Boss made me cry

[23Elfie]

Not had a great day today and wanted some opinions. Can't say what my job is as very outing but will do best to explain.

Very small team of only 6 people but we cover a big area of work which always worked well under previous manager. Had a temp join us in the summer of 2021 as we'd had some extra funding.
Old manager left, we had an interim who was horrendous and was gone within 8 weeks. Another gap and then the temp said he'd like to apply for the team leader job. His knowledge of the law in general is fantastic due to previous jobs. However wasn't sure on this sector knowledge but seemed ok.
In terms of 'rank' I am shared 2nd to last place in the pecking order.

He got the job (no one else applied) in July 2022 and understandably it was a big change for him as he was used to being out and about to now being 100% desk based. He is an older gent - now in his late 60s as he has retired before but got bored. Hence the temp job.

Well - turns out he has absolutely no idea what he is doing. Doesn't know how to do applications, policies, did appraisals 4 months late despite reminders from staff but never uploaded them so have had to battle to get pay rise back dated. No 'personal skills' whatsoever. It's been building up as assistant TL has been getting all the flack and propping him up while he does nothing all day. Very stressed out so I was helping them too.
TL has got more and more lazy, not online when he should be - tells us to call his mobile if we need him.

On Monday he sent a report to be published however a colleague from another department asked me to check it as it didn't look right, he couldn't be reached and assistant TL is on annual leave.
...he'd copy and pasted an old report from 2015!! It had references to 2015 in, references to people who have left - total shambles! As he was unavailable I had no option but to alert his boss as if this was published it would have legal implications. I ended up telling his boss there were a number of issues however we as a team wanted to speak to TL about it. TL boss said he'd like a proper chat to hear about the issues too. Ok fine.
Well today TL has kicked off at me and said that big boss had told him to tell me to stop 'going running' to him!? I've been to him once as TL once again wasn't available and I was trying to stop a disaster!
I was so mad I told him a few home truths about his lack of competence etc and said ok fine I won't help any more I'll do exactly as my job spec says. Tried to tell me I 'sneak off' to do the school run - I don't take a lunch break and work through so I use my hour lunch break to do the pm school run as agreed by him.

Sooooo mad! I ended up in tears after the call out of pure frustration - I barely ever cry.

Was I out of order to go to the big boss?
Did I deserve to be shouted at?
Am I a snitch?

Be honest!

I don't think big boss has said that - in an email he said he can't get involved in everything and decisions are on TL head but to come back to him if things don't improve - fine and understood, that's the last correspondence I had with him.

What do you make of all that if you made it to the end!

Fuck me. What an absolute shower!

No. Yanbu to cry, it sounds immensely frustrating, especially being given a second hand dressing down.

I would write a detailed time line, who asked you to check whatand when, list the specific issues there were with the report, who you informed and in what capacity.

Once you've written it up, sleep on it.

From what i read you aren't a snitch, you didn't go crying to the big boss, but it does sound like your position is untenable if he continues to be your manager,so I would look to move.

You are not to blame. You are not in the wrong. You didn’t ‘snitch’ you tried to find a solution with the circumstance that was presented to you. Any boss worry their salt would not mind you going to a senior leader in their absence (or in the event they were unreachable) and might reflect on how things could change in the future if if wanted to keep his boss on side and productively engage with his employees.

Your TL is a dick and his boss sounds like he doesn’t want to get involved and avoid the confrontation.

Not sure what to suggest except job search.

Why did none of the rest of the team go for the job? That might say something about the organisation.

Thank you both. I've been going over it in my mind all day.

I have made a folder on my email to collect all the emails relating to this in one place and noted down his start and finish times the last few days. We're supposed to do 8.5 hours which includes a 1 hr lunch break so 7.5 of actually working.
Tuesday he did 10:45 till 1 then lunch till 2 then left at 4:30... not sure what I plan to do with it yet but keeping a close eye on things.

Big boss needs to grow some balls. He's got a lot on his plate but he also earns a 6 figure salary compared to my 28k so surely more money means more responsibility?

I don't really want to leave as when he finally retires I've had encouragement from my team plus others to step up to either assistant TL or TL which would double my salary if TL. He's 68 and has spoken of retirement as he's got a few health issues...but that said I don't know how much longer I can cope with this shite...

So lady who is support staff is close to retirement and in her words 'don't want to deal with any extra shit' lol, one the same as me has young children and says not the right time for them, one above me job is like pocket money, had a city job before this earning huge bucks so this is just keeping him ticking on, he could retire whenever really, he is late 50s. Assistant TL would have to give up one part of their job they absolutely love, when it came up their mum had passed away and wasn't a great time for them but I think they might go for it this time round, in which case I'd go for assistant TL as that person would def get TL over me, lots more experience x

When he retires?
This guy should have been fired a long time ago. Can't believe the assistant team leader has been propping him for so long without mentioning a word to your big boss. I'd be furious and wouldn't stand for it if I were them. Can't believe this big boss (his immediate boss?) has also noticed nothing and thought all was going well, even after the latest cock up not got him sacked. Copy pasting a report from 8 years back, being unavailable and not even working the required hours, not sorting appraisals etc. For a 6 fig salary.. How on earth has he got away with all of this for almost a year?

Ahh so sorry I may have written that a bit strange. Big boss is in 6 figures. He oversees 4 departments and each department has a TL and other staff. Big boss should have a person below him and above the department team leaders but she left in September and wasn't replaced so she used to be his buffer.

My TL is on 50-55k, is supposed to do the appraisals etc for us team members but hasn't, he fucked up the report etc x

But yeah TL is shite and I'm not sorry for telling him a few home truths, big boss needs to grow some balls x

I've just come through a very similar situation.

My advice is to log and timeline everything, every conversation and every incident. Follow up every conversation with him with an email summarising what you talked about. Basically so you have evidence of every contact with him.

Don't worry about his time keeping, just focus on the parts that directly impact you. E.g. when I need x he was not available.

Raise your concerns with the big boss. Keep it unemotional and factual 'xyz has not been done, ABC had errors, I noticed he is not online at x time.' You might want to consider raising a grievance go with the informal route first.

If you get nowhere with that and feel like management are protecting him then get yourself out of there. Honestly if management close ranks you've got no chance of changing this.