The Really Bad Boss Blog Roundup

icon1 //Posted by denised in Featured Articles on | 34 responses

What the blogosphere’s saying about bosses this week…

rbb blog roundup copy Contrary to popular opinion, and our personal experiences, not all bosses are bad. This week Ebosswatch highlights bosses that are actually great. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Remember when Fridays were Fridays? Colette Martin does, and in her blog, aptly titled When Fridays Were Fridays, Martin reflects “on life in Corporate America when Fridays were Fridays, loyalty mattered, and bosses still cared.” This week she shares an all too familiar bad boss story submitted by one of her readers.

Bosses aren’t the only bizarre creatures in the workplace. The Work Buzz has a post this week spotlighting the strangeness of coworkers. Our favorite bizarre coworker tale – the colleague who chewed tobacco and spat it into empty soda bottles. Read the entire list here.

Are you a nanny boss? If so, The New York Times says chances are, you’re bad at employer-employee communications. The often passive-aggressive nature of mom-nanny communication can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Never fear, the folks at the Times have a few suggestions, and, there’s always the Nanny Training School. Seriously.

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  • josh

    Martin Elek has to be the worst boss ever and being involved with th natural gas industry makes it even worse, he is the gm for zone construction here in carmichaels pa… can someone please help

  • Lordofchickens

    don’t work for southern graphics dallas. They have the worst management I have ever seen and I have been in this business for 22 years. The managers sit in their royal chairs doing nothing and when something goes wrong they point their royal fingers and pass the blame. They all hang out together, go to church together and they stick together, whether their stories are true or not. They have been successful at pushing people out of their jobs even though that person may be really good, if they do not like their personality for whatever reason, they will make up bullshit stories to push you out. They like to write you up like you are in public school and feel all powerful and mighty because there are no checks and balances, no one writes them up….
    Tell me how in any business world insubordination can be defined as simply asking a question, “Do you really need me to work new years eve late?”,
    my manager who is a big idiot and ass kisser, likes to point the finger and throw his own staff under the bus, wrote me up for asking that question, he said I questioned his authority.
    Is that shit or what?
    On the outside this company would appear to have its appeal, but in the trenches you are treated like a mule, here at the Dallas facility they allow bullying and harassment and award those people with trophies while the victims of this get punished for trying to stand up for themselves.
    BEWARE of this facility, and do not take your business to them. They treat their clients the same way they treat their staff…. Down with Ray Shakelford, Tim Bellington, Amy Besset and Mary Scott. These people need a rude awakening…… its obvious that shit rises to the top at this company.

    The best thing that SGS corporate could do for their company is to wipe them all out and start fresh with real professional and good people management, then, they would have a place to start running a decent company.

  • Ztks5

    Hi All my name is Tammy and I work for a minister who has borderline personality disorder.  I am her assistant or shall I say her bitch.  I live in a small town and jobs are hard to come by, so I am stuck with this psychopath in a choir robe.  She belittles me daily infront of the staff, tells them they don’t have to listen to me even though I am second in command.  Everything goes through her and I am powerless to protect my staff from her.  She treats us all as if we are gum on her shoe.  She told me to shut up and listen to her or else just last week.  She is funneling money from this non profit ministry.  She is using non profit money donated to help the poor to support her church and daughter who has six kids. oh and did i mention the daughter is on the payroll but has no time card and never comes to work but gets a paycheck every two weeks.  The psycho’s husband (who is whipped) cooks the books for them.  As a matter of fact a van was donated for a handicapped child and the boss gve the van to her brother who lives in a 150000 home and has 2 new vehicles.  The handicapped kid is still waiting on a ride.  They buy visa gift cards and live off them.  Take trips on the company credit cards.  All in the name of GOD.  She also supports the church she preaches at with money donated to our nonprofit.  She tells lies on her employees to each other just to start arguments between coworkers.  She lays employees off and hires her friends in their places and changes the job title.  SOmetimes she just fires people and writes a lie on the seperation notice.  It is disgusting to work here and watch her spout bible verses and lies all at the same time.  I am scared I will go to hell for working for her. HELP I need Help

  • Warning

    I see that there is a posting for my old job.  I need to warn the very good people that they shouldn’t apply for this job.  The boss yells alot, is very demanding and degrates all employee’s, men or women.  His side-kick is so two faces that it makes you sick to your stomach when you finally catch on… has gone through lots of workers that have only lasted a week or two… nobody needs this stress… don’t apply to any job posting with a postal code of L8G 1C1 or Silvan Consulting… even J A Vandervelde… he’s the worst accountant ever

  • Ohheyitschuck

    I am a server at a restaurant on St.Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. I was just fired.
    The night before last I was confronted by a group of people who treated me worse than I had ever been treated in my entire life. They spoke down to me like I was a dog. They were unbelievably rude, and disrespectful to me, my co-workers, and the business I work for. I went to my Manager over, and OVER again throughout the night. She did nothing, which is the normal reaction for managers there. I was Very nice to the group no matter how disgusting they treated me, even to the point of calling them a cab at the end of the night with a smile. Once I found out this was a company, I spoke to the manager about taking action to let their company know how they were treating people, and how they were representing the company they worked for. She told me nothing will be done, and that I should do nothing. I couldn’t believe that the company I worked for hadn’t stood up for me, and wouldn’t have my back if I wanted to stand up for myself. After I was off the clock at my home, I emailed the company that the people worked for. I didn’t say where I worked or my name. I told them how I was treated by a group of people representing their company. The next day I was told I was taken off the schedule and to report to human resources. This is the recording from that meeting.
    http://youtu.be/duep_LuTu7k

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    I removed the actual name – don’t want any lawsuits coming down on either of our heads

  • RobTJhb

    I work for a man who waits for me to walk to the printer, calls my phone and then bellows at me when I don’t answer. He then screams me into his office about the importance of having my bum in the chair at all times – then tells me he wanted an ashtray, where is it? 

  • Southtownscleaning

    Alexis Sweda is the worst person to work for. & with.  She is on drugs (meth) and steals from friends & the owner.  

  • Southtownscleaning

    Alexis Sweda is a meth addict and a thief.  When I worked with her she never came in on time or at all.  Her “boyfriend” stole from Hospice (for a co-worker that lost a parent), she stole from the boss, she lies, she is in DART (program for users)….AND she still has a job?????? I get fired because of the lies she told the owner about me and she stays???? Do I have no rights in New York State? I was there. I worked. I never stole. And that girl stays??? I feel bad for the girl that works with her now….i still talk to my friends there. they say she is doomed if she stays. DO NOT WORK ALEXIS SWEDA!!!! she is awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! get off the drugs!!

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Thought you’d like to know, I’m posting your submission as part of today’s post.

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Thought you’d like to know, I’m posting your submission as part of today’s post.

  • Crystal

    I worked for a Jazz Club in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  My boss was a 70 year old Astria woman who looked like yoda.  She wore the same clothes into work each night yet yelled about having a military press in each employee’s shirt.  By 1 am, she was so drunk, coworkers and I have had to give her a ride home.  There are countless stories concering Yoda with a mullet.  So she can’t sue, I’ll name her Ughla.  I think I shall write a book about this past year.  Its been disgustingly ridiculous. And belittling….

  • dazed and confused

    Hey, what about a psychologist who is a flaming Borderline!  She promised us the world in this private practice, then turned on us in a public meeting and tried to disembowel us all because we “embarrassed” her in front of a couple of nurses.  We didn’t even know what was going on.  We both have over 20 years experience apiece as therapists, but this greenhorn decided to tell us both that we didn’t have any skills.  Okay.  We were ready to resign and she laid us off.  Good for her reputation, but we are both stil reeling over the viciousness of her attack.  Go figure.

  • dazed and confused

    Hey, what about a psychologist who is a flaming Borderline!  She promised us the world in this private practice, then turned on us in a public meeting and tried to disembowel us all because we “embarrassed” her in front of a couple of nurses.  We didn’t even know what was going on.  We both have over 20 years experience apiece as therapists, but this greenhorn decided to tell us both that we didn’t have any skills.  Okay.  We were ready to resign and she laid us off.  Good for her reputation, but we are both stil reeling over the viciousness of her attack.  Go figure.

  • Alane Johnson

    I, too, have a great Boss now.  He can retire any day now.  When he leaves, I am leaving.  We have backstabbers, haters and upper management that are a trip.  My Good, positive Boss hints that he might retire in a year or so.  So I guess I need to start looking?  Upper management at this time is not supportive of our Team.  Should I stay and stick it out, or leave when my good Boss leaves!

  • Alane Johnson

    Once I worked for two ladies…we used to call them “Thing 1 and Thing 2.”  They were “horrible female bosses” worse than the boss in the movie the “Devil wears Prada.”  Once one of them told me I needed to wear panty hose.  I told her I will only wear them when it is cold.  We worked in the South and the temps can be very humid, so I told her it was too hot to wear hose, and I sweat terribly and this might cause a hygiene and health issue for me..I also said that my man likes looking at my bare legs…She gave me an evil look as I walked away is if I were on the runway.  It was too funny!

  • Alane Johnson

    Upper management needs to understand that if they are not supportive of their Managers and Staff, especially the “good workers” who really do the work, then the whole team or group will fall and crumble.  The workers, especially the “good workers” are the “backbone” of the team, group or company. All workers should be appreciated and respected by upper management; not “micro managed” criticized and disrepected.

  • guest

    Hi

    I am really pleased to see a blog where an ordinary person can post their concerns and emotions surrounding working for a bad boss. I do not technically have a boss due to the fact I am a teenager – however I have seen the way my Principle can intimidate, bribe and bully her staff. You are probably thinking another inadequate teenager with a grudge against school – but far from it I have always tried hard at school and worked hard to get along with my teachers – especially the old Principle who said I was a real role model.

    This all changed when the new principle came (who I shall not name for the fear of a Okhrana style crack down). With only 7 Caribbean members of staff in a school that consists of 1000+ pupils of which 45% were black Caribbean I thought it was a bit of a shame that the Principles did not try to recruit a more ethnically diverse work force; however this was not a major problem. But when the new principle Mrs X paid one high profile Jamaican member of staff the cumulative total of £100,000 to leave, told another his services were no longer required, tried to frame another on assault charges and ended another West Indian mans contract while he was on holiday I kind of figured she had a bit of a problem with them.

    When we tried to protest for one of these guys we faced a crack down worthy of Bashar Al Assad and I had to speak to the police, even though no criminal acts took place. The Constable was a really nice guy and seemed to realize it was a bit of an over reaction.

    Yet still the boss continues; with members of staff banned from having any political material what so ever and having to smuggle political leaflets in some times down their tops!

    Now you may think ‘oh well behavior must be good’, but it is not. i don’t feel able to discuss    

    actual incidents here as they could be traced back to my school and then to me; but here is the general gist:

    .Several children and one member of staff taken to hospital due to fights – no police or media investigation.
    .Computers regularly stolen by a Saturday school and instead of clamping down they have just got rid of them (the computers that is).
    .On premises drug dealing and drug smoking – with in some cases spliffs being rolled up on desks.
    .One pupil mildly roughed up by senior management during a protest in support of a Comrade who was snatched; during what at first appeared to be a racially motivated incident. Management claimed they were just trying to remove his face mask.
    .A debt that amounts to 6 sig figs!

    utubepolitics@hotmail.comPlease don’t think I am making this up – I promise it is true. This is evident because if I was just trying to have a go at my school I would name and shame it and dis the pupils and teachers. However, I don’t and I would just like the say I think most of the teachers are absolutely fantastic and the pupils are really nice people to know. Everyone seems a little bit surprised at management’s behavior. Without sounding like some kind of secret agent I have connections with certain good members of staff to whom I swap information with and confirm the reliability of all my stories. One head of department calls the Principle a F*****g B***h. 

    Is this a normal English school or is it an exceptionally bad one?

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    sadsap, I sooooo can relate. Nothing’s worse than a bad boss who wants you to do her dirty work for her…

  • sadsap

    The place I work is pathetic, it is run by a bunch of control freaks with useless masters degrees from a dying profession. My boss in particular loves to exert her authority in very petty ways. If you dare to not see eye to eye with her, you are being insubordinate and depending on the severity or passion of your crossing paths with her, she will write you up in a heartbeat. I’ve learned to live with her venom, my problem now is that she wants me in turn to spew venom on those I supervise as well. I have 4 years left to work here, and you know if things were different, I would not be in such a hurry to leave. It’s a shame I feel this way, each and every day I come in.

  • unhappy

    My boss is in bed with a bunch of folks in state government to provide training for minority business owners so that they can obtain jobs from same government unit. My boss is being paid a fee from the government to provide the training. That in itself would be fine. But, my boss is also selling these trainees commissioned products with the caveat that these clients have to take loans from this “said govt entity” in order to get the jobs the government is earmarking for minority inclusion. And guess who will be administering the “loans”/payments for jobs? My boss! It all smells very bad to me. Of course, everyone around him as far as employees, who are all part time women (and not of color, ironically) fawn over him —pick up his laundry, fetch his meals, and generally are painfully eager to please and insecure (a type often paired with bad or incompetent bosses ). None of the employees have any real competency in the field in which the commissioned products are being sold. On the surface the “boss” appears rather innocuous, but when asked for specific guidance on anything – even a routine task he appears unable to articulate how he wants it done and then he turns the focus back and acts as though his employees are “naive” and uninformed when the task is not completed as he directed. He also cannot write an intelligible sentence, not surprisingly. And to top it off he seems to live on candy, cookies, MacDonalds and liquor. In any interaction with him he does a lot of stammering and sales speak and can’t give any real detail in answer to questions or requests for the simplest of direction. So, mind reading is then a job requirement. I’d be doing something a lot more lucrative if clairvoyance was in my skill set. It’s all very unnerving…..and I hate working there. Every day I feel dirty and am desperately looking for somewhere else to work.

    Where are the honest employers? AHHHHHHHHH! And the amazing thing is that so many people believe they are doing good things for themselves and their clients….and they are not unethical! What I’ve heard from the last 3 people I’ve worked for was “don’t be naive…this is how everyone does business…if you don’t bend the rules a little you’ll never survive”. You know, there’s bending and there’s breaking—but, the line is obviously blurred for those who are ethically challenged.

  • worker 101

    My boss is in his early 30′s and born with a silver spoon in his mouth .. He inherited the company I work for. He has no respect for his employees and is forever thinking he is being taken advantage of. Out of a one of his many fits he throws he decided to take away paid holidays. Said it was not worth giving us money and not getting something for it. I over heard him tell his brother just have her do it she’s my new slave now. Had I not needed this minimum wage no insurance no benefits job I would of told him where to stick it. To say the least I am scouring the ads daily.

  • Denised

    Thanks for your comment. One of the hallmarks of a bad boss is insecurity, which your boss seems to be displaying in spades. He probably will eventually lose with his attitude, but you don’t sit around waiting for it. Start looking for a better job today, before things get unbearable. In the meantime, hang in there!

  • Hidden

    My boss misunderstands me all the time. He is very insecure about loosing his work. Whenever I try to build a better relationship with upper management he thinks I am trying to capture his work which is never my intention. I am only trying to have a better relation with higher management. Post misunderstanding he tries to push me down and start accusing me something he never asked me to do on a certain date. Anyways I am sure he is going to loose with his attitude…

  • Allytopping

    Beware of Matthew Everhart. He will make management think he is a god, while he treats the underlings like dogs. If you’re good at your job, you are considered a threat to Matthew Everhart. He likes the screwups, they cause him no threat. Matthew Everhart will use the least productive workers to make the high producers fail. Matthew Everhart works in the pharma field for Phziser. Watch your back if he’s your boss! Matthew Everhart is a narcissist ideologue. Matthew Everhart should never be in management and hopefully he hasn’t hurt too many good workers!

  • Lato

    I have never met a good manager. I don’t think they exist.
    My latest manager is sly, manipulative and lazy. She is the postman who runs to the upper management gets instructions for the next project, misunderstands them then comes to tell me what to do. You might have guessed I work in a bureaucracy where preserving the hierarchy is as important as in the Vatican.

  • Lato

    I have never met a good manager. I don’t think they exist.
    My latest manager is sly, manipulative and lazy. She is the postman who runs to the upper management gets instructions for the next project, misunderstands them then comes to tell me what to do. You might have guessed I work in a bureaucracy where preserving the hierarchy is as important as in the Vatican.

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Wow. The stories I read hear never cease to amaze me. Those who've never worked for really bad bosses will never understand what all the fuss is about. It sounds like you may have had some legal recourse in your case. I hope that you have started taking your meds again and have found a new job where you're respected.

  • carole

    My 1st job was a law firm in philadelphia and every day for four years I was cursed at, screamed, called fat amogst other things and was humiliated on a daily basis. When they found out I was taking bipolar medication I told to stop taking it or I was fired… I stopped taking it and was let go anyway.

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    I've got family members who are nurses and they frequently talk about the doctors they've got to deal with. Whether it's a god complex, rudeness or just a plain lack of common sense, some of them seem to be real tools to work with and for. One of my friends even told me about nurses getting in trouble for trying to get doctors to wash their hands! How ridiculous is that?!

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Thank God you got out of your situation and found a good one. Micro managers are probably one of the worst kind of bad bosses. I've had some even go around checking our trashcans to make sure we weren't eating at our desks and checking our legs to make sure we were wearing pantyhose!! All because, they say, they wanted the office to look “more professional.” Isn't that awful!!

  • Donetta

    Sadly, the vile bosses I've been subjected to recently are due to them being pets of certain doctors who are the stars of the medical center. Blech. Bad enough to have to watch the doctors throw temper tantrums all over the place then have to listen to their pets who have rocks in the place of brains but will never get moved out of endangering staff and patients due to their pet status. Time to move back to a private hospital where those types of relationships don't seem to be an issue.

  • squeak

    At my last job, my boss was a micro-managing know-it-all who, in reality, knew little to nothing about what our jobs entailed. When I finally couldn't take the sound of his breathing behind me anymore, I found a new – and better – position with another company. My new boss is amazing. She's ALWAYS available if you have questions, but she doesn't micro-manage. She gives you the laundry list of what needs done and sends you on your way. Finishing your tasks is your responsibility. I swear I'll cry if she ever leaves.

  • primaryworkathome

    I agree. Not all boss are bad. Sometimes the boss mood will depend on the performance of the employees performance.