"never telling the employee that there’s a problem" is almost never the case. Your comment mentioned years of miscommunication. If they never expect an update o

"never telling the employee that there’s a problem" is almost never the case. Your comment mentioned years of miscommunication. If they never expect an update or ever ask you about that thing you were supposed to do, I guess that's one thing, but it's highly unusual. Usually the manager will check in several times "so where's project X at?" and your response would easily clear up the confusion. 'I don't think that's on my plate, I thought you said X' would lead to a quick conversation where the problem is solved, and mappings are updated. This doesn't take more than 2-3 weeks of coworking to figure out, not years. If the manager asks you repeatedly about project X, and you repeatedly say "I haven't looked at that yet" or some other thing that accepts responsibility but clings to the original phrasing as an excuse to get yourself off the hook, the manager is correct about thinking "why don't they do what I ask". This indicates a judgment problem.