Dealing With a Bad Boss

Here’s how I dealt w/ a nasty medical office manager and doctor who suspended me without informing me of how long I would be out: I lickety-split used all my connections to get a better job, gave no notice, told my new doctor’s office my notice was the time I was suspended for, and am loving the fact that they have yet (it’s been going on four mos.) to find a nurse to replace me! They thought I was at home crying when I was really networking my ass off!! Karma really bit them in the butt, as it will do when you try to frame an innocent person. Ha ha!!! -Laughing it up in Athens, GA

I will no longer deal with a bad boss…there is no reason for a bad boss or the expectation that you should put up with it.

See, my boss’s boss is my bosses’ father (president of the company), and everything she says he agrees with. So that shows how she got the job, and there is little wiggle room.

I don’t know the answer to this question, what I do know is this, no job is worth your self esteem, your happiness or health. I love what I do but don’t love who I work with when I do it. Find a mentor, a friend, some support don’t try and deal with it on your own because unfortunately you could be the one to suffer.

All the “Bad Bosses” i have had to deal with ended up becoming good friends. What i did was to learn how to manage them. With a lot of help from God.

I had a bad boss about 2 years ago. I worked very hard for this woman – only for her to be very negative, petty, nit picky and take the credit for my work. I spoke to her politey, gave her chance after chance to get it together, and at all times did what she said to-do very respectfully. Well, it got to the point where she was not respecting me and I could no longer respect her. She even tried bullying me by mentioning terms like “insubordination”, “suspension”, and “termination”. This bad boss was trying to play head games with me – but it only pissed me off further so I had to do what I had to do.

I followed the policies and procedures at my job to address the issues with her superiors as well as human resources. We have strong policies regarding employee retaliation. I carefully documented EVERY single conversation, meeting, and task that I did for this woman. I had to reverse the role to let her know that I was documenting her too. Oh, did I also mention the days I was recording that she was missing work and not submitting leave requests for time off? That’s called “STEALING” and immediate grounds for termination. Now tell me, who’s going to get into who’s head first. During this 6 month period of hell – her position was finally eliminated and she was dismissed.

“Bad Bosses, get it together because what you’re doing or not doing will catch up to you and come to an end. – I promise”

The Bad Boss owns the company and is a micro-manager, she goes beserk and screams at employess, threatens them and the families that were served by the Hospice company. She creates such a intolerable work environment that the turn over was over 75%.. of the staff was new.. the door was a revolving door, most people stay less than a month, and the longest was a year.. She was just insane in ther demands, that were both unethical, and sometimes illegal. There was not talking to her, she was always right, and she had the power to fire.. the interesting thing is she still has the company, but with new staff every few months, and now has to hire only inviduals who move to AZ from other states, no one in the area will even apply at this place.

Current non profit facilitator (never worked and lacks educational and/or management delegation training) is under the impression that she is the only person to attend every meeting and refuses to included directors who do the actual work. Granted she raised children, but is unable to understand the frustration that her micro management is causing within the organization.

My boss suspended me because an error occurred that was actually caused by someone in another department who destroyed the evidence. When I pointed this out I was told that someone had to pay the price, and it was me. Then, when I said I was going to file a grievance (it’s a union shop) at first he said he was going to raise the penalty to termination, but the shop steward pointed out in no uncertain terms how that is illegal. So instead he changed my shift to a roving shift, meaning I now have no set schedule, making it impossible to plan anything outside of work.

I’de leave except that no one else is hiring, most of the other companies in my field are laying off. Also, I’ve been here too long, if I left now I would destroy my chances of getting a decent pension.

I was recently working in a warehouse. My boss had the radio on all day long, very loudly which was very annoying all day every day which he never let people turn off or down. He intimidated, belittled, questioned rational and reasonable actions if he didn’t like them, he ignored me, spy’d on me all day. The worst was that he was violent by throwing boxes and phones right near me and he subdued and controlled people through passive aggressive behaviour. No one should ever have to put up with it. He was the most apathetic man I have known. I nicknamed him Satan. I was sick every morning I was at work. When they made my role redundant, I was singing and celebrating in my car and at home that day.

My supervisor received a warning letter for leaving the plant without permission. Yesterday he harassed for my whole 8 hrs. Paiged me every 1/2 hr in the morning period and every 15mins in the afternoon. He went as far as to spy on me. He called other employees in other departments to find out what time i was there and for how long.
I work with a shift and at times the other members had bad worked me intentionally.

Hi,
I have an East Indian new colleague who joined the department since few months. Recently in a meeting with our supervisor he brought up things I could have never imagined someone would ever pay any attention. I felt stabbed in the back and betrayed. Of course I was extremely surprised and more than that frustrated with a boiling blood. My boss didn’t fully understand and partially took his side showing frustration as well. My only comment I was able to get out was that I am feeling that the discussion is in a kindergarten and I feel I passed that time since a long time. I also said are lots of things I can comment, add, complain but I do understand more than this childish manner and do not want to behave less than professional.
I have to comment that both my East Indian colleague and my boss are very ignorant men not using any basic polite conversations as “Hi” Bye” “ Have a good evening “ or How was your week-end”. My boss is not communicating at all not even when he is on vacation leave and I am acting. I talked with the director (my boss’s supervisor and he is humble- In fact this is his name HUMBLE). My boss is hated be the whole organization. I am preferred over my colleague because people and public can’t deal with the East Indian accent and attitude. I feel used and feel to behave in the same way, not communicating, even one more word besides the core of the work action. I base this thought on the fact that I can’t change them but I can change myself. I am not happy but at least I feel equal. Please advice and suggest- I love my work and the environment. Thank you.

THe way that you deal with a bad boss is by making sure that you are aware of your job descriotion. When you start a new job or if you are in an existing job, always make it your business to know the employee handbook and the company SOP ( Standard Operating Procedure). All companys have some type of sop or company policy manuals. Once you are aware of your rights as an employee, then when the bad boss comes around spouting all of their incorrect assumptions and innuendos, you can point them to the company manual on how these things should be done. Know who to contact in your company’s HR department if you have problems. Bad bosses and managers only get worse not better. And in order for you as an employee to have peace of mind, you must make them aware of the fact that you know what you can and cannot do according to company policy. Because generally when you let them know this they will generally back off of you and go to someone else who will not stand of for themselves. If you follow the chain of command and you still cannot get any relief, then you must contact some federal agencies for help. It is illegal in this country to create what is termed a hostile work environment. Companies can be fined big time if they are found to be in violation of this law and no company wants that. Always know legally what you can do. This is the best ammunition you can have against bad bosses who think that their word is the law.

I wish your article specifically addressed how to deal with a boss who takes credit for your work as alluded to in the beginning. Also, you assume in your article that the work environment is very large, with possibilities for finding another mentor, transferring departments, or speaking with HR. At the end, you basically said that if none of your suggestions work, start looking for a new job. I believe this fails a large percentage of people who work in a smaller organization with a much narrower and shallower hierarchy. I was hoping for insights more attuned with how to document what you do, how to ensure people know it’s your work being claimed by another, how to request being cc’d on all emails dealing with a particular issue, etc.

These are great points. For the flip side of the issue, here is what I wrote about my best boss ever in today’s ES@W, “What Makes A Best Boss “Best”?”: http://www.evilskippyatwork.com/?p=943

My boss owns the business I work at. I can’t complain about her because she owns the place and would probably just fire me.

She is always in a bad mood and likes to ignore what other people say. She has a very strong personality and likes to interupt what you say all the time.

She also forgets a lot of things. At first I thought that I was screwing up my job but I carefully documented everything we discussed and discovered that she often just forgot what we had talked about and just made up something. She was getting me in trouble saying that I was changing dates on things or products but we had discussed and agreed on what I had done.

On more than one occasion she has yelled at me or made me feel stupid. It is not unusual for me to hide in the bathroom and cry. I don’t believe that she has a heart and takes pleasure in watching others suffer.

Because she owns the business she also hired the Store Manager who likes to sneak around and figure out what everyone is doing. She is a total nark and reports everything she sees to the owner.

I would have left a long time ago but I the job has made me feel valuless and I can’t imagine getting paid anywhere else.

Jokes on them though, I’m leaving to go back to school soon and when I leave I’m going to delete a bunch of important stuff I’ve worked on. I do not deserve to be treated this way and I will have my revenge!

This is for Michelle. Thanks for your wisdom, I need more help within my HR and it is no where to be found. HR only helps the company.

First I am a huge follower of this website, thank you it helps all of us. To Michelle and Bad Boss: In theory, all you say sounds appropriate, however, once you complain, in my case I have been black-listed and I am unable to transfer out of the problem department. In addition, HR will only protect the company and refuses to assist the employee. I understand your points, I need more assistance. In the mean time, I have no person willing to tell the truth – a total lack of integrity; it is shameful. I am interested in what you say relative to the law. I have been unsuccessful and I cannot find anyone willing to provide the assistance I require. I am 20 years with the same company and now I am blacklisted with HR. I am determinined to stay; I do not know who to turn to for help with my serious problem. Thanks all, great chance for assistance here. All comments are welcome.

Managing upwards is a real challenge these days – I do feel that line managers don’t receive enough training on actually managing people, though. This is one of the main issues in our workplace today.

I worked for Dubz and up tire in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and I worked seven days a week from six in the morning to eight at night and was getting paid one hundred to one hundred forty dollars a week. I have lots of bills to pay but can’t cause of him, and he caused me to quit. What do I do.

I have had many horrible bosses and there are only 3 pieces of advice that can fix them all. As long as a boss is providing a service for money, they answer to someone else, ie. Department of Labor. Anyone, even owners, can be penalized, sued, and have their business dissolved for harassment.

Here is a tip I learned from a mentor called Managing your boss. Keep a board visible of three tasks you are working on and label them 1, 2, 3. When told to do something else other that what’s on your list, ask you boss which ones he/she would like you to stop doing. In most cases, this helps the boss realize your contribution to the team. Sometimes they forget. If it doesn’t, at least you will only be doing one thing at a time. BTW, this usually made my boss go to someone else or just not bother with me.

Another tip I learned from a mentor is to document everything like encounters, tasks, and updates from your boss. If you complain without proof, you are just passed off as a complainer, but if you diligently write everything down, you look like a professional trying to help the company.

The last tip I learned on my own.
Don’t feed horrible bosses. If you have a piece of information or a new idea don’t share it with your horrible boss without carbon copying someone else on an equal or higher level. Without your extra hard work, innovative ideas, and good hearted help, you horrible boss will eventually fall on their face, professionally. You may not be there when it happens but it WILL happen.

I recently quit my new job after only 7 weeks due to a bad boss. I have never been so miserable in my life. Definately had new job remorse when I realized my new boss was awful. Being a new employee for this guy I endured taunting, being ignored and put down when I asked for help, subjected to crude language and obscene gestures. Who does this to their new employee? I was appalled and shocked at the way this man acted towards me – I quit without notice (“at will”). I will never even mention that I worked for this man/company and won’t put it on my resume. Now I’m scrambling to find a new job fast but I could not last another day around this imbecile so the risk I’m taking is worth it. I quit last week and have already had two job interviews so I’m praying the right job and boss is coming soon!