Eric "friendly groping" Massa

Whether it’s politicians lying about their love children, teachers having affairs with students and each other, or bosses lying to protect the bottom line, we’ve been experiencing a crisis of bad boss behavior lately, and there’s no telling when it’s going to stop.

Politicians are notorious for their bad behavior, but with the recent onslaught of Argentinian mistresses, love children, “friendly groping”, and corruption scandals that’s been in the news over the past couple of years, it’s no wonder people have had it with all things political.

The worst display of bad boss behavior in the political realm? The health care debate. We don’t know about you, but we don’t like the idea of a bunch of guaranteed retirement policy and health insurance for themselves and family having politicians determining who deserves health care in this country. It’s like a carrot deciding whether it’s pork or beef for dinner – the carrot’s got nothing to lose. He wins no matter what choice is made, and that’s the system we’re currently stuck with.

But there’s always hope in the upstanding and underappreciated field of education, right? Not so fast. Apparently teachers now think it’s ok to sleep with their students. They also seem to think its ok to duke it out in the halls at school when they realize they’re both sleeping with the same teacher. But it’s not all sexual. A former researcher at the University at Buffalo hired actors to testify in a case on his behalf. That same researcher was later found dead in his home.

Bail outs, recalls, foreclosures…need I continue? Running a close second to the bad boss behavior of politicians is the greed that’s rife in corporate America. From awarding million dollar bonus packages to CEO’s who ran their companies into the ground, to monopolies like AT&T with what many consider THE worst customer service in the world, we’re at the end of our proverbial straws.

So how do we attack this national, and global, crisis of mismanagement head on? It certainly won’t be easy. Greed, arrogance and selfishness are the driving forces behind much of this global bad boss behavior, and we’re not expecting those traits to go away anytime soon. So, is it too late? Can anything be done to save our leadership?

Share your thoughts in the comment section, on Twitter, or on our Facebook fan page.

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

Over at The Commercial Mediation and Arbitration Center website, there’s a post up titled Seven Secrets for Keeping your Company out of Court. The post was written in 2008, but, as evident by the number of sexual harassment claims in the news every week, it’s a lesson many companies still haven’t learned.

Even though I’m not on the side of helping company’s avoid going to court to answer for their own management failures, I do want them to make their workplaces, safe, harassment free environments for their employees. So here are a couple of the article’s suggestions along with a sprinkling of my own good old fashion common sense.

• Have a written sexual harassment policy and communicate it to all employees. That would be ALL employees. Executives and HR don’t get a pass because of their position in the organization. There should be one policy for all employees. Period.

• Implement and enforce your policy. This would seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many companies write policies, have every employee sign an acknowledgment and then proceed to ignore it. I’ve been in a conference room with a VP, a sales team and a HR Manager where the order of the day seemed to be to see who could be the most offensive. HR said and did nothing, decreasing the already shockingly low amount of respect we already had for her.

• Take complaints seriously and investigate every one. Brushing complaints off as mere misunderstandings, or ignoring them entirely, is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The worst thing companies can do is take harassment accusations lightly. Not only does that send the wrong message to staff, but it can end up costing you dearly in the long run.

You can read the entire list of suggestions for avoiding court here.

Bosses who go around conducting clandestine trash can searches, pantyhose inspections and  national sales meetings loaded, are pretty bad. But at least they don’t endanger lives. Not so with the boss of a West Virginia coal mine. According to fireboss, John Renner, his supervisor told him that regardless of ventilation issues, Renner was to evacuate the mine only if a federal inspector was watching.

As fire boss of Patriot Coal Corp’s Federal No. 2 Mine, Renner’s job was to monitor methane and oxygen and determine whether the methane had reached dangerous levels. Federal law requires that either the area be ventilated or the mine evacuated if levels exceed a certain reading. The government has required this type of monitoring since a 2006 methane explosion in a mine killed 12 men.

But Renner says that the first time he evacuated the mines after getting an above normal reading, foreman supervisor, Randy Coffindaffer, berated him for the evacuation, asking him “Do you know how much money you’re costing this company right now, evacuating it?”  Renner says he was “cussed” and “screamed’ at and told by Coffindaffer that he was “never, ever, under any circumstances” to evacuate unless a federal inspector was present. Fearful of losing his job, Renner relented. As a result, he’s been charged with falsifying inspection reports and is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Clarksburg.

Renner is cooperating with authorities, and in recordings made during meetings with state officials can be heard speaking about having panic attacks, consulting with a psychiatrist and taking medication to deal with job related stress. Associated Press attempts to speak to Coffindaffer were unsuccessful and there’s no word on whether he’s still working for Patriot Coal.

Renner was obviously wrong for falsifying reports and putting miners’ lives at risks. But Coffindaffer and the management team that allowed him to bully Renner into doing it, must also be held accountable. Despite CBS’ “Undercover Boss”, I refuse to believe that most bosses are unaware when their management team is cutting corners, cheating and endangering lives. I’m just not buying it. I hope Renner’s testimony helps put Coffindaffer behind bars for a long time. Harsh? Not harsh enough if you ask me.

The Washington Examiner has the full story here.

On Tuesday reallybadboss.com, along with other experts in the field of workplace tyrants, was featured in an amNY piece by Lucy Cohen Blatter. The post, titled, Tyrants in the Workplace, touched on topics we’re all too familiar.

From the economy making it harder to do anything about bad bosses to a definition of bad bosses that includes anyone who is “mean, never compliments you, is harsh, has no flexibility and overworks people,” the post highlighted the problems with working for people whose sole purpose in life at times seems to be to undermine their employees.

However, there’s still hope. Blatter offers some tips for handling bad bosses, including a few of our own:

• Leave it at work. Try not to take negative feelings home with you.
• Don’t take it personally. The problem is with your boss’s management skills or his personality, not you.
• If all else fails, start looking for a new job. You don’t want to wait until things become unbearable or you risk being fired.

Read Blatter’s entire article here, at amNY.

Share some of your own tips for dealing with workplace tyrants in the comment section or tweet us @reallybadboss.

I’ve had several requests to reissue the Really Bad Boss APB for Good Management. In light of the relentless stream of idiocy displayed by the really bad bosses around us, I thought today would be a good day to reissue that APB:

Authorities issue an APB for Good Management. Missing for years from thousands of offices around the world, Good Management appears to be gone forever and authorities are not optimistic about locating it.  For starters, since really bad bosses rarely display good management sense, employees have been unable to provide an accurate description.  As far as authorities have been able to ascertain, good management may never have been in really bad boss’ possession, as no one can remember ever seeing him utilize it.  Common Sense, a close friend of Good Management, is also said to be missing from the ranks of managers worldwide and was last seen…well…no details are available on the last time Common Sense was seen in management.

Authorities are currently questioning the human resources manager, who has long been suspected of hiring the really bad boss in question, despite having prior knowledge that he had never possessed nor utilized good management or common sense.  The HR manager, when questioned about her own lack of management sense, refused to answer, citing preparation for an upcoming company potluck (the company’s 12th this week) as her top priority. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, including her DNA found on ridiculous decisions strewn recklessly around the office, the HR manager still maintains that she is doing an exceptional job.  Upon hearing this, authorities immediately questioned her sanity and her understanding of the word “exceptional.”

Authorities ask that concerned employees and constituents be on the lookout for anything remotely resembling good management. To some, it might look like not paying bonuses to executives who suck.  To others it may look more like valuing employees input and fostering a nurturing environment.  Still others might see fleeting glimpses of Good Management in managers who refuse to take pay increases while laying off employees. Good management was last seen hanging out with Common Sense and Decency.  The trio, while difficult to find, might be the combination of characteristics that ultimately saves big business and politics.  If you see signs that your really bad boss is exhibiting any of these characteristics, contact authorities immediately and then bundle up. Hell is about to freeze over.

Update: Immediately following the potluck luncheon, the HR Manager was taken into custody on suspicion of being the world’s biggest idiot. At the time of this writing, the HR Manager was still maintaining her innocence and preparing to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day throughout the office. Employees have been on the lookout for a hand big enough to slap some sense into her.

This APB was originally issue in 6/09.

This week in Really Bad Boss…

• The arrogance factor – Bad boss trait #9, and you can usually spot it a mile away. Little people with little minds and a little bit of power – a disastrous combination.

• Buck Hamilton concluded his Managing the Meanies series by defining the real problem with bad bosses.

• A couple of Walmart employees suit Walmart. Walmart then fires them. Not so smart Walmart.

• Bad bosses and bad employees, bully bosses get a pass, bosses who give up, and more in this week’s blog roundup.