I've been working in my current job for about 3 years and do consulting, accounting and other things for companies. I deal with a lot of higher up management and businesses ranging from sole traders to some of the biggest companies on the planet. I'm honestly shocked at just how stupid so many of the high-level managers are.
A few examples:
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I had a senior accountant of a major global brand constantly pay the wrong amount on invoices sent to them then be completely confused as to why they're fluctuating between being in debt and credit. I've explained it to them about 6 times, they still don't understand and continue to pay the wrong amounts.
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A senior national manager for the same major global brand who apparently specializes in handling contracts and agreements didn't read the contracts properly and assumed things that were never written.
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A major logistics company had been requested multiple times to confirm if they were planning to stay at one of their depot locations. None of the managers could make a decision and chose to ignore it. The owner of the warehouse then sold the property and they were vacated with only a couple months notice. Had they requested to stay rather than ignore it, they could have stayed as long as they wanted.
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I've had an executive from a large telecom company in charge of property leasing have no idea how rental payments worked, how to read clauses in a lease, and I'm pretty sure they didn't fully understand what auditing was.
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I had a CEO who touted himself as a big, strong, “alpha male” figure scream at me on the phone until he broke down in tears because I told him he had to pay the bills for the services he's already used.
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A CEO was angry because all of his pot plants died in the office. I asked how is that anyone's fault but his, he said the contract he signed said the building management was responsible for “servicing and maintenance of any lifts, escalators, generators or plants on the premises”. He thought it meant pot plants.
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A large companies head lawyer couldn't work out 5% of a certain figure. I had to send him an email with the calculation and summary for him to finally understand it.
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A CEO was mad that his company's bills weren't being paid and blamed our company for it. Not only were we not responsible for paying them, it turns out the bills were being sent directly to him and he just wasn't opening them or sending them on to be paid.
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I had a business owner cry claiming she had “nothing left” after covid and begged us to find a way to cancel some of her debts. Turns out not only did she have a house in an ultra rich neighborhood but she had stolen $350,000+ from the people who worked for her. We cut business ties with her and she's currently being sued.
These are just a few examples of people in high up positions having no idea what they're doing. Just because you work in a lower paying position, doesn't mean the people above you know what they're doing.