HR tells veteran barge tower not to be "inflexible" and to listen to their ideas of their younger crew members, they step back and watch things unravel: 'I was told I should listen to crew and perhaps I could learn some "new and improved" ways to towboat'

Working knowledge and experience are invaluable assets when it comes to getting a task done quickly, efficiently, and—most important of all to just about every company: profitably. You can't just barge into a job and expect to have everything nailed down right away, it takes time learning, and patience to be able to handle a task effectively. The problem is even when you do have the necessary knowledge and experience, part of just getting by in this world is handling the folk who think that they have a better idea of things than you. And these people really don't like being told otherwise, so sometimes you just have to sit back and quietly watch things fall to pieces before people are going to be willing to listen to you.

That's pretty much what was happening in this classic time-tested tale of malicious compliance where this weathered and wisened veteran barge tower was advised by the towing company they worked for's HR department (probably the owner's cousin) that they needed to be more equivocal and let other people, namely an upstart deckhand (probably the owner's nephew) have his say on how to get the day's work done. The barge tower decided to let HR have it their way, and the next time the situation presented itself they stepped back and let the others take charge… to, well, predictable outcomes.