Who was Your Worst Boss and Where?

[bluegreen]

We all Had at least one or still have it.

Sharing is Caring right plus it might save us up to

80$ an hour In therapy fees LOL.

 

 

Spill It all I will to

[loveweary11]

Loud, old guy in a Fortune 500 tech company who fired me because he though I'd take his job.

 

Only tine I've ever been fired in my life... for doing my job *too* well.

[ColdandLonelyinAK]

My most recent boss. The funny thing? We were sort of friends before I started working for her.

 

As a boss, she was awful not only to me but to others as well. She was the queen of micromanaging, was snippy and rude and sent mean emails all the time insulting your intelligence. She also gave herself ample time off and almost every weekend when we were all supposed to have equal weekend time.

 

She had just been promoted when I got there, so maybe she was trying to prove herself. She is the reason I am taking my time with finding a new job. She gave me a bit of a complex.

 

I will never forget the way I was treated by her. I made sure HR knew of my experience with her on my last day there. Some people shouldn't be bosses. Knowing your job is only half of the requirements and you have to be good with people and encourage your team. She was all about the "Team of Me".

[bluegreen]

U TO?

Wow I thought it happened only to me.

I was green and dumb and thought I could take on the world.

Incredible thing though after that most of my Co workers left

Management went ape s....t

[Tayla]

did temp work in a factory. My floor boss was obnoxious,rude and definitely delighted in debasing any of the females. Nice or mean to him, he consistently let you know what a worthless being you were in his eyes. Gotta say that he motivated me to get out of there after I got my paychecks. only place i worked that paid double time . Sweet money! Stress Filled boss.

[ColdandLonelyinAK]

I will say though that my awful boss and that experience are what encouraged me to go back to school and finish my degree, so that's one good thing I guess.

[bluegreen]

Absolutely

[newmoon]

oh boy, where do i start. the woman was CRAZY! she called her employees idiots in front of everyone, yelled at people who came in, was racist to every single race - including her own, threatened to bomb the building with all the customers inside, had people fired for speaking out against her, made employees cry on a very regular basis, and when she was on her period... OMG!! how did she ever get promoted? i would always ask myself this. we are in a union environment so she couldn't be fired; people would file a grievance against her (she had about 15 filed over the course of just five years) and they still couldn't fire her. i was with her for 4 horrid years and transferred out as soon as i was able. fast forward 6 years and she is still there, doing the same thing to new people. i never believed i was suffering until i finally left that office; my body and mind had been really impacted and i never realized it until i had a normal supervisor again. it was, to be honest, mental cruelty, treating us that way every single day. she really did scar me for quite some time. a horrible woman and many of her personal issues (infertility, lack of marriage and kids by age 47) contributed to her overall hatred for others. this one time when a girl got pregnant she was so jealous of her... just an awful human being. who advances these people into management???

[bluegreen]

oh boy, where do i start. the woman was CRAZY! she called her employees idiots in front of everyone, yelled at people who came in, was racist to every single race - including her own, threatened to bomb the building with all the customers inside, had people fired for speaking out against her, made employees cry on a very regular basis, and when she was on her period... OMG!! how did she ever get promoted? i would always ask myself this. we are in a union environment so she couldn't be fired; people would file a grievance against her (she had about 15 filed over the course of just five years) and they still couldn't fire her. i was with her for 4 horrid years and transferred out as soon as i was able. fast forward 6 years and she is still there, doing the same thing to new people. i never believed i was suffering until i finally left that office; my body and mind had been really impacted and i never realized it until i had a normal supervisor again. it was, to be honest, mental cruelty, treating us that way every single day. she really did scar me for quite some time. a horrible woman and many of her personal issues (infertility, lack of marriage and kids by age 47) contributed to her overall hatred for others. this one time when a girl got pregnant she was so jealous of her... just an awful human being. who advances these people into management???

 

Jesus

Do I feel for U

Mine is not as bad but it's still difficult.

She gossips Scolds in front of everyone Micromanage, and her moods are like rollercoaster

Most weird is that it would be better if she yelled.

Or that she could care less if she looses customer cause she stood up 4 us.

But we are still not sure does she even like us it makes no sense at all.

[amaysngrace]

It would definitely have to be the one that set us up with lines of meth before our shifts to improve our productivity on the job.

 

He was a real champ.

[bluegreen]

You are joking right

[amaysngrace]

You are joking right

 

"you" meaning me?

 

Nope. Not joking...if you mean me. I think he ended up going to jail or dying or something. It might have been suicide or maybe aids. I forget but I think he's dead.

[pink_sugar]

Used to work for this small e-business for 2 years. The guy was a micromanaging d-bag, who would walk around the small office and slurp his tea loudly and hover over your shoulder. Every Monday morning, like clockwork, he would call you into his office 6 feet away from yours and be like "Ughhh *insert name here* come here" in his weird British Chinese English accent. You wouldn't even have time to boot up your computer. He would be wearing the same cords and pumpkin t-shirt 3-4 times a week. Sometimes you would walk by his office and see him staring at the ceiling for long periods of time, or picking his nose or loudly munching on a snack. If anything went wrong, he would always blame you for it or yell at you if you made even the slightest mistake. It was the ONLY job I had that did not offer any direct deposit and he frequently held our paychecks as long as he could till the last minute, so we never knew when our pay was coming. His breath was also awful and sometimes it felt like he was flirting with me by the way he wanted hugs, or touched my head or shoulder...or held my hand extra long after a hi-five. Some friends of mine working there after I left would report he would threaten to fire them often. He finally got what he deserved and he eventually closed the office down as of last week when he had to let go the last employee due to lack of business. You could get away with anything under his nose and this guy couldn't even operate a printer let alone a business.

[bluegreen]

Aren't Micro managers the worst curse that can happen to employees.

Do You guys hate don't take it personally phrase or is it just Me?

How did U or still do deal with that.

 

 

I freaking suck at that.

[pink_sugar]

Aren't Micro managers the worst curse that can happen to employees.

Do You guys hate don't take it personally phrase or is it just Me?

How did U or still do deal with that.

 

 

I freaking suck at that.

 

Yeah, it was horrible. He would always listen in to our phone calls and critique how we talked on the phone. One time he almost fired me for using the printer for printing a recipe since it wasn't work related. It's been almost two years since leaving.

[Fugu]

I've probably gotten along with almost all my bosses, but not all of them were what I'd consider to be good at what they did. A lot of people are capable of managing, but not a lot of people are capable of managing really well. Most companies don't teach people how to manage. They invest little in line management - almost as little as the bottom-rung associates. Management is cultivated. Most companies just don't see the value in it, which is unfortunate. The great companies that blow the competition away by doing things differently than the competition...they get it. Most do not.

[bluegreen]

U sure we're lucky

[Taramere]

The worst thing about a terminally dysfunctional working environment is that there are people who thrive like weeds in that sort of environment - and who will contribute to it becoming a more and more dysfunctional place. In workplaces like that, being polite and professional in your manner can be enough to get you hated and despised. And if you're dealing with that day in, day out, it can really start to get to you.

 

I can think of one boss I had who has a really unprofessional and quite bullying manner. Confusingly, there's also a very warm-hearted aspect to him...but he's an inverted snob, and they can be hellish to deal with. Not least because they're so self righteous in their brand of prejudice. His secretary was the same way. It was not a happy working experience.

 

Anyway, years later...a lot of my clients come from that guy. I don't mean that he refers them to me. What happens is that people will encounter his rudeness and abrasiveness, they'll be dismayed, and they'll decide to take their business elsewhere. And these are nice people, who are pleasant to work with. One of them came with a veiled warning from my ex boss (along the lines of "good luck getting paid"). I've had no problems getting paid promptly by that client, and he's been an absolute pleasure to deal with. But naturally, he didn't take kindly to being treated in a shoddy, disrespectful way - especially not after being sent a colossal bill.

 

So what I'm trying to say is that if you're working in a particular industry or profession, after a while in it you will often start to find out that the ex boss you had such a terrible time with has a very bad reputation. And all the things they loathed about you/picked on you for might be the very things that other firms/clients see as valuable, admirable qualities. Your confidence can be badly shaken by a dysfunctional boss and a dysfunctional workplace though. There's no doubt about that.

[Country_Girl]

I work in banking, for 2 years now.

 

In this industry, you cannot call in sick, you are always short staffed.

 

My previous bank, they were not happy when I contracted a virus and had a constant temp of 102. I took only 5 days off, even though my docs told me the virus would take 6-8 weeks to clear and antibiotics would do nothing. After my week off, when I returned to work, I was written up twice in the same week for not meeting loan goals. Since I was sick and didn't make them money, they were pissed. I've never received a write up my whole working life, I go to work and I do my job and then some.

 

The second write up in one week surprised me, I was in such a state of shock I had to go to the ER. Turned out to be a panic attack. Never suffered from this prior to the job.

 

Now at a different bank, been there 6 months. Considering delivering my 2 week notice tomorrow. Reason being, took my dog out to potty in the morning, he went after another dog, I fell and got a concussion. They are now treating me like **** because I requested 2 days off, wtf?

[empresario]

I've been my own boss for a long time. My first corporate job out of college (programmer) was the worst of my limited experience.

 

 

Not my direct boss. He was great. It was the CTO that sucked. He spent 0% (seriously, not a minute) of time with the developers. This is a 30 person company, not a huge organization.

 

 

So, he was directing our vision for the software and data center without knowing how we work in the least. Every idea that we would have would get stone-walled by him. That caused me to have a very dysfunctional view of how a visionary should act to his employees when I first started my original venture. I learned quickly people leave management...not jobs.

 

 

Happy to report at my current company, I'm 3 years in, and 40 or so employees and have never had someone quit!

[bluegreen]

The worst thing about a terminally dysfunctional working environment is that there are people who thrive like weeds in that sort of environment - and who will contribute to it becoming a more and more dysfunctional place. In workplaces like that, being polite and professional in your manner can be enough to get you hated and despised. And if you're dealing with that day in, day out, it can really start to get to you.

 

I can think of one boss I had who has a really unprofessional and quite bullying manner. Confusingly, there's also a very warm-hearted aspect to him...but he's an inverted snob, and they can be hellish to deal with. Not least because they're so self righteous in their brand of prejudice. His secretary was the same way. It was not a happy working experience.

 

Anyway, years later...a lot of my clients come from that guy. I don't mean that he refers them to me. What happens is that people will encounter his rudeness and abrasiveness, they'll be dismayed, and they'll decide to take their business elsewhere. And these are nice people, who are pleasant to work with. One of them came with a veiled warning from my ex boss (along the lines of "good luck getting paid"). I've had no problems getting paid promptly by that client, and he's been an absolute pleasure to deal with. But naturally, he didn't take kindly to being treated in a shoddy, disrespectful way - especially not after being sent a colossal bill.

 

So what I'm trying to say is that if you're working in a particular industry or profession, after a while in it you will often start to find out that the ex boss you had such a terrible time with has a very bad reputation. And all the things they loathed about you/picked on you for might be the very things that other firms/clients see as valuable, admirable qualities. Your confidence can be badly shaken by a dysfunctional boss and a dysfunctional workplace though. There's no doubt about that.

 

 

 

I feel like U are talking about mine!!!

[toscaroscura]

I was about 17, and an awkward and unpopular girl.

 

I worked at this farm stand in this snooty Massachusetts town owned by a woman, her husband and managed by their late-20s/early-30's daughter.

 

The husband kept to himself, but his wife was nasty and would scream orders and obscenities at me. I was just a kid trying to do her best, and this old bat was SO mean. One time I was just minding my business, breaking down boxes for the dumpster, when she came outside to holler in my face about God knows what!

 

Her daughter was an aging, stuck-up former sorority girl who buddied up with the other employee girls (as long as they were the pretty, popular type) and actively played Mean Girl games with me like some kind of high schooler. I remember being completely aghast that a woman that age would behave that way. She was even worse than her mother because she was around more, and she was far more subtle and cruel. The old woman would just scream at you, but her daughter could destroy your life! Looking back now through adult eyes, it was clear she was just bitter that she had peaked at 19, her art career never took off and she was stuck on her family's farm arranging flowers for rich housewives.

 

I ended up just...stopping coming into work. I didn't go back. Well, once to get my last paycheck. I couldn't even stomach facing them, either in person or on the phone, to "quit". It tore me up then because I had a good work ethic and thought I was doing something terribly wrong! Of course, now I know better.

[tuxedo cat]

I had a couple hot-headed bosses. One had such a bad temper that an assistant would have to close the door to the office whenever she started going on a tirade so the actors waiting in the hall couldn't hear her. But I actually do okay with short-fused people. Maybe because I grew up in household where there was a lot of screaming (dad especially), it doesn't faze or scare me. I find it amusing. I know people like that are usually just blowing off steam but don't really hold grudges, so you can always get back in their good graces if you work hard for them and show that you care.

 

I was most uncomfortable when I first moved to NY and had a boss who was nasty in a more cold-blooded way. She was very controlled in her exterior but engaged in a lot of covert bullying, backstabbing and manipulation. I didn't like her and she didn't like me. When I left her office I discovered she has a bad reputation in the industry and has lost many assistants and clients due to her style. She just uses and cycles through assistants; people don't stay with her for long unless they have a slightly masochistic streak. I'm over it now but for awhile my confidence was really shaken and I questioned my self worth.

 

By a stroke of fate the woman I work for now whom I met after leaving that office (and is a pleasure) was a former friend of my old boss. She told a similar story to my own of being exploited, but on a personal level. So we kind of bonded over being victimized by this woman and found humor in that shared experience.

Edited June 19, 2015 by tuxedo cat

[Fugu]

The worst thing about a terminally dysfunctional working environment is that there are people who thrive like weeds in that sort of environment - and who will contribute to it becoming a more and more dysfunctional place.

 

Over time, I've come to the conclusion that sh*tty companies attract sh*tty employees. There are good employees who end up realizing that they're in a sh*tty company, and then they try to think of an exit strategy - and then they get out. There are others who just want a job and a paycheck and try to fight through the workday conscientiously, but they don't really want to be there. They probably feel trapped for various reasons. And then you have those that seem to feel right at home in the little pigpen they've created for themselves and everyone else around them.

 

And what I've noticed is that these companies almost always lack insightful management and leadership at the top. Typically, what you have instead is a very incestuous system of promotion, one in which tainted people stay in the company and get promoted by others with similarly jaundiced ways of thinking. They're deeply resistant to and resentful of outsiders who come in and tell them that the way they're doing things is wrong, so they make their working environment ever-more insular as a way for them to safeguard their position.

 

What's really missing is an underlying system of accountability. There's no way to evaluate the leadership, maybe because there's no real board of directors or shareholders, or maybe because those people are so far removed from the company that they have no idea what's actually happening. This is also the sort of thing that, not unsurprisingly, leads to Enron-style book cooking. To people who are hell-bent on being at the top for no other reason than being in control, deception and manipulation become a daily way of life.

[bluegreen]

Over time, I've come to the conclusion that sh*tty companies attract sh*tty employees. There are good employees who end up realizing that they're in a sh*tty company, and then they try to think of an exit strategy - and then they get out. There are others who just want a job and a paycheck and try to fight through the workday conscientiously, but they don't really want to be there. They probably feel trapped for various reasons. And then you have those that seem to feel right at home in the little pigpen they've created for themselves and everyone else around them.

 

And what I've noticed is that these companies almost always lack insightful management and leadership at the top. Typically, what you have instead is a very incestuous system of promotion, one in which tainted people stay in the company and get promoted by others with similarly jaundiced ways of thinking. They're deeply resistant to and resentful of outsiders who come in and tell them that the way they're doing things is wrong, so they make their working environment ever-more insular as a way for them to safeguard their position.

 

What's really missing is an underlying system of accountability. There's no way to evaluate the leadership, maybe because there's no real board of directors or shareholders, or maybe because those people are so far removed from the company that they have no idea what's actually happening. This is also the sort of thing that, not unsurprisingly, leads to Enron-style book cooking. To people who are hell-bent on being at the top for no other reason than being in control, deception and manipulation become a daily way of life.

 

 

 

I really love your reasoning and would add

That it's just even worse when it's family owned place.