THE TRUTH ABOUT: Employee signs manager to mailing lists petty revenge | History Defined

The people we work with have a huge impact on whether we enjoy our jobs. And this doesn’t apply just to our colleagues—it’s twice as true for the managers.

A bad boss forces employees to get creative just to keep their heads above water. Sometimes this means finding catharsis in taking some control back and enacting revenge.

One woman got so tired of her micromanaging superior that she decided to sign him up to every single email list she could find.

She was vindicated when his inbox was bombarded to the point where he could hardly find anything.

Micromanagers make office life miserable

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)

So one worker came up with an ingenious idea to get back at her overbearing boss

Image credits: unhappy-ai

Image credits: bygloricom (not the actual photo)

A clogged-up inbox is a bigger issue than many people realize

The woman’s strategy is a time-honored classic, particularly as mailing lists “help” ensure the unwanted email ends up straight in the person’s inbox, not in the spam folder. These days, mostly for the better, email services tend to know when an incoming message is wanted and when it’s a scam.

Internet historians believe that the first spam email was sent in 1978 by a man named Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager. This somehow feels deeply correct. Unlike its modern equivalents, which can reach millions of people in minutes, his email was sent to a “mere” 600 addresses.

Unfortunately, in the current day and age, spam is still a massive, unceasing, but unnoticed part of emailing. Some research suggests that up to 90% of global email traffic consists of spam. It’s honestly a miracle of spam filters that we all aren’t struggling with thousands of daily emails. Shockingly, a large share of this spam can be traced to just a few dozen spammers.

This is even worse if you are a public figure, particularly one with money. Bill Gates reportedly receives around 4 million emails per year, the vast majority of which are spam. This was just in 2004; one has to imagine the strain his address alone puts on email servers. This, among other things, is one of the main reasons Gmail and most other popular mail services now just delete old spam messages.

Image credits: Adam Satria (not the actual photo)

Revenge is a pretty cathartic experience when done in moderation

Of course, OP, quite cleverly, got around this by simply making it look like her annoying boss voluntarily added his email address to these various lists. On top of a classic bit of revenge, this is also a wonderful way to keep him so busy sorting messages every single day that he doesn’t have time to micromanage.

It’s also important to note that revenge brings with it a feeling of justice, which is more important than one might think. After all, all too often, people in power who misuse that same power end up suffering few, if any, negative consequences. OP describes the various ways this particular boss is a pain in the rear end. The knowledge that she pulled a fast one on him and got away with it is no doubt a cherished memory.

Like anyone who has had to deal with a terrible manager or boss, retaining some power by inconveniencing them is deeply satisfying. Bonus points if they can’t even get back at you for it. This is also the core of why so many people flock to these stories. A revenge plot follows the most solid story structure, complete with a protagonist and a wrong put right. This is perhaps why people are so open about sharing work-stories, it’s both interesting, a warning to others, and, importantly, catharsis.

Later, the woman revealed a few more details about had happened

People thought this was a hilarious move

Others shared similar stories

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