We’re picking up where we left off yesterday with our fellow bad boss sufferer sharing her story about dealing with her particular brand of bad boss. In addition to the new lunch hour rules being implemented, this bad boss also instituted new rules regarding emails…

Beyond poor managing was her micro-managing. Emailing and responding to clients was a large part of our day. She decided that she needed to read each of the emails that we sent before we sent them. Yes, you can imagine how much wasted time occurred by emailing her a copy of every email we sent for her to review and then sending back an “okay” before we could send it. We are not talking about an office of high school drop-outs. All of my former team had at least an Associates degree, our manager included. I myself have 2 BAs and am working on my Master’s so I do acknowledge that I was a bit more frustrated with that new rule.

In addition, she had our tech team put effort into a weekly “dump” of our emails – to see if we were sending any personal emails (no one in the co sent personal emails via company email!) And to double check that none of us were sending any client emails without going through her. Talk about paranoid!! In addition, all of our phone calls were recorded. Not for the company’s protection – but so she could check our phone calls as well. We went to upper management regarding her behavior. Nothing was done.

While in the office one day, she publicly humiliated (we also had two clients visiting our office at that time) a co-worker by telling her that she used the wrong word choice and that she noticed it in an email as well and that she was also misspelling the word. Her behavior was an embarrassment to the entire office – not just for the obvious, but because her vocabulary didn’t include the word my co-worker had used. The co-worker in question ended up bringing the email to me and after our guests left, I insisted on a meeting with my department manager. She denied her behavior (with a roomful that witnessed it) and insisted that we were not as educated as we thought we were. Yes, she went there – all because she was not familiar with the word! I insisted on a meeting with her, upper management and HR because of her poor attitude. She was chastised and had to go through a two-week workshop about tolerance and employee treatment.

It wasn’t long after that a similar situation arose and she was chastised again. In the meantime, I had had my resume out and quit as soon as I found another job. Four employees followed shortly after my exit. I keep in occasional contact with my old co-workers and have since learned that she (my former department manager) was severely reprimanded again by upper management – she violated HIPAA privacy laws by demanding to see the blood test results of one of her employees who had been off work and ill. What boggles my mind is that the company still has her as an employee, let alone a manager!!

It’s stories like this that make it easier understand things like the banking meltdown and foreclosure crisis. Incompetent people in management making bad decisions with ramifications that go well beyond whether an employee’s feelings are hurt or not. And like our commenter, I’m left to wonder why these mis-managers are allowed to remain in their positions of power for as long as they do. The one bright side of this story is that our reader was able to find another job and get out.

Can you relate to this bad boss story? Share your own story in the comment section, or email me at denised@reallybadboss.com.

Yesterday I shared a comment from one of our readers regarding bad bosses and their bad rules. Today I’m sharing something another reader submitted in response to the original comment. In a show of camaraderie with her fellow bad boss sufferer, she shares her personal experience dealing with an outrageously incompetent boss.

I recently left a job that I loved because I could not stand to deal with my Dept Manager and her own set of rules any longer. When the co first hired her and she was moved to our dept, we were informed that she was coming in as a co-worker (we needed the assistance as we were all working 12-14 hour days). We were a small group of 10 and immediately tried to welcome her and bring her up to speed with what we do. She rebuffed any friendly overtures and acted like she knew more about what we did than our entire dept combined. We ended up losing 12 major law firms that we worked with in light of her behavior. Unfortunately, her direct boss chalked it up to “growing pains” & not as a result of her antics.

It wasn’t long after that that she was made our dept head. The office atmosphere changed immediately from fast-paced and friendly to tense and stressful. Other than “managing”, she did not pick up any of our case load, but she did cut overtime to 1 hour only each day (we were still expected to maintain the same number of closed files each week, however, and had to produce a Daily Mgmt Report for her. Talk about a waste of time & paper! Each of us spent the last 30 minutes of every work day preparing one for her that we could NOT email. We had to print them out and personally hand them in. She would peruse them (30 seconds at the most) and then crumple them up and throw them away. In addition, she re-organized our case load so that each of us were dealing with a new group of clients. Not necessarily a bad idea except that each of us had built up our own relationships with these individuals. At least 40% of our client base made complaints to higher mgmt. A month later she changed everything back – a good idea in light of the complaints, but we lost a lot of ground in the meantime while trying to build new connections & accomplish what we needed to do.
Unfortunately, things did not stop there. She, too, implemented a cell-free zone – while leaving hers on prominent display in the center of her desk. She spent at least 3 hours of each work day sexting her boyfriend. We were not even allowed to use cells at lunch unless we left the building (several of us grabbed lunch at our desk in light of the demands of the office.) Btw…leaving the building to take a call was not an option as it took 10 minutes in any direction to exit the building. When she was made manager, she changed the 1 hour lunch to 2- 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch (she was a smoker). My entire dept was female and the majority were mothers who would use the 1 hour lunch to run home & put the crockpot on or pick up prescriptions for their children, etc, while us non-mothers stayed behind & took care of answering any calls that came in (as we were friendly, it was a system that worked for all of us.) Her new lunch implementation changed all of that.

Much like the boss in yesterday’s post, this boss seemed to implement rules that not only destroyed employee morale, but was also counterproductive. I like to call this the arrogance factor – where bossing people around is more important than managing them.

Tomorrow: Part 3 of bad boss, bad rules

Last week we received a comment on the site in response to the post, Could a bad boss be worse than war? The commenter was at the end of her rope. Her frustration was evident in this simple statement – “There has to be some type of answer to this problem.” Here’s her story:

There has to be some type of answer to this problem. Someone needs to rewrite the law on what goes on in the workplace, whether it is harassment or bullying. Where I work, we encounter harassment and bullying by the office manager. This office manager is the savior of the world and we are nothing.

There are two sets of rules the office employees must follow one for her and the other for us. No personal phone calls only at lunch time and no cell phone use during the day. But it is ok for this office manager to receive personal phone calls during the course of the work day and her cell phone goes off (personal calls) and she leaves the office the speak to whoever and does not come back to work for 1/2 hr later.

In my review I was reminded that personal calls were not allowed and I told the office manager that when doctors calls I must speak to them, it’s when they are available for me to talk to them not when I’m available. My husband is very sick and I need to discuss things with them. You speak to doctors when they are available not when you are available. She told me that the doctors should call my husband and not me. But it is ok for the office managers doctors to call about her, her husband, sister-in-law, etc. I can go on and on but I won’t. I need some type of help regarding this situation. Can you help me?

While what her employer is doing seems heartless, it’s probably not illegal. If they’ve got policies that state there’s no cell phone use in the office, then employees are required to abide by those policies. Is it fair in this case where an employee has a true medical situation to deal with? No, but it’s probably legal. As for management having their own set of rules, we’ve dealt with this topic before. There are different rules for the rest of us. Managers, by virtue of their position, are allowed more “freedom” than employees, and some of it is justified. But when management adopts an “in your face” stance that seems to flaunt their freedom in the face of subordinates, it’s not only not cool, it’s debilitating to employee morale.

What are your thoughts on corporate rules and policies? Should there ever be exceptions? What advice would you give our reader who’s obviously between a rock and a hard place? Share your thoughts in our comment section.

But it could have been worse. He’d initially tried to snort it off her butt…

From the “We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried files” the New York Post is reporting that cocktail waitress Nicole Slama is suing her former boss and Manhattan nightclub owner Gary Malhotra for sexual harassment after he essentially forced her to use her body as a drug table.

In her $3.5 million suit, 24 year old Slama claims that in 2007 Malhotra forced her into a storage closet and said “I want to sniff [coke] off your [butt]. You have a great [butt].” Slama’d recently left a job at Applebees hoping to make money as a cocktail waitress at Quo nightclub. But in addition to the $500 she got during her first shift at Quo, she got an earful about management’s alleged practice of snorting cocaine in the back office and having sex with employees.

Slama alleges Malhotra offered her cocaine on several occasions but on December 6, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Although she managed to rebuff the butt request, Malhotra sprinkled coke onto her shoulder, snorted it and then licked Slama’s shoulder and neck. She later snuck out of the club and went to the police. In December, Malhotra was convicted of sex abuse, harassment and forcible touching. Of course Malhotra is using the “disgruntled, fired employee” excuse as a defense.

While most people probably think it’s impossible for sexual harassment to occur in sexually charged environments like clubs and bars, the fact is, sexual harassment is defined as unwanted sexual attention, and regardless of what may or may not be going on with other employees, if a boss forces an employee to do anything sexual, then he’s guilty.

Read the entire sordid story here.

Image: Nicole Slama/Inset Gary Malhotra – source: NY Post

A couple had a “distracting” experience at the 9:40 pm showing of Shutter Island at the St. Croix Falls Cinema 8 in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Later that night, Mrs. Kohl-Leaf, shot off an email to the cinema owners complaining about, among other things, the theater not taking debit or credit cards, the ATM being out of cash and the 20 minutes theater staff spent wandering through the theater in search of underage patrons.

The next morning, Kohl-Leaf awoke to this email from the company’s vice president.

Sarah,
Drive to White Bear Lake and also go f*** yourself. If you dont have money for entertainment, get a better job, and don’t pay for everything on your credit or check card. You can also shove your time and gas up your f*****g ass. Also, find better things to do with your time. This email is an absolute joke. We don’t care to have you as a customer. Let me know if you need directions to white bear lake.
Steven
Steven J. Payne – Vice President
Evergreen Entertainment
929 Old Highway 8 NW
Suite 200
New Brighton, MN 55112
Phone – (651) 636-1417
Fax – (651) 636-1418

Geez! Can you imagine what this jackass must be like to work for? If there are any employees of Evergreen Entertainment who want to (anonymously of course) tell me what this gem of a VP is like to work for, please email me at denised@reallybadboss.com or leave a comment below.  By the way, as is often the case of businesses behaving badly, there’s now a boycott against them on Facebook. Check it out here.

Who among us hasn’t, just once, wished our boss could walk a mile in our shoes. Last night on the premier episode of “Undercover Boss” we watched Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management , the largest trash and recycling company in North America, walk a few miles in the shoes of several of his employees.

The show’s premise is simple – bosses from major companies across the country go “undercover” in various entry level positions in their respective companies. CBS’s tag line for the show is “They will discover the truth.” And to some extent they do.

O’Donnell sorted trash at one of his waste management facilities, collected trash from the side of the highway and cleaned toilets at a carnival. Along the way he meets with several dedicated and hardworking employees (no doubt handpicked by management for their great attitudes) and learns as much about their personal struggles as he does about the shortcomings of his own company policies. For instance, workers are expected to clean 15 port-o-potties in an hour. On an assembly line, employees have to remove cardboard from a conveyer belt going at extremely high speeds or risk jamming expensive machinery. And female garbage collectors are forced to use a can as a toilet during their routes.

O’Donnell comes across as a conscientious boss who genuinely seems concerned about the well being of his employees. By show’s end, he vows to review some of the corporate policies he and his management team have instituted and he promises to become a better manager. Only time will tell if O’Donnell and Waste Management really make changes.  The cynic in me thinks that when management is really concerned about how their policies impact employees and productivity, they don’t need a television show and cameras to learn the truth, they just  need to listen to their employees.  But, if “Undercover Boss” causes even a few companies to take a closer look at the way they do business, then it’s a start.

To catch clips from last night’s premier, click here.

A reader sent the following story in as a comment on our “Worst Bosses of all time” post. She sent it on New Years after being told she had to go into the office. Any of us who’ve had a really bad boss can relate to her feeling sick and crying on the weekend in anticipation of the drama that will most certainly take place on Monday morning. Here’s her story in her own words…

I was out of work for over a year so when I was offered a job to work at a non-profit agency an hour away from home, I said, Thank you, and took the job. Little did I know that the female version of Adolph Hitler is alive and well and running the non-profit agency where I had just agreed to work. While this woman was unpleasant at the interview, I just assumed that she was having a bad day or perhaps was stressed. I was mistaken; that is the norm.

On my first day in the office, instead of receiving any kind of welcome or introduction from her, she approached me as I was still holding my coat, purse and bag containing personal items like Kleenex and reference books, and said, Meeting in five minutes – I need you to take notes. The receptionist showed me where my office was and I hurriedly sat my things down and grabbed a pad and pen. There were about a dozen people in the meeting and she never introduced them to me, so I drew a diagram of the seating and numbered them so I could keep the comments straight of who said what. Finally, when there was a lull in the discussion, I spoke up and asked if, since I was asked to take minutes, I could please have everyone’s names. The boss later told me that I was never to interrupt one of her meetings again. Afterwards, she gave me several documents to make revisions on, however, I was not allowed to have access to any documents of my predecessor, so I had to completely re-type all the documents.

When I went to my new boss to ask a question, I discovered that she had left the office and had locked her door shut – she does not share her schedule with anyone and no one knew if and when she would return for the day. Another admin assistant introduced herself and showed me around the office and sort of explained what my position would be like. I was also told that I was the fourth secretary my boss had had so far this year. When my boss returned, I told her that I had tried to go to her to ask a question but found out that she was gone but the other admin had been very helpful and answered some questions for me. The boss was livid – “WHY WERE YOU TALKING TO HER??? SHE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING – SHE’S JUST A TEMP! SHE IS NOT YOUR BOSS – I AM YOUR BOSS! (repeating) ..SHE IS NOT YOUR BOSS — I AM YOUR BOSS!!!” I reminded her that it was my first day; that she was gone and I didn’t know if she would be back and the other admin had actually answered my questions. I was reminded that I was never to go to the other admin again for any reason without express direction.

…On Day #2, I handed a document to my boss that I had just completed; she looked it over while I stood and waited for further direction from her. She turned to me and said, “You’re a perfectionist, aren’t you?”, I replied that I guess I am. With a sinister tone, my new boss told me, “I’m a perfectionist, too. We’re going to butt heads and I’m going to win.” I told her, “You can win! You’re my boss and I’m just here to help you. Why would we butt heads?” She said, We’ll see. I have now been here two months and it is some of the longest two months of my life. I cry on my way to work, I cry on Sundays knowing that I have to go back to that horrible woman on Monday. Although she does not usually raise her voice, her tone is always cynical, sarcastic,

Read the rest of this entry »