Anne Burrell - Image source nymag.com

Anne Burrell hosts Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. But before that she was a chef at Centro Vinoteca, a neighborhood restaurant and wine bar located in New York’s West Village. A lawsuit filed earlier this year claims that while Burrell was a chef at Centro she repeatedly hurled insults at, and discriminated against, female employees. A bartender says Burrell told her she had “saggy boobs,” and called her a “ho.”  Other female employees say they were called “sluts and whores.” The suit alleges that employees who complained to the restaurant’s owners were terminated, and that male employees were “not treated in the same or similar manner.” The complaint also states that Burrell suspended an employee for allegedly stealing a piece of cheese and claimed an employee faked an ovarian cyst to get out of working.

I don’t know much about the restaurant business, and even less about what goes on in the kitchens of these restaurants, but I always thought that restaurant kitchens were really tough places to work, where insult hurling was par for the course. I’m by no means excusing or justifying Burrell’s behavior, especially if it was only directed at female employees. But it’s got me wondering about the effectiveness of these types of lawsuits and the long term impact it may have on women in this particular industry.

Everyone has the right to work in a non-hostile, non-sexist environment, and I understand that when it comes to changing behavior, particularly corporate sanctioned behavior, money talks. Fear of being sued predated the shift in thinking that brought about an end (at least on paper anyway) to an environment where secretaries were openly and routinely goosed and propositioned in the workplace.

It would be interesting to hear an industry insider’s take on it. Is Burrell’s alleged behavior considered typical or even acceptable for the industry? Will a successful suit see the beginning of changes in behavior in restaurant kitchens, or will it more likely result in a reduction in the number of women being hired? Will it make a difference one way or the other? Share your thoughts in our comment section.

Source: Slashfood.com

A couple of years ago Spike TV posted their Top 10 worst movie bosses of all time.  The list included many of the movie bosses we’d expect, including The Devil Wears Prada’s Amanda Priestly, Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko and of course The Godfather’s Michael Corleone.  One big surprise, The Dark Knight’s Bruce Wayne.  I’m not sure I’d classify Bruce Wayne as a bad boss, but let’s just say if he had been my really bad boss, Really Bad Boss the blog would be a very different kind of site.

The whole bad boss movie list got me wondering why we love really bad movie bosses so much.  I think we can narrow it down to about three reasons:

1. In the movies, really bad bosses are fascinating, edgy, sexy and really cool, adjectives rarely, if ever, used to describe our real life really bad bosses.   Case in point Batman, The Dark Knight’s Bruce Wayne.  We’re not sure we completely agree with Spike TV’s assessment of Bruce Wayne as a bad boss, but they did remind us that Alfred and Lucius (Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman) are always on call, never get vacation and frequently have to retrieve their boss from seedy neighborhoods in the middle of the night.  Bad boss or not, that sounds a lot more exciting than pushing your drunken boss off your lap at the office party.  Add to that, the fact that my boss looks more like a bat, than Christian Bale as Batman, and I’ll take looking for Christian Bale…I mean Bruce Wayne… in the slums of Gotham City any day.           
2. In the movies, bad bosses are really evil and really smart.  Think Gordon Gekko, Wall Street and Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada.  We might not like their methods and we definitely don’t like them, but behind all the dislike is a certain degree of respect.  They know what they’re doing and they’re really good at it. In real life, most really bad bosses have the evil part down pat.  The smart part…not so much.  Real life bosses forge ahead, logic be damned, making it up as they go along. We never respect them for that.                                                   
3. Finally, the movies remind us that even though our really bad bosses act like the embodiment of evil, things could be worse.  They could actually be the devil. Think John Milton (Al Pacino) in the The Devil’s Advocate.  The movies remind us that our bosses, despite their best attempts to convince us otherwise, are only human – barely human – but human nonetheless.  Just think, no matter how evil our bosses are, if a rocket scientist like Keanu Reeves can defeat the devil himself, we can certainly make it through another day with our own, barely human, very mortal, real life, really bad boss.

Got your own reasons for loving your favorite really bad movie boss?  Share them in the comment section.  For the  full list of Spike TV bad movie bosses click here.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  Who better to honor you with than Mr. T himself.  I’ll let his video and lyrics do all the talking because he’s so eloquent and you know…shiny.  I don’t remember this video. Either that or I blocked it out.  But, I am not ashamed to admit that I started tapping my feet halfway through.

How does this relate to Really Bad Boss? Mr. T should have fired his really bad agent right after he booked him this really bad gig and then again when he suggested Mr. T wear those really tight booty shorts.  Where’s the A-Team when you need them?  Well, at least his agent didn’t book him in Midgets vs. Mascots.

A little really bad boss weekend fun…pun intended

Entertainers and their handlers make great subjects for really bad boss, usually just by waking up in the morning.  But, we’ve got to certify Gary Coleman’s agency as one of the worst really bad bosses around for booking him a role in the Indy film “Midgets vs. Mascots.”  Yes, in case you’re pc challenged, midget is an offensive term, and Coleman himself says he’d like to “bash his fists right into his [agent's] face” for bringing him the role. If he could reach his face. The 41 year old actor cites his well publicized financial problems as the reason for taking the role.   As if that weren’t really bad enough, his agent also shows his disdain for his own client by allowing him to be photographed looking like this and (gasp), this.  We have a word of career advice for Mr. Coleman, one that his agents are obviously determined not to share with him. Lotion. Not only will it moisturize his skin, it might help us take him seriously when he complains about not being taken seriously. You think he’d listen if Willis talked to him?

Rod Blagojevich (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Judge denies Blagojevich request to do reality show

Our 2^ndfavorite really bad boss is back in the news again. Not content with making an ass of himself in America, Blagojevich had petitioned the courts for permission to make an ass of himself in Costa Rica, on an NBC reality show slated for a June premier.  Instead, “I’m a celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”, will have to go on without him.  We’re glad because we won’t have to watch the complete meltdown when he realizes that there are no hair products in the jungle and he won’t be getting the rumored $80K an episode pay day. During the court proceedings, the judge remarked that he didn’t think Blagojevich “fully understands…the position he finds himself in.”  We agree.

Classes begin today. First course? Political Correctness 101. We can learn so much from our favorite Really Bad TV boss.  In this clip from The Office, Michael gives us a lesson on political correctness.  When it comes to Michael Scott, watch everything he does then do the exact opposite.

Hulk Hogan just before he turns green

The Really Bad Boss Celebrity Foot in Mouth Edition Vol. II 

We just finished letting Jamie Foxx know that we can hear him when he says things on his radio show.  Now we learn that we also have to let Hulk Hogan know that we can read the interviews he gives when they go to print.  Hogan is a bit different from Foxx.  He’s never won an Academy Award and the safe bet is he never will.  Not long ago he was making a living tearing off his tank top and throwing people around a ring.  Plus, he’s named after a a comic strip character. We really should never take anyone seriously who legally goes by the name of a comic book character.  Ever. 

 Unlike Jamie Foxx, the bar is set lower for Hogan. Much lower. Yet he still managed to get his lip caught on it during a Rolling Stones interview.  An interview that will be published in Rolling Stone magazine and subsequently read by a lot of people.   So, when he, in the interview and on camera, sympathizes with OJ Simpson and admits to having thoughts of killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend, even people who barely paid any attention to him before, started giving him the side eye.  Apparently this is so shocking to the Hulk that he put a sleeved shirt on and apologized. His apology involved him saying he’s “misunderstood” and how difficult it is to see his ex and her boy toy in his former million dollar mansion. Maybe one of the networks will give him a reality show so he can share more of his murderous fantasies during prime time.  Or maybe they can just put him on that island with Blagojevich.  Read the rest of this entry »