I am a stay at home mom now, and every once in a while I think I would like to go back to work. But then someone tells me an awful boss story and I feel blessed to be at home!
My sister was telling me that two of her managers were having a pretty bad argument and she was in earshot. She decided that she didn't really want to be party to the conversation so she tried to sidle out of the area without being seen. Of course one of them sees her and flips out, saying that she was eavesdropping and then running away like a coward. Now, my sister is pretty outspoken, but she just rolled her eyes and left. Now this woman is ignoring her, and my sister is having a hard time getting her work requests done because part of what she does relies on this lady. Ugggh
I've only had one really bad boss. Apparently she had to have a "Whipping boy". There was a lady that I used to work with that was crazy...I mean bat sh** crazy. She told me she was once involved in a drive by shooting! Well, this was the managers target, and when that lady left, she set her eyes on me. Everything that went wrong was somehow my fault. Like she didn't like the way I sat down. She honestly wrote me up for sitting with my leg tucked in underneath me. Then she took credit for solving a problem that I actually did. Then when her boss started asking her questions about it, she had to fess up and tell him that I did it. So life after that became unbearable. When I finally did get out from underneath her, the receptionist told me the "real reason" she hated me was because I had bigger boobs than she did! Seriously? I guess that explains all of my other female coworkers being A cups!
So let's hear em. Who has the worst boss ever?
I had a boss once that was really tall when he would stand behind my desk his "parts" were about shoulder high so he actually tried to rub himself against my shoulder. Yes THAT was uncomfortable I moved departments directly after that.
I had a boss that was engaged to her boss and cheated on him with another co-worker. Se ran away with him the Friday before I started and did not come back until Wednesday after I started. So that was my first experience with her. It got worse in that she asked another co-worker to sleep with her fiance/boss so that she (my boss) would feel less guilty about cheating. I never saw her work, she was always crying or not even there. I could never ask her for help because I was scared to even talk to her. So I would have to go to her boss/fiance for help, which was super awkward.
She also had pretty bad carpal tunnel syndrome and got addicted to her pain killers. She got so bad one night at an event with our owners and corporate people she ended up naked in the banquet office (we worked at a hotel so this was a co-workers office) She went to the hospital at one point and when was released she had to even have a cathater because she couldn't even go to the bathroom by herself. This all happened within about 3 months of my working there. I quit because it was too crazy and then she was fired. Not sure what ever happened to her...
She was a terrible boss
Ha.
Normal "bad boss" story was a job I worked while pregnant. I couldn't do my dream job anymore because I was pregnant, so I was really lucky (so I THOUGHT) to have this one. A few months in (and starting to get rather fat) my manager starts talking about her husband all the time, bringing in pictures, talking about how good he was in bed. Okay. Fine. Whatever. Long story short she was bicurious, he liked big women, and they wanted to have a threesome. Um. No. I was actually really nice/casual about it. (eeeeew, gross). But there I was fired the next day. Pregnant, no job, no insurance. VERY fun.
My abnormal boss story?
Well lets just say that Abu Gharib is no surprise, considering "Bad Commands" treat their own people that way, and much, much worse. I had the extreme misfortune of getting hooked up with a bad command for a few months. :P
Well let's see there was the guy who wrote a full month of payroll on a closed account. The several other's who bounced paychecks.
But believe it or not they were not the worst...
The Thrift Shoppe I worked for who threatened to fire you if you spoke to a customer--even if the customer asked you a direct question.
The furniture store manager who yelled at me because I sold a lady a couch and the delivery men couldn't get in her home. Somehow that was all my fault and I should have known better.
Then the guy who trained me for a whole hour and a half and expected me to know everything about his business and became very impatient when I asked questions. I finally rold him that I would be happy to take him to my martial arts school and teach him everything I had learned in my 5 years of training, in an hour and a half, and then bring him back to the office and he could show everyone what he had learned; he declined.
Then the boss who told me I had to change the outgoing message on MY cell phone to sound like it was a company office phone. I called the State of Wisconsin on that one and they asked if wanted to file a religious discrimnation complaint. My outgoing message simply says You have reached Reverend R. I am sorry I can not come to the phone right now ... but to this boss it sould have said you have reached R. with ABC company... This same boss threatened to write me up because I needed time off on a Saturday (not a normal work day) to perform a wedding.
My plan now is to never have to work for anyone but to be my own boss. I am so much nicer than most bosses.
I had a boss that told me in front of a group of customers and staff (I worked as a manager in a department store) that she couldn't figure out how the *&%k I got hired. I had been there 1 week at the time. She paged me so often that when I had to give my name for anything (dr appt, insurance, etc) I automatically added her phone number to my name. The final straw was when she "volunteered" me to be laid off.
When I was 17, I worked in a photo lab. My boss was a perv and a budding photographer, but he was slightly older than me, kind of cute and used a lot of flattery.
He once gave me a camera, and told me to go to the ladies room and take naked pics of myself for him. I went into the bathroom, and took lots of shots of the toilet. I eventually agreed to do a photo shoot for him in his friend's studio. Oh geeze....
He was eventually sued for sexual harassment by his new female employee, I had already quit at that time.
My boss in my previous job (over 10 years ago) was nothing but a bully. She was a successfull businesswoman and I can see why. She bullied her way to the top. She would belittle her employees when she saw fit. She focused on me for quite a long time. Near the beginning of my employment there she got on to me because the outfit that I had on was wrinkled. It wasn't in the morning but by the late afternoon it was....hmmmm.....She actually told me that I need to wear clothes that I would wear to an interview. The funny thing is that was the outfit that I wore to the interview with her but I didn't have the "balls" to say that to her at that time. That was just one example. She was just plain mean over and over. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to give her a piece of my mind but I was a single parent and I had just bought a house so I needed my job. But on the bright side, if I hadn't worked there I wouldn't have the job that I have now so it all worked out in the end.
I had a boss throw a rolodex at me once. Lets just say that was the last time she ever did anything like that again. Also had a boss tell me that she couldn't believe that I picked having another child over working with her. She also told me that I had to schedule my doctor visits on my lunch hour. Really?! I don't like working for woman. The female bosses I have had have been terrible. However, the silver lining in that is I think I'm a pretty good boss because I know what I DON'T want to be like.
Also, was sexually harassed by a boss, when I turned him down he told me the next day that it wasn't working out and I should find something else. A couple of days later, I told him I had found a new job (going home to be a SAHM) and that Friday would be my last day. Thursday late afternoon he asked if I would stay for another couple of weeks! Really? I was so bad that you fired me but now you want me to stay? I told him that I was sorry but that my new employer (DD and DS) needed me right away! He was such a slime ball. Yuck. He was as old as my grandfather!
