This is an account of a rude, condescending, commanding manager, with the social skills of a child, and the leadership skills of someone raised in the wild. I don’t want to say I’m a better person than her, but being a bit older and being college educated while she is not definitely did not help my attitude towards her when she started casting out commands.

I began working a second job at a family owned t-shirt store in the city. With-in my first month the owners decided to open another smaller kiosk inside of the public market. I agreed to transfer over to the new shop and begin working under the newly promoted manager, who was being transferred from the shipping department at the warehouse.

Tensions were high amongst the owners, managers and employees the first couple days working in the kiosk. The stress of the deadline to open, arranging the product and deciding where things should go, how things should be presented, etc., had tempers boiling over. I met my new manager and after a friendly first hour of her telling me what her expectations and hopes for the store would be, she slowly began turning into a monster. She began to pick at the way I stood, the order in which I laid out product, the direction tags of shirts should be. Although I found this to be a bit picky, I didn’t see much harm in it, she just had a certain way she wanted things, and most of her abruptness I chalked up to being under stress from the owners to get things underway and start making sales and having a tidy professional-looking workplace. I knew this was her first time ever being in charge or being in any position of power so I let most things slide off my back when she would snip about something small.

After things had settled down with the store and we had gotten into the swing of things, she did not follow suit. In fact she got progressively worse.

Here are a list of dialogues and run-ins we had over the first six weeks:

• I show up my first day on my own. Knowing she had been stressed, I parked at a meter just outside the building to make sure I was there early enough to help her set up. After an hour of arranging, I tell her that I now needed to go park my car in the lot, which was about 1/2 mile away.  She responds “You can’t do this when you start here by yourself you know. You’re lucky I’m here.”  To which I respond: “Yes I’m aware of that, I just wanted to help you because I know you’ve been stressing about this whole thing.”

Her reply: “Just so we’re clear, I was helping YOU…Do you understand?”

• “Is that how I told you I wanted those arranged?” “You need to smile more even when there aren’t customers present. If you smile and talk to them more, they’ll give you more money, and that’s really all we care about.” “You need to face this direction, don’t ever turn your back, even if you need to get something behind you.” “Those glasses aren’t arranged right, make them look happier.” “What would you do if I wasn’t here to save you? (Because I asked how to open the new receipt machine)” “I thought I talked to you about this, I don’t want more than 50 singles in the drawer.

 

• Her: “Do you have any questions before I leave?”  Me: “I don’t think so…..OH wait, yes, when we get the new shipment where should I display them?” Her: “Okay, when I ask you if you have any questions, that’s what I meant. You need to ask me right away. (Because I had to think about it)

 

• Her: (barely audible noise facing away from me which I didn’t really hear and assumed she wasn’t talking to me) Her again: “HEY. I’M TALKING TO YOU. YOU NEED TO ANSWER ME AND NOT IGNORE ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU. LOOK AT ME. ARE YOU JUST GOING TO IGNORE ME? IS THAT HOW IT’S GOING TO BE?”

 

• “Say yes if you understand me.”

After 4 months she FINALLY got demoted from manager, in what was called “a huge mistake in judgement putting her in charge.” She then had the nerve to come in to work and tell everyone that she had actually “stepped down”, even though we were all aware of what actually happened.

Got your own personal megalomaniac boss? Share your story in the comment section, or email denised (@) reallybadboss (dot) com.

At least that’s what Canadian psychologist and co-author of the book “Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work”, Dr. Robert Hare thinks.  And admit it, so do you. In fact, if you’ve had a really, really bad boss, you’re thinking, “they needed to do research about this?”  My poisoned Kool-Aid pushing former boss leads the psycho-pack followed closely by the one who screamed profanities at us on a regular basis. There are more, many more, but they may not actually classify as full psycho.

Psychopaths are conscienceless narcissists who mimic rather than feel real emotions. And according to CNN.com, there’s at least one study out there that shows that people with psychopathic tendencies are “four times more likely to be found in senior management.”

British researcher Clive Boddy reminds us that the majority of psychopaths aren’t criminal and find other ways, such as taking risks with other people’s money or property, to satisfy their desires. Corporate psychopaths lie, steal credit for work they haven’t done, and are easily bored. They’re risk takers without much concern about the consequences.  Sound like anyone you work for?

Read the full article, Bad bosses: They Psycho-path to Success on CNN.com to confirm what you’ve suspected all along about your boss. (Image: Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko)

Rod Blagojevich (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

What happened is that something finally, triumphantly, penetrated that Teflon hair and attitude of yours Blago. After deliberating for 9 days, a jury found the former Illinois Governor guilty on 17 corruption-related charges. The charges include trying to sell President Obama’s former Senate seat. NBC reports:

Blagojevich had faced 20 charges, including the Senate seat allegation and that he schemed to shake down executives for campaign donations. He was convicted on all charges regarding the Senate seat. According to Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair, Blagojevich turned to his wife Patti and whispered “I love you” after the verdict was read. Patti kept shaking her head and remained seated as the jury exited the trial room. Blagojevich is reportedly “stunned.”

Blagojevich, who’s spent the past two years proclaiming his innocence to anyone who would listen and trying his hand at reality TV, says he’s “stunned” by the verdict.

Immediately after it was read, Blagojevich turned to his attorney and asked “What happened?” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald knows what happened. He had this to say after the verdict, “The jury sent a loud and clear message that Governor Blagojevich committed very serious crimes shaking down a children’s hospital, trying to sell a Senate seat and demanding cash campaign contributions in advance before signing a bill.”

Read the full recount of the verdict and Blagojevich’s reaction here. Catch up on our love-hate relationship with the former governor and other RBB politicians here.

The movie opens July 8th, but take a look at the official trailer now…

An option to what? Well while Foxconn execs claim ignorance as to the cause of the suicides, employees report a list of grievances, including:

• earning closer to CNY 950 ($146) per month as opposed to the CNY 1600 (about $246) promised
• forced and under/unpaid overtime
• living with up to six other people in a cramped dorm room
• hostile and military like work environments
• unhealthy and hazardous conditions

A 22-year-old woman who was interviewed about the conditions at Foxconn responded, “”Some of my roommates weep in the dormitory. I want to cry as well but my tears have not come out.”

Following the suicides, Apple went to Foxconn to monitor conditions. They found that appropriate measures had been taken to ensure worker safety.  But a report by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations and Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) found that conditions at one of Foxconn’s manufacturing facilities don’t meet Apple’s own Supplier Code of Conduct standards.

Read SACOM’s full report here, and learn more about the conditions under which Foxconn employees are forced to work here.

So, what’s your iPod worth to you, and should we, as Apple consumers, be more concerned with where our gadgets come from?

The 32-year-old maid who filed the report claims that when she entered Strauss-Kahn’s suite early Saturday afternoon, Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from the bathroom, chased her, then pulled her into a bedroom where he sexually assaulted her. The woman eventually broke free, alerting hotel staff to the attack. Strauss-Kahn was gone by the time detectives arrived.

Less than 4 hours after the alleged assault the 62-year-old married father of four was removed from a Paris-bound flight at J.F.K. International Airport.

Today, a lawyer for a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Strauss-Kahn nine years ago said she now wants to file a legal complaint against him.

Read more about the arrest of the great seducer here.

Career Builder’s newest survey tells us what we’ve known all along – most bosses say they’d never gotten management training before becoming managers. The survey also spoke to 4,000 workers and in 25% of them accused their supervisor of playing favorites and a whopping 40% said their company’s leadership team didn’t listen to employees or try to raise morale.

The survey also found  that 26% of managers were skeptical about their ability to manage when first hired. They were particularly concerned about being able to deal with issues between co-workers.

Read more about the survey here.

Unfortunately my advice is too late for two North Carolina cafeteria workers who were charged with poisoning their bosses tea last month. The workers, 64 year old Eileen Hallamore and 38 year old Angela Johnson, attempted to poison their boss, the cafeteria manager, by putting a foreign substance in her tea.

This isn’t the first case of angry employees opting to go the “poison” route. In London a 33 year old nanny is serving a year in prison after poisoning her boss, and in India, a scientist who had a longstanding beef with a senior scientist is accused of mixing mercuric chloride in glass of water.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and made discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions illegal. Title VII, covers employers with 15 or more employees and includes state and local governments. Here’

Title VII’s pregnancy-related protections include:

• Hiring

  An employer cannot refuse to hire a pregnant woman because of her pregnancy, because of a pregnancy-related condition, or because of the prejudices of co-workers, clients, or customers.

• Pregnancy & Maternity Leave

  An employer may not single out pregnancy-related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee’s ability to work.

  If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job because of her pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.

• Pregnant employees must be permitted to work as long as they are able to perform their jobs. If an employee has been absent from work as a result of a pregnancy-related condition and recovers, her employer may not require her to remain on leave until the baby’s birth.
• Health Insurance

  Any health insurance provided by an employer must cover expenses for pregnancy-related conditions on the same basis as costs for other medical conditions. An employer need not provide health insurance for expenses arising from abortion, except where the life of the mother is endangered.

  Pregnancy-related expenses should be reimbursed exactly as those incurred for other medical conditions, whether payment is on a fixed basis or a percentage of reasonable-and-customary-charge basis.

  The amounts payable by the insurance provider can be limited only to the same extent as amounts payable for other conditions. No additional, increased, or larger deductible can be imposed.

  Employers must provide the same level of health benefits for spouses of male employees as they do for spouses of female employees.

• Fringe Benefits

  Pregnancy-related benefits cannot be limited to married employees. In an all-female workforce or job classification, benefits must be provided for pregnancy-related conditions if benefits are provided for other medical conditions.

  If an employer provides any benefits to workers on leave, the employer must provide the same benefits for those on leave for pregnancy-related conditions.

  Employees on leave because of pregnancy-related conditions must be treated the same as other temporarily disabled employees for accrual and crediting of seniority, vacation calculation, pay increases, and temporary disability benefits.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on pregnancy or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

The bottom line – Women who are pregnant or affected by pregnancy-related conditions must be treated in the same manner as other applicants or employees with similar abilities or limitations.  For more information on EEOC polices, visit the EEOC’s website.

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.

What is it about grown a** men who should be busy doing congressy things and running mega-churches, deciding instead to take cell phone pictures in bathrooms and sending them to people who are not their wives? Side question – Isn’t there something in the bible about pastors NEVER wearing muscle shirts. Ever. In fact, I think “though shalt never wear muscle shirts. Ever.” might have been one of the original commandments.

So, because of the picture on the left, and because he used his real name and real email address, Congressman Chris Lee is now former Congressman Chris Lee.  The woman he tried to impress on Craigslist checked him out on Facebook and learned that he was not, as he’d stated in his Craigslist profile, a 39-year-old divorced, lobbyist, but instead a 46-year-old married father.

To quote the woman who was on the receiving end of Lee’s lovely picture, “People cheat every day, but only dumb people get caught.”

Read more about Chris Lee and his failed foray into Craigslist here.

Reyes Flores’ illicit activities were discovered during a “surprise inspection”.  This is the first case in Mexico in which a judge stands accused of sexual harassment and abuse of authority against his subordinates, according to sources at that court.

Read more at Sify news.

I’ve decided to add to the list of things your boss knows but will probably never tell you. Here are just a few…

• “Please take this recent college grad and teach her everything you know so that in six months I can get rid of you and pay her half your salary.”
• “When you come into my office and I look up bleary-eyed, it’s because I’ve been playing Solitaire for the past two hours.”
• “If it comes down to you or me, you’re outta here.”
• “I know you can do my job better than I can.”
• “I forgot to take my meds this morning.”

What secrets does your boss think she’s keeping?

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.Another friend shared a story about a woman who had been ill for some time and had requested extended leave. When it was time for her to return to work she still was not well and requested an extension. Her boss claimed not to have received the approval from HR and insisted the employee report to work. The employee died in the office that day.

I’m not a litigious person, but if there was ever a case for legal action, I think the stories above make that case. In neither story was the employee a medical professional or someone on whose life others depended. They were “forced” to report to work because of policy and because their bosses knew they had the power to make them come in. Let’s hope that stories like this are few and far between and that no employee ever feels obligated to put he life at risk to punch the clock.

Do you have a similar story of reporting to work despite illness or hazardous weather for fear of losing your job? Share your story in the comment section or email it to denised(@ ) reallybadboss.com (remove parenthesis.)

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.

What the blogosphere’s saying about bosses this week…

• Career sucking? On her 45 Things site, Anita Bruzzese gives you 4 ways to feel better when you career sucks.

• Toxic Bosses: When Supervisors Inflict the 7 Deadly Sins of business on Their Employees.

• That’s Badass shares the story of the IRS employee who used outlook to intercept his bosses emails.

• Not sure if you suck as a boss? Here’s a checklist so you’ll know for sure.

Apparently they’re not alone. On Forbes.com, Meghan Casserly references several authors, professors and experts on the subject who believe that some women need to rethink what’s considered sexual harassment. Some seem to suggest that if women want to be treated as equals in the workplace then there’s a certain level of hostility that’s to be expected.

Wayne State University law professor and author of Biology At Work: Rethinking Sexual Equality Kingsley R. Browne, notes that for years men have been subjected to the same verbally abusive and hostile work environments as many of their female counterparts. According to Browne, “This behavior is a part of the male tool kit for competitive situations–a means of weeding out the strong from the weak that dates back to the era of hunter-gatherers.”

Browne, whose work is controversial, believes that women are primed by society to look for sexual harassment and that sexual harassment training in and of itself is partly to blame, priming people to take offense at things.

Casserly speaks to a few experts and you can read her entire post here. But what are your thoughts on Browne’s thinking? Have women become hypersensitive to hostile work environments, labeling everything as harassment?

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.

My boss is in his early 30′s and born with a silver spoon in his mouth .. He inherited the company I work for. He has no respect for his employees and is forever thinking he is being taken advantage of. Out of a one of his many fits he throws he decided to take away paid holidays. Said it was not worth giving us money and not getting something for it. I over heard him tell his brother just have her do it she’s my new slave now. Had I not needed this minimum wage no insurance no benefits job I would of told him where to stick it. To say the least I am scouring the ads daily.

I’ve had the misfortune (surprise, surprise) of working for two very different family-owned companies. In the first case – a much smaller operation –  two sons, who were Vice President of Research and Development and Vice President of Sales respectively, hated each other, their father, their mother and every single employee who worked for the company. There were days when I expected doors to start slamming shut and bodies to be hurling through the air in response to the evil permeating the offices. The sons respected no one, least of all the employees, and were both dumber than dirt. Despite that fact, they both walked around with an air of intellectual superiority, simply because they had been born into money and power. The curse of the silver spoon.

In the second family-owned company, the offspring that I worked with was respectful, humble and genuinely tried to make a difference. She was however, given way too much responsibility for her level of experience, something that would never had happened had she not been the daughter of the owner.

Do silver spoon kids always make bad bosses? Of course not. The Chik-fil-A family and their strong set of core values and mission are an example of family-run operations done right. Unfortunately it’s the bad apples and the Paris Hilton’s of the world that make the most mess and draw the most attention.

Have you ever worked for silver-spoon kids? Share your silver-spoon bad boss stories in the comment section, or email me at denised(@)reallybadboss.com (remove parenthesis from @ symbol to send.)

She gives me assignments that require the use of certain programs that are installed on only a few computers in the company, and then does not allow me to work on those computers. She also gives me busy work, and work that involves materials that she knows I am allergic to. She advised me that my job title is dead and told me to start looking for a job elsewhere.

A bright spot in all of this the fact that I won a company people’s choice award for an outstanding job. Normally anonymous nominations are not allowed, but the officials in the contest knew enough about the tensions that they saw our service area would have had no award if they did not allow employees to speak anonymously. The award was signed by the manager two steps above my boss, but I was not present to receive it, because I thought I was not welcome at the banquet.

I am writing this to try to make another bright spot. I know I have untapped creativity and talent that is going to waste 40 hours a week. I have tried taking classes in the evening but I am too distracted by anger from work to concentrate. I am looking for collaborators to learn more about computer programming, web development, making PowerPoint presentations, or comedy writing. We could start out our sessions commiserating about our bad boss and then be able to focus on the project we have chosen. If we make money, we can split it, but my main goal is to improve skills and restore sanity.

If you’re interested in sharing your thoughts, ideas and skills with Andee, please email him at andeeharris44(@)hotmail.com (remove parenthesis.)*

Please note, my inclusion of Andee’s contact information is not an endorsement. Andee is independent of Reallybadboss.com and operates as such. Any affiliation or association developed via this post is independent of Reallybadboss.com.