On a scale of 1 to 10, how dysfunctional is your boss?
January 2nd, 2007
When I was just starting out as a freelancer, I landed a supplemental $10/hour part-time gig (a small fortune in the early nineties) working as an admin assistant for this entrepreneur who put on business conferences. While my boss was very flexible, kind, and fair, his social graces left something to be desired. So much so that the other business people renting office space in the building regularly asked me how I could stand working for the guy.
Basically, my boss was a gastroenterological freak show, plagued with the worst case of flatulence and acid reflux ever to assault my senses. Think Ignatius in A Confederacy of Dunces and you’ll start to get the picture.
I get that people have digestive issues; I just don’t get why, in a work setting, my boss never once tried leave the room to expel a little gas, let alone offer up the occasional “excuse me,” or — hey, here’s a concept — permit me to open the door or window of our 200-square-foot office so as not to asphyxiate on the stench of his rotting bowels.
According to the other business owners in the building, I stuck it out longer than any of my boss’ previous assistants. But after a couple months, despite the sweet pay and the mostly pleasant demeanor of my intestinally challenged boss, nausea won out. Plus, it was so damned awkward to be working alongside someone tooting up a storm but offering up zero acknowledgement of the very pungent elephant in the room.
Still, on the 1 to 10 Scale of Dysfunction, I’d probably give this boss a 3 or 4, maaaaaaybe a 5. Because he was a good boss. He was just raised in a barn, which isn’t the worst bossly offense in the world. I’d venture to say that blogging about how you’re going to make your company profitable ASAP, come hell or high water, even though your entire staff knows that’s code for “layoffs imminent,” is a worse offense. Call me old school, but I’m a fan of face-to-face delivery when it comes to bad news, or news that bad news is potentially on the way.*
All this is one big fat segue into what I really wanted to talk about: This week’s No Shit Award, which goes to a recent study proclaiming that bad bosses are about as common as people with horrific manners.
Behold these morale-boosting stats:
- 39 percent of workers said their supervisor failed to keep promises
- 37 percent said their supervisor failed to give credit when due
- 31 percent said their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment” in the past year
- 27 percent said their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers
- 24 percent said their supervisor invaded their privacy
- 23 percent said their supervisor blamed others to cover up mistakes or to minimize embarrassment
Any of this sound familiar? Then you know what should be at the top of your list of new year’s resolutions. Oh, and if you care to de-lurk a moment and share your tale of Worst Boss Known to Humankind, I’m sure you will make a lot of people chuckle with appreciation or at least nod in recognition, this bossfree babe included.
*Update: The Jobster layoffs I was so cryptically referring to have arrived.
Entry Filed under: Overworked and underpaid
6 Comments Add your own
1. xina | January 6th, 2007 at 11:01 am
i had a socially inept freak of a manager (who never should have been a manager but was promoted due to his relationship with the regional manager) who would talk loudly on his phone so everyone could hear. it was especially annoying as he forced me to move my office so my office would be next to his. one day he’s having this loud conversation about how he’s sick and tired of women he’s dating telling him he’s nice. he says, “maybe i should start punching them in the face and then they’d stop calling me nice.” needless to say i was horrified and walked into his office and told him i could hear him and i didn’t think it was funny (not to mention almost everyone who reported to him was female) and he FREAKS out on me and starts screaming about how it’s none of my business etc.
long story short i reported the incident to HR. he got fired. unfortunately, soon after, i was laid off. a bit after that the idiot who hired him was also fired - so that was something.
2. Michelle Goodman | January 6th, 2007 at 11:48 am
WOW, xina. wow. thx for that. and, at least the #@$%^&* got fired in the end. not that i’m vindictive or anything, ha.
3. Judy | January 9th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I had a boss who hired me with the understanding that I was in school (it was an academic job and the job was at the same school I attended). One day he called me into his office and said that I had to be a graduate student. I reminded him that he’d hired me knowing I was still undergrad and that I wasn’t going to graduate for another year (I went back to school in my 30s). He acted like he didn’t hear me and again insisted that I somehow become a grad student immediately. I told him that would be impossible. I mean, WTF?!?
He then told me that since I couldn’t manage this small feat, I was looking at a 10k pay cut. Then he screamed at me for a while. I sobbed. Shortly thereafter he was busted for putting hookers on the payroll and embezzling money out of our funding. He was fired, but because academia is completely nuts, he stayed on payroll for another couple years and even threatened to sue!
4. Michelle Goodman | January 9th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
wow, each story more scary than the next. love those undermedicated types. thx for this one, judy.
5. Olivia | January 10th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
When I went in to tell my boss I was pregnant (I was 31 years old) - he yelled at me at the top of his lungs and called me a “SELFISH GIRL”. Also, he would regularly say things like “how about a head job today Olivia”. I was really over being good humoured about it.
I was meant to report to him first thing in the mornings to discuss the day’s workflow, and he didn’t appreciate that I refused to do it - merely because the thought of having to receive insults and sarcasm just after my morning coffee every day made me feel nauseas. I was very good at my work, but my work and self esteem began to suffer, in fact it took quite a while return.
What astounds me is that his next PA got along with him extremely well and occasionally told him where to go - why couldn’t I be ilke that? But then, why should I need to?
He passed away last year of cancer. I was sad for his family, and when I told people about it they said, “ok he’s dead but it doesn’t make him any less of an asshole” - so if you’re a boss out there, learn to be respectful and fair - it will maintain good work productivity in your people, and save people one day spitting on your grave .
6. Michelle Goodman | January 10th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
oh. my. god. just when i think it can’t get any better/worse. i love when people are so awful that their reputation precedes them, even in death!! thanks for sharing, olivia. you certainly are not a “selfish girl.”
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