update: someone made a mean “self-evaluation” for my boss, and she’s punishing us all

by Alison Green on December 9, 2024

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

Remember the letter-writer whose coworker made a mean “self-evaluation” for their boss, who punishing everyone? Here’s the update.

A lot has happened since I last wrote.

First, I’d like to clarify some details. I didn’t write the self-evaluation, and at the time of the letter, I didn’t even know who had written it. I read it because it was stuck on a whiteboard that I needed to use during a meeting, and the person helping me move the whiteboard read it too. We threw it away afterward. I know that the malicious self-evaluation was also posted on the bulletin board, on the kitchen wall, and mixed in with other documents. It became popular partly because Rhonda isn’t well-liked at the company and partly because it was written in a humorous style. So even those who didn’t read it directly heard quotes from people who had.

One commentator said that this fake evaluation was distracting from the real issue, and you said Rhonda was a terrible manager and likely to continue doing awful things in the future. You were both right.

Some of us went to HR to question why flexible hours were no longer available, and Rhonda claimed it was all a misunderstanding. She said she only suggested stricter hours and that we weren’t required to follow them. I asked HR if it was possible to review my evaluation because I disagreed with some of Rhonda’s points, and I wasn’t the only one. To say that Rhonda didn’t like this would be an understatement.

The level of micromanagement after that reached absurd levels. She would interrupt people at random times, and we had to give her a complete report of everything we’d done since the last time she asked. This happened several times a day, and Rhonda expected lengthy or detailed responses, or she would interrupt you again and again. She also replied to emails vaguely, forcing you to talk to her in person for a proper answer.

Rhonda was also determined to blame someone for the letter. She interrogated all of us in groups and individually about it. She tried to figure out which groups of people typically went out together after work and concluded that a group who regularly drank together after hours was responsible. She told everyone that she knew who the culprits were, and so did we, and that the cover-up was only making things worse. Things escalated between her and this group. Rhonda claimed they deliberately scratched her car; the group said she was stalking them during lunch breaks. I’m not sure how much of this made it to HR — I tried to stay far away from all the chaos.

Fortunately, it lasted only a few months. One of the employees Rhonda was harassing as the supposed culprit missed an important deadline on a project. Rhonda didn’t notice until it was too late. We lost the client, and when Rhonda tried to put all the blame on the employee, she ended up being penalized herself for not realizing there had been no progress on the project for a significant amount of time. She and the employee had a very public argument during which the author of the letter was revealed (and it wasn’t the employee involved in the argument). Voices were raised, insults were exchanged, and both of them were escorted to HR and never came back.

The author of the self-evaluation claimed to have received a warning from HR and a compliment for their writing skills. I can’t say if that’s true, but I find it amusing to think so.

HR didn’t allow the evaluations to be redone, citing that there was no one available to redo them. This accelerated my job search, and I’m happy to say that I recently found a new job and have left all the drama from that company behind.

I thank you and the readers for the advice.

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{ 43 comments }

{ 43 comments… read them below }

  1. MsM*

    I’m not sure whether to offer congratulations or condolences on sticking it out long enough to be able to report all that back.

        1. Magnolia Clyde*

          Both of these are amazing. I’m going to be adding these terms to my vocabulary, with the hope that I don’t have to use them all that often.

    2. MigraineMonth*

      I think appreciation for the suffering the OP had to endure in order to satisfy our curiosity is in order. Thank you, OP, and I’m so glad you got out!

      I’m genuinely impressed that Rhonda demanded lengthy updates from her reports multiple times a day and still didn’t notice that one of her reports (who she was paying particular attention to) had made “no progress on [a project with an important upcoming deadline] for a significant amount of time”.

      1. Your Former Password Resetter*

        I suspect its a combination of flooding herself with information and focusing on petty personal stuff instead of work priorities.

        Like those managers who demand to be copied on every email, and then keep missing important things because that’s far too many emails to keep up with.

  3. Peanut Hamper*

    I really did expect a higher level of self-immolation from Rhonda, given that she’s full-on bananapants.

    I am glad LW is out of there. Any company that hires a Rhonda and lets her wreak havoc like this for a year is probably not the best company to be working for.

    1. goddessoftransitory*

      Stealing “tied the ribbon on the donkey” because it is perfect for so much of my life, and the world…

    2. Peanut Hamper*

      Honestly, the simplest thing would have been to roll back the ratings to whatever those employees got last year. HR is either lazy or…..nope, they’re just being lazy.

      1. ferrina*

        It is hard to figure out the best way to redo reviews, because it sets a precedent and risks inadvertently rewarding bad behavior.
        But at the same time, the HR should have already been looking for anomalies in the reviews. Things that impact compensation need checks and balances to make sure that you are offering competitive compensation to the employees you want to keep. Someone should have noticed that the whole team got lower evaluations, and barring that, if they realized that an issue had occurred, a decent company would try to make it right.
        LW was right to leave.

  6. darsynia*

    Since HR claims no one can redo the terrible assessments, someone should write an assessment of HR…

      1. MigraineMonth*

        The site seems to be a bit feisty this morning; we’ve got some comments cross-posting not just on different threads, but on different pages!

  9. Elbe*

    Yikes. Rhonda is a great case study is why it is so crucial for managers to be open to feedback from employees. Without it, you will never improve or grow – and by denying them proper avenues for improvement, you’re forcing your employees to find an alternative outlet for their concerns.

    Rhonda did just about everything wrong here. Writing a fake self evaluation isn’t the most professional or mature thing to do, but it sounds like everyone was driven to being on their last nerve.

    1. Pizza Rat*

      Rhonda never should have been managing people. I’m flabbergasted she was in the position in the first place.

  11. prefermypets*

    WOW.
    Just wow. I think I might have to hug my boss next time I see her… or at least bring her some cuttings from my plants or something

  12. RCB*

    Such a bittersweet update. Rhonda got canned in the end but it seems like absolutely no lessons were learned by the company and the exact same could happen all over again because at the core nothing has changed. I’m sure you were all just relieved to be done with Rhonda and too exhausted to fight, but I don’t think you could have kept me from going to the mattresses about the evaluations and taking it to the very top of the company and putting my job on the line to insist they be changed. Knowingly allowing a hostile work environment (possible in the legal sense, not sure) AND letting it impact my raise/bonus, not gonna happen. But I certainly don’t blame you for just getting the heck out of Dodge and being done with it all.

  13. Waving not Drowning*

    well, the spoof review was correct in the end – she was most likely to be fired in the next 12 months…..

  14. Scrimp*

    I realise we’ve just had the votes, but Rhonda might actually be a decent contender for Worst Boss of the Year. =/

  15. Observer*

    Wow!

    I am *so* glad you are out of there. Because Rhonda was a *terrible* boss, both as a person but also in terms of basic competence, but HR / Management in general was even worse.

  16. Expectations*

    I just had a long post about how OP1 reads to someone who medically can’t drive eaten by the site. I don’t have the energy to recreate it. Suffice it to say she comes across as bananapants to me, and that’s coming from someone who lives in a place where traffic escalates quickly and who genuinely appreciates rides when available. People do not function with to the minute precision and an extra 10-15 minutes isn’t even going to register with someone who has likely missed buses that run once every 90 minutes because they had to use the bathroom or who missed the last bus of the day because the boss unexpectedly stopped by at just the wrong moment. Especially when they’re paying you for the ride (not objecting to that, but in my experience most people turn down gas money when offered and I’d feel that this is more of a business relationship than a favor which gives me more agency in the process). I had a lot more context and nuance in the original post, but these are the key points in a somewhat blunter tone.

  17. bighairnoheart*

    I love the detail that Rhonda was a horrible micromanager, but still somehow didn’t notice that one of her employees missed an important deadline. Hmm, how could that have happened?!

    But in all seriousness, I’m glad you got out OP. And thanks for the update!

  18. Sparkles McFadden*

    Rhonda spent all of her time trying harassing the staff to find out who wrote the joke review instead of doing her actual job and, consequently, got fired? Yep, this is how the Rhondas of the world blow themselves up.

    HR allowing the bad reviews to stand is crappy, and it kind of explains why nothing was addressed until there was a measurable consequence to the business.

    Thanks for writing in LW. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2025 at your non-dramatic job!

  19. BridgeofFire*

    I love the irony of a micromanager getting let go because she missed a massive detail from a member of her team, and the fact that she tried to save herself by throwing her subordinate under the bus is right on character type.

  20. Quaint Irene*

    Holy anxiety ball bearings! This is Captain-Queeg-proving-with-geometric-logic-there-MUST-HAVE-been-a-duplicate-key-to-the-icebox levels of paranoia.

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