The strongest internal friction, with a bunch of incompetent managers who don't live up to their titles

I once encountered a rather “special” senior colleague in a certain department.

She habitually referred to herself as an “assistant manager” in external emails, but in reality, the boss had long since demoted her to senior specialist. Her position in the workplace was highly contradictory—she appeared highly authoritative on the surface, yet whenever she actually needed to take responsibility, she was always the first to pass the blame, pushing problems onto other people or departments.

Several times, whenever new employees had just joined, she would rush to display her “managerial presence.” Many tasks that should have been handled by her were instead casually dismissed with a sentence like: “I don’t know. That’s your responsibility—figure it out yourself.” Watching the newest employees being forced to take on tasks she was unwilling to handle, I wasn’t angry at the time, but confused: Why could a senior employee who wasn’t a manager behave this way? After so many years without improving her abilities, was that really okay?

The same was true for new product launches and marketing-related cases. Even when matters were outside her expertise or had nothing to do with her, she would, in order to save face, have the boss step in on her behalf and direct his anger at innocent new colleagues. At that moment, I deeply realized for the first time: Some people pursue not what is right or wrong, but a sense of superiority.

Her pattern was exactly the same when working with vendors. Even when the terms were extremely unfavorable to the company, all she did was repeatedly emphasize, “It’s urgent, we’re in a rush, sign it quickly—the boss said so.” She was polite and considerate externally, yet domineering internally. This stark contrast made me understand even more clearly: People who lack ability often use their attitude to conceal their insecurity and fear of being replaced.