Crazy bosses

[ljrgoingcrazy]

Anyone else have a kooky boss like mine? He talks to himself constantly - wierd noises like "hmm hmm" "ooo wee" "yo yo" coming out of his mouth all day... always holding complete conversations with himself, complete with questions and answers, and singing cheerleading chants to himself. Do you think he might have terrets syndrome?
He also changes his mind constantly. One hour he will tell you to do one thing, the next hour the complete opposite. If you ask him a question, he will never give you a final answer. He will go from one option to another, then leave my office without giving me an answer.
I think I am going crazy. Our office has almost 100% turnover every year because of him, and I have been here 4 years. The job market is so bad, I can't find anything else!
Does anyone else have a worst boss they can tell me about so I can feel better???

[Jayesh]

Ok, I dont know whether my boss is worse than yours. Your boss sounds pretty quirky, whereas my boss is mean
Anyways, here's my story. First of all he drops in every hour to check up on what I am doing!! , and I spend 15 mins- 30 mins explaining him. He has to know each and every detail, and he has to criticize 50% of my decisions. It's so bad, that nowdays, I've stopped making decisions on my own, and I just give him the choices and let him make the decision. Whatever I decide is going to be wrong anyways.
And then the email thing... he sends me an email, then immediately comes to my desk to talk about it. And he stands behind me looking over my soulder while I read te email. I'm like why did you send the email in the first place???
Last year, I asked him for a lead position. So, he put me in charge of a small team which I was happy about. But, he constantly goes ang gives work to the guys I am leading, and I dont even know about it. And then someone starts talking about it in the meeting, and I sit there because I dont even know what;s going on!! Well, I have worked on that and built a rapport with people in my team, so I am in the loop through them, but I will have to go through the same thing again if any one of them leaves or a new guy comes in!! I feel like I shouldnt have taken the responsibiity


Anyways, sorry for the long rant, but the topic fired me up

[Unregistered]

My "boss" is a 30 year old alcoholic,control freak,irresponsible spoiled frat, I mean brat. He can't quite seem to make it to work on time because he was the lit the night before. He has even called the third shift team one night to tell them that he will be unreachable the next day. Why?? His ass was sitting in jail from a third offense DUI. All I can hope is that during his short stay in jail that he had an unwilling intimate encounter with "Big Bubba". Oh that thought makes me laugh!
The owner of the company doesn't help. He bails "frat brat" out every time. Why?? It's all about the $$$$$$$$. Believe it or not the owner thinks the chump is crucial to the company. Go figure.

[Phoenix]

Thank goodness I was not the only one. The guy I used to work for sounded like some of your freaky bosses. He would tell people to take initiative, he'd approve the idea, you'd get started, then he'd go, nah, let's hold off on that. He'd throw temper tantrums, slamming his office door so hard the walls shook, and then be proud of it later. Like, oh, I showed those people. (Showed them what? That you could act like you were 5 yrs old?) He'd be immature in meetings, with clients sitting right next to him, doing inappropriate things to try to amuse himself - like shining the laser pointer into his mouth. (Please keep in mind that this guy was 40 years old.) He'd have client meetings behind my back, not tell me what the meetings were about, and then I'd have the client call me to talk about items discussed in the meeting (that I didn't attend) and I was in the dark.

I think people like this should be forbidden from running businesses and just plain interacting w/ people. Just to save the world from their insanity and stupidity. :)

[MissKitty]

I seem to have a history of working for crazy bosses, so I'm glad to see that I am not alone!
I used to work at a portrait studio that was owned by a very insane woman. She would not blink when you spoke to her, and she had this very fake smile and her voice would go up three octives to greet you. She would scream if two employees were talking or taking a break together, we had to punch in and out for our 15 minute breaks and wern't alowed to leave the property unless we had her permission! No benefits, no vacation days, and we were expected to work on holidays. We were all treated like slaves, she drove a new Mustang convertable. She ended up getting caght putting tacks in the parking lot of a rival portrait studio and later we found out that she would call in phony appointments then cancel! I also literall caught her eavesdropping on my conversation with another co-worker who shared my studio space. I was walking out of the room and I literally bumped into her as she had her ear to the door!

My most recent former boss was a total mess. He would also show up late because of being out all night, he would wear cheesy $2 cartoon neckties and sweat through all his dress shirts(no deodorant), he was loud and would tell inappropriate jokes and stories at work...things he would hear at the bar the night before no doubt. He actually wore a mullet, then got it cut into a rat tail! We joked that he was moving with the times, went from 1983 to 1985. He gave me absolutely no training at my job, I had to figure out everything on my own, he would never come around and I could never get in touch with him. It got to the point where he would send messages directly into my voicemail because he didn't want to deal with me directly.
After several months of keeping records of incidents and covering my own ass, I managed to get him fired. Aparently after filing a complaint with his boss over one incident, there were other coworkers who were displeased with his job performance. Now I have a fantastic new boss. (they actually offered me his position, but I couldn't accept it, and didn't really want it)
So take heart, it IS possible to get rid of a lousy boss!
~MissKitty

[Malayna]

One of my first jobs entailed running errands for my boss. Each day, I had to make sure the bank deposit got to the bank before 4:00. I had to go into his office to get the deposit. One day, he told me that he'd start putting the deposits on a filing cabinet by the door in his office so that I didn't have to actually come in. Okay, whatever. The next thing I know, he's asking me to buzz him and let him know when I'm coming in to get the deposits. That lasted about a week. Then, he keeps me after work to talk to him one evening and explains that it's just too much of a distraction to him when I walk in to pick up the deposits. He loses his concentration when a "goodess" walks in etc.etc. You get the idea. ANyway, he started leaving the deposit outside his office and if he forgot, I just buzzed him to remind him to put it out. Kinda creepy working for somebody who went on and on to my face about how I'm a goddess and distract him etc.


Malayna

[Jayesh]

Malayna,

I dont know whther what your boss says is sexual harrasment or not, but it's pretty close!! Tell him that you feel uncomfortable when he says that, and if he still doesnt stop it, sue his ass

Jat

[angiebabie1976]

I thought my boss is bad but gosh, after reading these posts, I guess mine is not that bad!! There's some creepy people working out there. I totally agree with MissKitty, it IS people who fire their bosses. I'm in the process of trying to fire mine because he's an idiot getting paid way too much money. After 1 year and 3 month, I had enough. I had documented things here and there and I went to his boss. Because we have a grievance process so this is basically just a discussion/warning. My boss completely did not know that I was feeling the way I did. Duh! My boss basically dumps all his responsibilities on me and expects me to do all the research and leg-work. He is suppose to be my supervisor and know all the procedures and policies, but he doesn't. He ends up having me call his counterparts to ask them how to handle certain situations. He takes 1/2 days to "work from home" or run personal errands. He is the best bull-shitter I have ever met. People in the company dislike him and have asked me what the hell he does. He has also offended some people in the office. He is being more attentive and careful now, but we'll see how long he can keep it up. You know, old habits die hard. Dispite the fact that he has 20 years experience in the field that I'm in, I don't trust a single word that comes out of his mouth.
This is a lesson to us all, that we will never treat our assistants that way we've been treated

[apollo1129]

One of my bosses isn't so much weird or creepy as she is overbearing and domineering to work with. The way she orders us to do stuff and asks why we haven't done something yet is just plain insulting most of the time. Several of my coworkers and I have brought this up with our other boss, HER boss, but she hasn't changed much. So the other day, when my boss asked me how things were going with staff, during a one-on-one Supervision, I told her that I felt this other supervisor wasn't very respectful in asking for things from us or addressing us. She looked at me for a while, then told me that I'd have to speak to this supervisor directly this time and tell her exactly what I had a problem with. Now I'm wondering if I did the right thing--should I just have let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak? I still have to work with this difficult supervisor afterwards and I know THAT'S not going to be awkward at all! Anyone have any advice for me on speaking up in this situation, whether it's the right thing, or I'm better off not being so honest? On the one hand, if I don't say anything, the problem will just continue and I'll continue to feel frustrated at work...But on the other hand, now I'll have to face her.

[Unregistered]

Unfortunately, I would say to let sleeping dogs lie. Especially since the BIG boss was no help to you. I was in a position where I voiced my frustrations about disrespect and other things of that nature to the boss that I had the issue with. Not in a rude way, mind you, but in a way that let them know I would like to be respected as a decent human being should. That boss fired me b/c he couldn't take the criticism. You may end up in a similar situation.

The only thing that I can recommend to you is to look for another job. Even if you voiced the criticisms/problems with your boss in a positive way to try to enact change for the better, that boss is most likely going to take offense. And she won't end up changing probably, if she has that type of overbearing, domineering, 'holier than thou' attitude. You don't want to make it a situation where she is out to make your life a living hell, since you still have to work there. I know you will be miserable at work if you don't speak up and that the things that your boss does will continue to grate on your nerves like you wouldn't believe. However, while you look for something else (if you choose not to stay) at least you will have the peace of mind of knowing you will be somewhere better and treated with the respect you deserve.

[apollo1129]

Well, I was dreading having to confront my supervisor with her rude behavior towards me, thinking it would turn into an ugly, tense situation at work...But things actually worked out somehow. My head supervisor, whom I'd complained to her about, called me into her office again and asked whether I'd noticed any changes in her behavior. As it turned out, I did. The supervisor I found so abrasive actually seemed to be toning down her behavior and being more respectful towards us overall. It was a noticeable difference and all because I and several of my coworkers were brave enough (or fed up enough) to complain about her in a professional way to our head supervisor. In fact, our head supervisor told us in private that should we notice her reverting to her old abrasive ways again, to be sure to let her know so she can do something about it, not just suffer in silence. So goes to show that sometimes changes CAN be made if someone is brave enough to speak out, eh?

[Unregistered]

There is hope!!
I posted months ago about my insane alcoholic, irresponsible manager. I have since been hired at a wonderful company with a very professional, calm, compassionate manager. During the second interview I was hired on the spot. Honestly, I could not be happier. The owner at the pit of doom called when he found out about my new job and asked me to come up with a proposal of what they could do for me to get me to stay. He said to name a salary and I told him the reason that I am leaving is not just because of the incresed salary. I have since started my new job and love it. I feel great because I left on my terms and I handled the sitution very professionally. Oh, the things that I would have loved to say, but that would put me at their sorry ass level. I knew their were great companys to work for, but it definetly took great effort on my part to find one! Press on!!

[sunbear]

we just got our bonus numbers. they're not the greatest, courtesy of our "thriving" economy. so we're graded for our bonus on a scale much similar to a curve- we compete for our bonuses with our scores on our various evaluations, a lot of them are so poorly constructed...many of us have our disagreements with it- we voiced them, heard corperate fluff, and no change- and on top of inconsistant negativity/scrutiny of our scoring system.
anyways.
I got almost all mediocre scores. I graded high on "best practices" and average on accuracy. my supervisor sneered "I don't know HOW you got that score of "best practices". (this is a BONUS- happy happy joy joy- we appreciate you concept is THE point of getting a bonus- but I know I'm asking for too much). So I said "THANK YOU" :D .
Since we've been graded by comparison to eachother- with the curve you know (not in our favor, but I believe as a way to keep us from getting raises and $$ for bonuses- the company isn't doing THAT well) I asked to see a mean and a median, along with a range and a skew. My supervisor looked blank for a second, then sneered again "Why do you need any of that stuff? What you got is what you got...etc." HELLO?!!
I hope I can find a better job SOON!

[PghEngr]

I always love the speeches that accompany raise time. Last year management where I work kept patting themselves on the back and elling everyone how well the company was doing. But come raise time they changed their story. Suddenly the company wasn't doing too well and they couldn't afford much of a raise. How convenient.

Sometimes I think my boss has split personality disorder. He will say something like, "I need to see a copy of the drawing as soon as possible, even if it isn't done yet." So I give it to him, and within a day I will get a lecture about how I shouldn't give people information until it is completely done. Even when I try to tell him that is what he told me to do he just says, "No, in the future..." blah, blah, blah. Sometimes when I am talking I can picture him covering his ears and saying, "i don't hear you!"

[M4A1]

Yea PghEgr,

Before I got my promotion, my old boss goes off on me just like what your boss did to you. My old teamlead got pissed off on me a few times because I brought my problems directly to the people responsible and applied changes without consulting her. Then she got pissed when I consult with her because she doesn't have a clue about my project. Like "Why are you asking me? Does this sound like something that I would know? You should have learned about this a long time ago" Then she yaps and yaps about this and that how I should be more responsible blah blah blah.

Up until the last day before I transfer, she's like "For future references, I have a suggestion to you: 'don't always refute the blame.'"

I was like, "Uh huh, suggestion accepted." --(you psycho, why don't you start taking your pills on time?)-- Of course, I didn't say what's in the parentheses.

Anyway, I know what you are saying. You aren't the only one. The best thing to do is don't take it personally. Your boss won't be with you forever and what's hapenning now won't matter then.