Governor Mark Sanford weeps during his press conference

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford continues to earn his spot in the Really Bad Boss archives by persisting with his droopy eyed, tear stained admissions of guilt. He’s recently upped the ante by playing the biblical character card. Sanford pulled out all stops by comparing himself to King David. Yes, that King David.  And, while King David and governor Sanford are both men who committed adultery, that’s where the similarities end.  While I guess I understand what he was trying to accomplish by making the comparison, the whole premise ends up sounding more ridiculous than sympathetic.

As much as we frown on infidelity at Really Bad Boss, we’ve believed from the beginning that the infidelity wasn’t the most shocking portion of Sanford’s admission. It was his disappearing act.  If anyone of us had simply disappeared from our jobs for five days, we would have been fired. No questions, no excuses.  Why should Mark Sanford get special treatment because he’s a governor? We think that it’s precisely because he’s governor that his M.I.A act should be considered a serious breach of his constituents’ trust.  And now, in the face of objections to him remaining in office, Sanford brings King David into the matter. 

If Sanford is a fan of reading the Bible, let’s see if he remembers Luke 12:48, which says in part “…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” We’re asking Sanford to tell his story walking…right out of office.

Madoff in freer times

Our favorite Ponzi schemer and new recipient of a Really Bad Boss Lifetime Achievement Award was sentenced to 150 years in prison today.  Our only disappointment with the sentence is that Madoff will die pretty early into it, won’t be able to really experience the joys of prison life, and won’t actually get to see his award. His wife in the meantime, has forfeited a reported $80 million assets, leaving her with a paltry $2.5 million. Our heart goes out to her.

One of the worst things about Madoff and his wife is that, with the exception of a canned statement today during sentencing, they haven’t expressed any real remorse over what they’ve done.  In fact, Mrs. Madoff insists she’s “betrayed and confused” by her husband’s actions.

The sociopathic pair not only robbed and lied to individual investors, but they also scammed charity organizations, close friends and family members.  Even their own children aren’t talking to them. If sociopathic behavior over a span of decades doesn’t qualify you for a Really Bad Boss Lifetime Achievement Award, I don’t know what does.

Read the full story here.

To nominate someone for a Really Bad Boss Lifetime Achievement Award, tell us about them in the comment section after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Really Bad Boss Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds: The Proposal

Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers about the movie ‘The Proposal’

Maybe if you’re a guy and your boss looks like Sandra Bullock and if by marrying her you’re guaranteed the career you’ve always dreamed of, maybe then you would be able to overlook the fact that your boss is the most hated person in the office and as Ryan Reynolds’ character Andrew says, “is allergic to the full spectrum of human emotion.” Only then would you be able to stomach the idea of marrying her in order to prevent her deportation.  And, it’s only in the movies that within a span of 48 hours a browbeaten assistant would come to the realization that he’s secretly been attracted to his really bad boss all along and is, in fact, falling for her.  

In real life, it never, ever plays out that way.  For those of us in the real world, the thought of marrying our really bad boss sets off an uncontrollable dry heaving session. The boss that disgusts us in the office, will be even more disgusting when caught naked and wet running through our parents’ palatial home. And, if you’re anything like me, you won’t be telling him/her how beautiful they are later that evening because you’ll be too busy bleaching your eyes out in a feeble attempt at removing all traces of the image from your retina.   In real life, really bad bosses don’t look like Sandra Bullock and we don’t have the washboard abs of Ryan Reynolds.  No, in real life our bosses are out of shape and ugly and we’re stuck with fantasies about their ultimate demise.  We daydream about having a hand in their fall from power and we wonder if there’s anything we can do to speed the process along.   But, no matter what the promised payoff, the one thing we would never do is accept their proposal.  Not on your life.

• Frustrated employee seeks good boss for a change - We had to run our classified ad again. We got no takers the first time around.
• Reading, Writing and Rip-offs - How to get paid $70k a year to do yoga – NYC teachers aren’t allowed to teach but get paid full salaries to sit around all day…and year.
• Don’t cry for me Argentina - Sanford gets three mentions this week, including the Really Bad Boss Tool of the Week Award. Lying, cheating, disappearing governor still wants to keep his job.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone.  We’ve nominated South Carolina governor Mark Sanford as this week’s tool of the week.  While his apology seems genuine, and his infidelity unfortunately seems like standard politician behavior these days, its the disappearing act that has us worried and gets him this week’s nod.  You can’t be in charge of something important, like say a state, and just take off, no matter how much you love the sights, sounds and “curve of her hips” in Argentina.

Stupid, stupid move and apparently, not the first time he’s done something like this.  Now comes word that tax payers funded at least one of his clandestine trips.  The lying, cheating and vanishing act gets Mark Sanford this week’s Really Bad Boss Tool of the Week award. He certainly worked hard to earn it.

Governor Mark Sanford weeps during his press conference

Well, as we reported yesterday, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was indeed in Argentina, trying to get his groove back.  In an emotional, tear filled press conference, Sanford (ironically tanned) apologized to his wife, his children and, it seems, to everyone else in the world.  Sanford, unlike many other of his ilk didn’t deny having the affair and came clean about it before evidence surfaced that would prove he was lying (think Kilpatrick, Edwards).  We can argue ad nauseam about whether or not unfaithful politicians should continue to be trusted by their constituents, but in Sanford’s case, what’s unarguable is his M.I.A  routine. You can’t just go AWOL because you feel a sudden urge to get your groove on.   Abandoning your office – even temporarily – without alerting your staff or your family, is inexcusable and cause for serious questioning of your mental stability.

I’m not a South Carolina resident, and ultimately the decision lies with them.  But in our opinion, Sanford’s disappearing act is a surefire sign of a Really Bad Boss.

Governor Mark Sanford MIA

Seven days without being governor makes one weak…and stupid.  You might be a really bad governor, and a really bad boss, if no one in your state knows where you are.  “I wanted to do something exotic,” is what South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford reportedly said upon returning from his mysterious trip to Argentina.  If by exotic Sanford meant stupid, then he certainly succeeded.

After losing a legislative battle over stimulus money, Sanford simply disappeared.  He apparently even skipped out on Father’s day without notifying his wife.  His staff wasn’t too sure where he was either.  They told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail – never mentioning, or maybe not knowing, that he had in fact taken a hike alright, all the way to Argentina. 

Everyone needs a little alone time, some R&R if you will. R&R is a problem though when you’re the governor, you don’t tell a soul where you’re going and your staff can’t give the press straight answers. As the leader of a state and a politician who harbors greater political aspirations, Sanford’s dropping out of sight unannounced and unexplained  has some questioning his ability to govern under duress.  If he does run for the office of the president in 2012, as some in his party had suggested he do (prior to his ‘how Stella got her groove back’ move), what will he do when North Korea’s or Iran’s leadership hurt his feelings?   I’m not sure I want to adopt a wait and see attitude for that one.  Do you?

Read the full, bizarre account of the governor’s disappearance here.

Update: From the ‘this comes as a surprise to no one files’ the governor admits to having an affair with a woman in Argentina. As we suggested above, he really did try to get his groove back. He’s very sorry, and he even shed some tears at his press conference to prove it.  His wife, in a rare display of politician’s wife honesty,was not present at the press conference. Good for her.  Read more about the tear stained admission here.