To Step on Someone's Toes

To Step on Someone’s Toes

Read the following e-mail and try to guess the meaning of the idiom “to step on someone’s toes”:

Hi Karen,

You won’t believe what just happened!
Marilyn has a problem with a new company policy. She did not like the fact that employees have to wear name tags to work now. She should have talked to her direct supervisor, Paul about it first, but she didn’t! She sent a nasty e-mail to the company’s CEO. Paul was really upset and told her she should not have stepped on his toes like that! The CEO also told her she should have talked to her direct supervisor first.
She totally stepped on Paul’s toes by talking to the CEO about it! Paul should have been the one dealing with the situation.
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on what happens next! Any gossip from your department today?

Susan

Meaning: To Step on Someone’s Toes means to disrespect someone’s position and go above them.
In the e-mail above, Marylin stepped on Paul’s toes because instead of talking about the problem with him, she sent a letter to the CEO of the company

This idiom was taken from LSI's book Reading Savvy!