I know this subreddit is often a place where we talk about the endless depressing chasm which is “work” – and often those discussions revolve around working for oppressive, narcissistic assholes, but today my friends – and against all odds, I have a victory to tell.
Narcissists are rampant at the upper hierarchy in corporate America. And especially so within tech. And so most people at some point in their lives will have to deal with them. They might be a colleague, they might own the company, they might be the CEO and they might be your direct boss. And if you've ever dealt with one you know that it is virtually impossible to win against one. Their entire worldview is constructed around controlling narratives while ensuring that their image and ego are properly satiated. Anyone who has the potential to undermine those things in any way, whether legitimately or perceived – is a threat that must be stopped by whatever means necessary. Often when you google things like “how to deal with a narcissist boss” you'll find time after time that there is simply no way to win without leaving the company or finding another department to work in.
For the last year my team had a shake up and ended up reporting to the most stereotypical cliche narcissist. A completely inflated sense of self. An absolute blowhard with no real industry, product or “best practices” knowledge. A hollow shell with no actual skills who was convinced that he was far far more talented than anyone else in the company. A walking HR nightmare, he was constantly inappropriate. Constantly unprofessional. Always interrupting people. Always trying to steal your thunder and try to take the credit for himself. Impossible to debate with. Changing reality all the time regardless of how egregious it was – and with no self awareness to know just how crazy it looked. And despite all this, he has been with the company for more than 20 years. He is truly a con artist. Stealing money from the company while doing virtually no work and finding people to blame for his own inability.
I can't imagine how many people at this company have been fired, reprimanded or have quit due to this guy. I can't imagine how many bad decisions affected customers and their business or how many times this company has made bad decisions to his ridiculously bad advice. The amount of impact this guy has had is immeasurable and I'm certain that 90% of it has been egregiously bad.
Well my friends, it's over. Today against all odds, my team beat the narcissist boss. He's gone. Fired. And he won't ever be back. Through a collaborative effort of documenting meetings, emails, slack messages all while keeping track of every dollar spent inefficiently or impractically. Through months and months of putting it all together, coming together and deciding that enough is enough, we built a case for the top level of the company to finally be done with him.
And it actually. Fucking. Worked.
He's gone.
It feels like a religious experience. Like I bathed in holy water. It's one of the happiest I can remember being. The possibilities at work are endless now. The day to day is so much better. The opportunity to grow my career, to legitimately help customers, to foster a positive working environment. I'm sleeping better, I'm happier. It's great. I can't fucking believe it. It's as though Andy Dufresne finally got the prison warden in The Shawshenk Redemption. That's how it feels.
I just wanted to say that you never know. Sometimes things really do work out. Maybe this will help someone who is absolutely drowning in their miserable work life. I don't know. Maybe I just wanted to type it out so that I could see how real it actually is.
The end.