While four inches of snow is child’s play for northerners, the southeast, unaccustomed to more than a mere dusting, is paralyzed as a result of a winter storm that crept in overnight.

Despite dire news warnings about hazardous driving conditions, I wonder how many non-essential (anyone who isn’t a doctor, nurse, cop, fire etc.) employees felt obligated to get to work today, not because the world would end if they didn’t show up, but because of an overly demanding boss or the fear of job loss.

I’ve been there more times than I’d like to count. One particularly challenging winter in the northeast with a blizzard threatening, employees congregated around water coolers wondering who would be bold enough to make the first move. Driving home in blizzard conditions is frightening and all of us wanted to beat the storm home. The bosses, who presumably would have to drive home in the same conditions, never budged, and at 5:00pm we ventured out into madness. Thank God all of us made it home alive but not everyone is always that fortunate.

A friend shared a story of a colleague who, fearful of driving to work in hazardous conditions, called her boss to tell her she wouldn’t be able to make it in.  Her boss gave her an ultimatum – report to work or you’re fired. My friends colleague took the warning seriously and unfortunately lost her life driving to work that morning. Read the rest of this entry »

I got an interesting email the other day from a casting company in Southern California. They’re working on a real-life version of the wildly popular “The Office.” The fictional U.S. version of The Office documents the shenanigans of bad boss with a good heart Michael Scott and his team of sidekicks. Here, for example, is Diversity Day at The Office…

The Casting Firm is asking the question, “Would your real life office antics be entertaining to watch?”

CASTING FOR A NEW DOCU-SERIES: A Major Cable Network is seeking midsize offices full of big personalities that can carry a show. Would your office antics be entertaining to watch?

Is there anything coming up in your workplace that would be exciting to watch unfold? Moving offices, restructuring, new owners, new human resource policies, etc?

Are your coworkers the best….or the worst? Do you all get along or are office politics out of control? Is your boss amazing? Incompetent? The real life Michael Scott? We are looking for every kind of story, whether you have the dream job or work in a disaster zone! Tell us about the cast of characters in your workplace, and why you would all make great Television!

Casting for the first season is taking place in Southern California ONLY. So if your office has 10 employees or more and all are legal residents of the U.S., The Casting Firm wants to hear from you.  If you’re interested send your name, contact details, the name of your company, along with photos of you and your coworkers to casting.docuseries@gmail.com. Make sure you include a contact number so someone from their staff can contact you. For more information visit The Casting Firm’s Office Intervention link here.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: Really Bad Boss is not affiliated with The Casting Firm.

I recently found out that one the worst bosses I ever had (the one who asked me if I was disobeying a direct order although neither one of us was in the military – she’s also the one with the ridiculous ponytail weave) has, over the past couple of years, been promoted several times. Despite reading and writing every week about bad bosses who not only succeed but thrive, I still had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this woman had now attained something tantamount to director status. To quote Doctor Phil, “It chaps my hide.”

But then I remember a couple of things. One, she works for the government. Until I did my stint with agencies in both the federal and state government, I thought people gave the government and government employees an unfair shake. Now after logging over five years inside government bureaucracies I understand what all the hostility is about. But I’ve also got the unique advantage of understanding it from both sides.

You know that miserable DMV worker who barks out instructions at you from behind her cage? Or the customer service rep who keeps giving you the run-around when you call for answers? Well in some cases they’ve been beaten up so much by management that they no longer care. Granted, some of them are just mean-spirited, incompetent people (like the one years ago who smiled when she told me I had exhausted my unemployment benefits.)  But many were like me, well educated, smart, laid off from corporate America, looking for work and, despite embarrassingly low salaries, determined to make a go of it.

When I took my first job with the government I signed on for, and was prepared for lower pay, longer hours and a higher level of bureaucracy than in the private sector. I was not prepared for nor had I signed on for micromanagement, pantyhose inspections, or military type treatment. My “superiors,” who had less business experience and less formal education than I had, were petty and arrogant. They had attained their status simply by outlasting everyone else. Tenure is king in the public sector. And if your goal is power and a fat pension upon retirement, then your best bet is to make life hell for anyone you perceive as a threat. If you’re also insecure in your abilities (because you’re keenly aware you have none) constantly reminding people that you’re the boss serves as a boon to the ego.

So when I hear that my former bad boss has been promoted it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and it’s not because I want what she has. It’s because I know that she got where she is by stepping on the backs and dreams of people probably much more competent and qualified than she’ll ever be.

And so, another bad boss empire expands…

Got any bad boss success stores that chap your hide? Share your stories in the comment section.

On Monday I introduced you to a reader who’s being bullied into turning a blind eye to on-the-job violations. Furthermore, the boss is telling everyone in the office that this employee reports every mistake they make, turning him into the office pariah. Today I share part two of his story, including his ability to find a bright spot and his appeal to others to help them find theirs.

She gives me assignments that require the use of certain programs that are installed on only a few computers in the company, and then does not allow me to work on those computers. She also gives me busy work, and work that involves materials that she knows I am allergic to. She advised me that my job title is dead and told me to start looking for a job elsewhere.

A bright spot in all of this the fact that I won a company people’s choice award for an outstanding job. Normally anonymous nominations are not allowed, but the officials in the contest knew enough about the tensions that they saw our service area would have had no award if they did not allow employees to speak anonymously. The award was signed by the manager two steps above my boss, but I was not present to receive it, because I thought I was not welcome at the banquet.

I am writing this to try to make another bright spot. I know I have untapped creativity and talent that is going to waste 40 hours a week. I have tried taking classes in the evening but I am too distracted by anger from work to concentrate. I am looking for collaborators to learn more about computer programming, web development, making PowerPoint presentations, or comedy writing. We could start out our sessions commiserating about our bad boss and then be able to focus on the project we have chosen. If we make money, we can split it, but my main goal is to improve skills and restore sanity.

If you’re interested in sharing your thoughts, ideas and skills with Andee, please email him at andeeharris44(@)hotmail.com (remove parenthesis.)*

Please note, my inclusion of Andee’s contact information is not an endorsement. Andee is independent of Reallybadboss.com and operates as such. Any affiliation or association developed via this post is independent of Reallybadboss.com.

Over the course of my career I’ve been asked to do an array of questionable things. Most were just plain stupid, some were sexist, but none were outright illegal. So what do you do when your job description requires you to report violations but your boss wants you to cover them up? Here’s part one of a true-to-life, really bad boss story submitted by a reader who’s facing this dilemma.

My boss required me to go to compliance training. The compliance training stated that I was required to report violations or else I would be committing a violation myself. The violations I reported were committed by my boss (and she escaped punishment by lying), and now I am on her hit list.

She is currently in the process of isolating me. She is telling everyone that I report every mistake that they make and some refuse to speak to me because of it. (Of course, mistakes and violations of the law are two entirely different things, but this is lost on my boss.) She has had another employee ask me “as a favor” to do something that is violation of privacy policies and I have refused. She assigned me to a task (through the employee who normally performs this function) that would have required I stretch the truth to satisfy the customer (who was a different employee in my department). I did not stretch the truth, then my boss redid the assignment with the truth stretched. This employee was very upset with me and had special favor with my boss for a few days, but, now that she is over her anger, she is no longer my boss’s favorite.

My boss has promoted the office gossip because she knows of sneaky ways to irritate people, including tampering with my phone and computer. I have two people I can confide in at work, one my boss knows about and one she is trying to flush out. The one my boss knows about has told me that the last person who confided in her about my boss got fired, and she does not want that to happen to me, so she is backing away.

Not only is this guy faced with an a** of a boss but one who’s bullying him into breaking the law. Any thoughts on the best way to handle this situation? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Wednesday: Part Two – Finding a bright spot

This week most Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving in the traditional way, with turkey, football and family, reflecting on the things they’re most grateful for. Here at Reallybadboss.com we’ve got a lot to be thankful for too. Specifically we’re thankful that the jerks in the stories we’ll be sharing this week aren’t our bosses. These stories remind the rest of us that as bad as we have it, it could be worse. I thought I’d ring in the season with a few of my own bad boss stories, starting with my very first really bad boss.

For years I wasted entire Sundays absolutely dreading Monday mornings.   The uneasy feeling would start to creep in on Saturday night, and by Sunday evening, I was a basket case.  For many of us Monday spells the end of the weekend, the start of the work week and a return to a real tool of a boss.  For two years I endured a verbally abusive boss (I fondly refer to him now as the Reprobate) who ran around cursing at the top of his lungs and leering at the women in the office.

The company made beauty aids, including a “bikini bump” soother. Once he asked one of the young women in the office to be the “bikini bump” product model. Of course she knew this meant wearing a bikini to the photo shoot. She didn’t realize it entailed wearing one to the office and having The Reprobate and his spawn ogle her while she “gave them an idea” of what the shoot would look like. She did it. We all were there and none of us protested. We didn’t talk to HR – because there was none. And we certainly didn’t contact the EEOC. We put up with it and we stayed. I stayed because it was my first job out of college and, fresh out of school, I wasn’t aware of my rights. The other women in the office probably felt the same way – afraid of losing their jobs.

So I put up with it.  And 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.

Wednesday: Another real-life, really bad boss tale

He also blamed her for misplacing a letter that was in his briefcase the entire time and lectured her about her “weight problem.” It’s real life, it’s really bad, and it’s another really bad boss tale submitted by a reader…

Four and a half months ago I left an ugly and unproductive work environment and even accepted a pay cut in my new position just to get away from an egotistical boss with small man syndrome. Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire! After months of bipolar style ups and downs in our working relationship, my boss fired me last night since I refused to quit. He asked me to finish out the week so I could appropriately hand off all my pending work. This morning when I came in he asked if he could buy me a cup of coffee and proceeded to tell me that he’s willing to overlook the conversation (WHEN HE FIRED ME) yesterday and move on from here.

A bit of background… I am a seasoned professional that actually knows a lot more than my boss about the products he sells. I was previously an account manager but took this assistant position with the understanding that I would eventually be an associate. I also accepted the position based on having health insurance after three months.

Shortly after my employment, the temper tantrums from my 62 year old boss began. He likes to tell me frequently that I should not do things “my way” and that I need to consult him on everything because these are not my clients, they are his. Yet, if I consult him too much he gets grumpy and tells me he hired me for my expertise so he shouldn’t have to answer all my questions. One hissy fit was so bad that I actually teared up a bit. I’m not talking racking sobs, I’m talking eyes welling only. He sent me to the bathroom to calm myself down and waited til the next day to berate me for my “unprofessional demeanor” and for making him look like a meanie to the rest of the office. So far I have managed to successfully avoid so much as the slightest sign of human feelings, even through the lecture about my “weight problem” and how I’m a “beautiful girl” so I shouldn’t let it bring my self esteem down if my “husband doesn’t mind” me the way I am.

I am frequently blamed for things outside my control. On one occasion, he chastised me for losing a letter from a client that he gave to me. He could not tell me when he gave it to me, but insisted that I lost it and that was simply unacceptable. Fast forward two hours of storming around and yelling at me and he discovered the letter was written TWO YEARS before I came to work for him and HE had it in his briefcase ALL ALONG.

So now I sit here debating my sparse options, unable to quit because the economy is rotten and I have a family depending on my paycheck. At least if he’d stuck with his impetuous firing yesterday I would have received unemployment benefits to tide me over until I find a new position. Instead I am being forced to swallow my pride and integrity yet again and accept his offer to “move on”. What I wouldn’t give to be able to tell him off or at the very least, get some of my dignity back by being able to walk away.

If you’ve got any words of wisdom or encouragement for our reader, or if you’ve been in a similar position yourself, share your story in the comment section, or email me at denised(@)reallybadboss.com. (Leave out the parenthesis)