What the blogosphere’s saying about bosses this week…

• The worst bosses of 2011? Our friends at eBosswatch list 100 of the worst bosses of 2011 and include the sexual harassment hijinks of Mike Cordova of Applebees, Mr. 999 himself, Herman Cain, and former Penn State Assistant Coach and man-who-thinks-it’s-ok-to-shower-with-young-boys, Jerry Sandusky. I’m going to have so much fun going through this list and sharing all of the really bad boss dirt with you.

• Over on Forbes.com, Stephanie Taylor Christensen shares five ways to spot a bad boss in an interview.

• Who Moved  My Cheese, Good to Great, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Little Engine That Could. The Little Engine That Could? Yes, a retail company vice president gave the employees in his department a copy of The Little Engine That Could as a holiday gift. Meredith Levinson explains why that might not have been such a good idea.

• Unfortunately, you already know this – a bad boss can follow you home. Not literally, although I’m sure that’s actually happened to someone. No, the stress and anxiety caused by a really bad boss filters into your home life. Neil Wagner explains in the Atlantic.

Have a story, news idea or blog you’d like featured in The Really Bad Boss Blog Roundup? Email it to denised (@) reallybadboss (dot) com.

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?

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.

One of my faves from August and one of the best ways to quit I’ve seen in a while – This one isn’t quite as dramatic as the flight attendant who flew the coop, or Arnetta the Moodsetta‘s on air meltdown, but if it’s real, it’s pretty clever.

Jenny works, correction worked, for a jerk. Apparently she’s had enough, and decided to quit with the assistance of  messages on a dry erase board.  Here’s how Jenny quit her jerk of a bad boss. P.S. She emailed it to the entire office! (Images via thechive.com)

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See the rest of Jenny’s dry erase board resignation here…

What the blogosphere’s saying about bosses this week…

• Forbes covers bully bosses, providing tips for both employees and HR personnel. Check out part two here.

• Are some of the worst bosses in the hospitality industry? Ironic, isn’t it?

• When a bad boss becomes a creature feature.

• Get past the automated voices and you’ll find the dialogue in this clever cartoon about a bad boss and the waste of time annual review process, pretty witty and spot on. I think I’ve actually had this conversation.