Posted by denised in 
Last week we posted a reader submitted true really bad boss story originally submitted as a comment on our Worst Bosses of All Time post. Inspired, or disgusted, by the story, another reader added her own really bad boss tale to the post. In her case the boss in question stormed around the office like a mad woman, denied her staff time off and actually hit another employee in the face with a book! This story sounds like an EEOC suit waiting to happen. Here’s the full story as it was submitted…
Last year, my company slashed our salaries by a great deal without warning. Since I wasn’t making much to begin with, this was a devastating blow to me financially. I began to interview and when I received an offer for substantially more than I was making at the time, plus overtime, I jumped at it. There were red flags from the beginning, I didn’t meet with the President or the Director until I started. At first, it was the Director who was making my life miserable. Giving me huge projects I wasn’t familiar with and didn’t have the tools to complete. I literally did not have the software on my computer to finish these projects but was told to improvise. At the time, I had no idea how good I had it because once the President got a hold of me, my life was pure hell.
The President was a large woman, both in size and height, with a voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. During my first week there, I saw here slap her assistant in the face, twice, with a checkbook for some perceived mistake. As I began to work more closely with her, I realized everything you did was wrong to her. You had to write a formal memo explaining everything and she wouldn’t talk about things via email. You literally had to write a memo saying, attached are the labels you wanted me to give you. I would go through 10-20 drafts of any document, she would edit them with a pen and no one could read her handwriting. I worked 14 hours day plus weekends and holidays (even Christmas). Any time off you requested would be denied or revoked when the President was in a bad mood (towards the end you had to ask for weekends and holidays off, even though we were closed). I was once kept there till 1am doing a ridiculous project (she loved to make the simplest tasks difficult) and told I couldn’t go home or I and my department (who has all gone home at a normal time) would be fired. She would tell the entire office that we wouldn’t get certain holidays off if my manager and I didn’t finish a certain project on time.
I am a petite woman and she was literally a foot taller than me, she would get within a inch of my face and scream at the top of her lungs for the smallest perceived mistake. My blood pressure went through the roof, my hair began to fall out, I couldn’t sleep, I would vomit due to anxiety, and had frequent panic attacks. When I had a emotional breakdown at work, she seemed somewhat sympathetic at the time but told me “little white girls” couldn’t sue her for harassment because we weren’t part of the protected class. Then on Monday, she called me into her office and told me how my emotional outburst ruined her weekend because if made her feel guilty which she shouldn’t because the whole thing is my fault. The final straw came on the day when she called me into her office and told me that the Board would be in town the next day, she would be really stressed so she would be yelling at my a lot. She wouldn’t be able to do so in front of the Board so she wanted me to think of a signal she could give me that would let me know to go to the back alley behind the building where she could yell at me there. Also in that week, I was told to tell her when I was going to the bathroom and if she was busy, she gave me a whole chain of command of people to tell I was going to the bathroom. I left my letter and took off. I should also note, I was not in an administrative position, there was no HR department and she controlled everything. Later I found out she hit her assistant in the face with a text book!
Whenever I read these stories my heart breaks. I know exactly what it’s like to be demeaned and harassed in a job so much that you make yourself physically ill. In this case it sounds like this employee couldn’t take it any longer and left the job, but in many cases, quitting is not an option – you feel as though you’ve been painted into a corner. Do you have a similar bad boss story to share? How did you cope with your boss? Please share your stories and how you made it out in the comment section. You can also email your stories, or advice about coping with really bad bosses to denised@reallybadboss.com.
Pingback: The Really Bad Boss Week in Review | Really Bad Boss