It’s Monday morning and you’re already dreading the week ahead and wondering how on earth you’re going to make it through. The work is piling up and so is the pressure. Your boss isn’t getting any better, in fact she’s worse. And in these economic times it feels like you have no choice but to stay put.

For two years I endured a verbally abusive boss who ran around cursing at the top of his lungs and leering at the women in the office. I stayed because it was my first job out of college. I’d left home and didn’t want to return humiliated and defeated. And, fresh out of school, I wasn’t aware of my rights and thought this was just the way business was done. So I put up with it.

While putting up with it, I learned some really valuable lessons. I learned I was stronger and smarter than I had given myself credit for. The Reprobate sent me from city to city to check on products without a plan or clearly defined purpose. He would bark out a command that I go visit a drug chain in some remote city out west, and I’d be gone on literally, a wing and a prayer. In those pre-GPS days, I would get off the plane, rent a car, get a map and sometimes 10 hours later end up back at my hotel room, tired and angry, but done. I told myself every day, “this is the worst job I’ll ever have”, and I meant it. I’ve never again put up with that type of abuse and I’ve turned every bad boss situation I’ve had since then into a learning experience.

A couple of tips to help you get through this week:

1. Take it one day at a time. If on Monday morning, you’re worrying about what might happen on Wednesday, by Wednesday you’ll be a wreck. Begin mentally prepping yourself from Sunday night. Take it easy on Sunday, rest and enjoy the day as much as possible.  Its sometimes easier said than done, but practice enjoying your days away from the office. Don’t spend them dreading Monday.
2. Remember that everything, and I mean everything, that happens is preparing you for the next phase in your life and career. Learning to deal with a micro-manager will teach you patience, an incompetent one will teach you to step up your game to the next level, and a reprobate will show you who you don’t want to be when you move up the management pipeline.  Soak up as much knowledge and information as you can.  Try to see every trial and obstacle as an opportunity to advance your skill set.  Last but not least, repeat after me, “what doesn’t kill me will make me stronger. “

This article was originally posted in March, 2009.

The Literary Edition – This week we’re taking a look at a few of the books on the market that focus on bad bosses and how to survive them…

• A Survival Guide for Working With Bad Bosses: Dealing With Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, And Other Managers from Hell by Gini Graham Scott, PhD. The title says it all – Scott outlines several strategies for dealing with the bad bosses who’ve become the banes of our existence.

• Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues by Vicky Oliver. Oliver takes on more than bosses in this book. She provides over 200 ways to deal with your garden variety office idiot.

• How to work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive…Without Killing your Boss by John Hoover. After years of unsuccessfully trying to change I-bosses (idiot bosses) Hoover decided to bring the knowledge directly to the poor souls who have to work for them.

• When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses: How to survive in a Crazy and Dysfunctional Workplace by William & Kathleen Lundin. If you notice a pattern here, it’s because there is one. Bad bosses are often dumb bosses, and the Lundins offer strategies for coping with the dumbest of them.

A 27-year veteran of the Air Force faces 18 counts involving 10 female airmen including sexual harassment, having sex with subordinates and sending semi-nude images of himself to subordinates. He is also charged with misusing government equipment including a computer, cell phone and e-mail account.

In November Chief Master Sgt. William Gurney was assigned to a desk job and removed as the top enlisted man at the Air Force Materiel Command headquarters at Wright-Patterson in Ohio. Around that time a female airman filed a complaint against Gurney that launched an investigation into the Sergeant. The investigation found Gurney had been involved in inappropriate relationships with 10 women, all lower ranking. Karen Petitt, a spokeswoman at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, which is handling Gurney’s case told the AP “He was a senior enlisted member, and you can’t use your rank or your influence unduly and you can’t have relationships with those junior to you.” Petitt said. “It’s a whole chain-of-command issue.”

In addition to sending the images, Gurney also allegedly asked one woman to send him pictures of her breasts and to participate in a threesome. Gurney is married as are four of the subordinates he’s accused of having sex with.

What’s up with these sexual harassers helping the prosecution in these cases by providing video, photographic and text evidence proving they’re doing exactly what they’re denying they’re doing? Nobody ever said bad bosses were smart.

The Ritz-Carlton would rather appease a racist guest than back their 15 year employee – and now they’re being sued because of it.

Haitian America waiter Wadner Tranchant who works at the Ritz-Carlton resort in Naples Florida is suing the hotel and its vice president for discrimination after he was told that guest, Rodney Morgan, had requested that he not be served by “people of color or with a foreign accent.”

Instead of putting racist Rodney out on his ass where he belonged, managing director Edward Staros entered the request in the hotel’s computer system. Initially Tranchant begun serving racist Rodney but was later prevented by his supervisors from continuing.

Guess what Ritz-Carlton? The customer isn’t always right, and we can only hope that racist Rodney’s hotel stay will cover the cost of Mr. Tranchant’s lawsuit. Way to have your employee’s back Ritz.

Source: ebosswatch

I recently found out that a colleague I’d long suspected of sleeping with the boss, actually was. The realization that the relationship that had long been the subject of rumor was actually true wasn’t as surprising as the fact that in an office as small as ours, the couple actually thought they’d be able to keep their relationship a secret. What was more surprising was that while the colleague we’ll call Bob, seemed like a nice enough guy, the boss he was having the relationship with, we’ll call her Mary – yes that Mary, was absolutely crazy.

Knowing that Bob slept with the enemy reduced his IQ, in my mind, far below the already tragically low number at which it was hovering. I guess we should have seen the writing on the wall much sooner than we had. Let’s see – there were the times we’d walk into her office to find him kneeling next to her chair looking intently at the “computer screen.” Or maybe we should have known when she sent him a bottle of his favorite cologne – to the office. But all doubts should have been erased when he got a promotion although he was the newest, least qualified and most IQ challenged member of the team.

Despite all the hints, none of us ever thought that the two of them (both married) would be stupid enough to carry on an affair. You watch this kind of stuff on prime time TV and of course, David Letterman probably set some kind of standard for doing stuff like this, but still, you just don’t see it coming.

The fact is, I can’t think of any scenario where sleeping with your boss is a good idea. Not one. I’ve always thought those relationships were creepy at best and potential career suicide at worst. And even if your boss isn’t one of the bad guys – or gals – it’s still a good idea to just say no.

What are your thoughts on sleeping with the enemy – is it ever a good idea? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

What the blogosphere’s saying about bosses this week…

• eBossWatch.com launches boss background check service – Asher Adelman, founder of eBossWatch, said, “Employers have long been able to conduct background checks on prospective employees.  For the first time ever, eBossWatch has leveled the playing field.”   eBossWatch Boss Background Checks include searches of county and federal court records as well as local and national media sources so that job seekers will know if their potential boss has ever been accused of infractions such as creating a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, or employment discrimination. I think an angel just got their wings…

• As if reality wasn’t bad enough, Top 13 has a list of the top 13 worst TV bosses of all time. Included on their list,  JR Ewing, Louie De Palma, and Damages’ Patty Hewes.

• A bad boss is like…foul garbage on a hot day – it stinks. Check out the meyvn group’s list and add your own analogy. I know it’ll be hard, but try to keep it clean.

• Deciphering the things our bosses say – On When Fridays were Fridays, Colette Martin helps us wade through the murky waters of boss speak.

So you think you have it bad – well suppose you had a bad boss and one of the most stressful jobs in America? CareerCast.com studied dozens of factors that lead to job stress and ranked 200 professions by how much these factors impacted an average workday. Factors included work environment, perceived risk of unemployment and job competitiveness. According to their research, these are the 5 most stressful jobs in America.

5. Cops – It goes without saying, any job that includes the potential of being shot is stressful, but add to that long hours and dealing with people like the one’s featured each week on the tv show Cops, then it’s no wonder cops made the top 5.

4. Surgeons – With life and death at their fingertips, surgeons rank #4 in stressful jobs. Erratic hours and the rise in malpractice cases also add to the stressful nature of this job.

3. Taxi Drivers – Cab drivers work erratic hours and frequently drive in bad weather conditions. They’re also confined to their vehicles for much of the day, making them vulnerable to criminals.

2. Corporate Executive – Ok, so we’re not exactly pulling out our violins for the men and women in these positions, but the highly competitive corporate exec field brings with it daily pressures to make far-reaching decisions that can affect not only companies but entire economies.

1. Firefighters – No surprise here. Firefighting ranks as the #1 stressful job in America. Firefighters risk serious injury and death while on the job, and are often required to spend long hours outdoors in bad weather,” says CareerCast.com.

For the complete list of America’s most stressful jobs, visit CareerCast.com .