I’ve had to share a hotel room with a colleague before. Besides the fact that she snored like an ox, the idea of sharing personal spaces as intimate as bedrooms and bathrooms with a work colleague is just …disturbing.  But, the budget was tight and I got along pretty well with my colleague.  But what if you had to share a hotel room with your boss? Who walked around in her thong underwear. And carried on conversations with you. While she was on the toilet.  That’s what happened to this woman as reported on the USA Travel website. Some excerpts of what Beth the boss inflicted on her employee:

First of all, Beth requires the woman to share a hotel room with her.

In hotel rooms, the employee writes, Beth “will leave the bathroom door open while using the toilet and yelling comments to me (not even my husband does this).”

Beth also walks around the room in her thong and tries to discuss her dating and sex life with the woman while the woman attempts to hide under her covers and fall asleep.

Beth is such a control freak over travel expenses that when she orders room service breakfast, she orders a single entree and pot of coffee and expects the employee to share the food.

The advice columnist who received this letter about Beth suggests that the employee find another job. Ya think? Would you ever share a hotel room with your boss?

on Facebook anyway… sort of. Remember the employee who got fired for dissing her supervisor on Facebook? Well the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sued American Medical Response of Connecticut, claiming that the company’s blogging and internet policy barring workers from disparaging the company or its supervisors was unconstitutional.

Well American Medical settled with the labor board and has agreed to change its blogging and internet policy. The company also agreed to revise another policy that prohibited employees from depicting the company over the Internet without permission.

Jonathan Kreisber, NLRB’s regional director says “The fact that they agreed to revise their rules so that they’re not so overly restrictive of the rights of employees to discuss their terms and conditions with others and with their fellow employees is the most significant thing that comes out of this.”

Back in 2009 the employee who spawned this debate posted comments on Facebook from her home computer after her supervisor said a customer had complained about her work. The comment, which apparently included a few of our most loved four letter words, was well received by colleagues. The employee in question was later fired. American Medical claimed they fired the employee because of poor performance, but the settlement seems to suggest otherwise.

What are your thoughts on Facebook posts about employees and bosses? Protected speech or “enter at your own risk?” Share your thoughts in the comment section.

The self described, “hottest reporter in Mexico,” Ines Sainz was back to work covering the Jets season opener this week. This comes on the heels of Sainz saying that while she had been conducting locker room interviews over the weekend she was made to feel uncomfortable by Jets players. She told NBC News “I feel all their eyes look at me and they start to whistle and make jokes that I know this is about me.”

The Association for Women In Sports Media (AWSM) got involved when they heard about the incident and now The Jets are under investigation by the NFL. Sainz, for her part, says she has no intention of filing charges.

The Sainz incident shines a spotlight on several issues, including sexual harassment in the workplace, whether female reporters should even be allowed in male locker rooms (male reporters aren’t allowed in female locker rooms), and the role attire plays in all of this.

You see, Sainz is known for wearing skin tight outfits, and her personal website is loaded with suggestive photographs. So is this the case of the media blaming the victim, or are we letting her off the hook? Here’s what Caroline Howard asked in her column over on Forbes.com:

1. Did the Jets cross the teasing and off-handed comments line to create a hostile work environment for Sainz? Sainz says maybe-kinda-let’s see what the NFL says. The AWSM reported the harassment to the NFL, not Sainz, and the claim is currently under NFL investigation.

2. Did Sainz cross a professional line by positioning and marketing herself as babe-sports-reporter. “I am very well known for my image,” Sainz says. “I am not pretending to be provocative, only to be attractive.”

What are your thoughts? Is there a double standard here? Why are women allowed in male locker rooms while the reverse isn’t the case?

Cheating on their wives wasn’t the only bad thing politicians and elected officials were caught doing in 2009. From judges operating above the law to mayors creating their own, 2009 was a banner year for political stupidity…

Judge Sam Kent’s law and major disorder

Just when we thought Rod Blagojevich was the biggest tool going, US District Judge Sam Kent literally and figuratively takes the title.  The 6′4″, 250 pound judge is disgusting.  He’s not just disgusting because he sexually harassed and tormented the female members of his Galveston, Texas courthouse for years – fondling them in the hallways, forcing one assistant’s head into his crotch and forcing his mouth unto another.  And, he’s not just disgusting because he was frequently drunk on the job.  Even alternately calling himself ‘the emperor of Galveston’, ‘the government’ and (insulting wildlife everywhere,) ‘the lion king’ wasn’t disgusting enough.  No, Kent is disgusting and deserves the Tool of the Week award because:

• In keeping with true Really Bad Boss behavior Kent first denied the sexual assaults claiming that the sexual contact was consensual. When he finally confessed, it was in a plea bargain that gave him a 33 month prison sentence for obstruction with the sexual misconduct charges being completely dropped.
• After initially denying the sexual assaults, Kent eventually blamed his behavior on “difficulties dealing with the death of his first wife and other issues.”

Read more about why Kent won our tool of the week award here…

This just in – Rod Blagojevich is still a tool. You know how much we love Blago right?  Well today we fell in love all over again as he pleaded not guilty to 16 federal criminal charges.  Blagojevich, hair perfectly in place, looked relaxed and confident as he entered his not guilty plea at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.  Blago said he was ”saddened and hurt…” by the indictment, and then told reporters to go f*** themselves.  No, he didn’t actually say the last part, or at least he wasn’t caught on camera saying it.  But  when all this drama began four months ago, he was heard on tape referring to now President Obama, as a “m***** f*****,” so cursing at reporters would certainly not be out of character for him.

As you know from our ongoing love affair with Kwame Kilpatrick, the only thing we love more than a really bad boss, is a really bad boss who, even when caught on tape, still denies any wrong doing.  It comes as absolutely no surprise to us that this pillar of the community continues to deny attempting to auction the, then vacant, Illinois senate seat to the highest bidder.

When Blagojevich finally does admit to some wrong doing, we’ll be sure to cover it here, along with the breaking news of pigs flying and hell freezing over.

We’re not buying it. No list that includes Rod Blagojevich is complete without Roland Burris. Burris still insists he didn’t try to buy his senate seat from Blagojevich. We didn’t believe him then, we don’t believe him now. Here’s how we saw it back in August.

A couple of weeks ago, Roland “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” Burris, hinted at not running to retain the senate seat Blagojevich tried to sell him gave him.  We all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  At least I thought we did. Burris now says he might still be in the running because he’s being urged by “people all over the country” to run.  What country? Which people? And by all over does he mean all over his house?  Caus’ we’re not buying it.

That said, Marion Barry proved that some people could do anything and get reelected. And I guess being caught on tape negotiating the purchase of your senate seat, when compared to being caught on video smoking crack, is no big deal.  Nevertheless, right now most people, besides the ones in his basement encouraging him to run, just think he’s an idiot.  If by some miracle he’s actually elected to the position, we fear he’ll open his mouth one time too many and prove once and for all that he is.

What do you get when you mix two prostitutes and a former Republican party chair? A  beat-down. A politician can usually talk himself out of anything…except that is, a beat-down from his wife who’s  just caught him with two prostitutes.  Former Cook county Republican Party chair Gary Skoien denies he was with two prostitutes at around 1:00am last Sunday.  His wife begs to differ and police reports state she allegedly beat him (embellishment mine) after finding him at home in their children’s playroom with two women.  Skoien claims the police report is wrong and that he’s working on correcting it.  By correcting it he means denying it ever happened.

Editor’s note: Buck Hamilton’s Weekly Series, Managing the Meanies, will return  with all new posts on Tuesday, January 5th.

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

You’re the manager of a UPS store, you receive a package containing marijuana, and instead of contacting the authorities or alerting your own manager, you sell it. You might be a really bad boss and a really stupid one if you knew in advance that authorities had been expecting the package, but decided to sell it anyway.

Atlanta based UPS manager turned drug dealer, Anna Wright, was arrested last Friday on charges of making false statements to federal agents. Why that charge? Turns out the 33 year old Wright had previously been alerted by US Postal Inspectors that a certain mail box in her store might receive a package containing contraband. Wright agreed to contact the inspectors if and when the store received the package. But authorities say that instead of alerting inspectors, Wright stole the package containing several pounds of marijuana and sold the drugs for profit.

In addition to selling drugs, Wright is charged with theft and lying to authorities. The charges each carry a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. I hope she made enough from the sale to pay for a lawyer. She’s going to need one.

Source: WSBTV Atlanta

Kanye in full jackass mode

Sometimes, really bad behavior forces me to veer slightly off topic.  Usually it’s news from the entertainment world.  And last night, Kanye proved that he deserved to be talked about here, and is, in fact, still a jackass.  If you don’t believe me, watch the video link here. Kanye ran on stage during Taylor Swifts’ acceptance speech at last night’s VMAs to whine about Beyonce’s video deserving the award. Everyone, including Beyonce was shocked, and Swift looked humiliated.

The only excuse for this is if Kanye has a legitimate mental disorder.  But, I don’t think so. I think if his mug isn’t plastered everywhere on a regular basis, his ego just can’t handle it.  And, he’s brilliant, because here I am talking about him, and really, I couldn’t give a damn about Kanye West. And, wasn’t there a Michael Jackson tribute lat night?? He’s a genius for getting everybody to talk about him the night the VMAs have a tribute to MJ.

Thankfully, Beyonce saved the day when, after receiving her own award, she invited Swift on stage to finish her acceptance speech. I’m waiting for West to start asking us if a black man can’t get a break.  Our answer is, not when he acts like that.