unless he specifically told one of us to do it.

He went on vacation and the GM put me in charge (since there was no male alternative.) I got that shit organized. Everyone had assignments, they were empowered to do what needed to be done, and the salespeople always knew what was being shot/edited for their clients and it was all done well before airtime with plenty of time for review and client approval.

Production Director comes back and the GM calls us into his office and wants to know why the hell everything goes great when PD is gone and goes back into the shitter when he gets back. His exact words: “You leave, she takes charge, and suddenly my salespeople are happier than pigs in shit! She’s even getting work out of (station owner’s daughter.) Then you come back and it all stops. What the hell is up with that?”

I knew I was doomed. Six months later I was “laid off.” Doing a job better than a man was a cardinal sin at that station.