Worst bosses you've ever had

[BoringGuy45]

Who are some of the worst people you've ever worked for? I'm not talking about jobs that just plain sucked due to low pay, bad work environment, customers, co-workers, etc. I mean, who did you have to grit your teeth the most for when you said, "Yes, Sir"? Just wondering if we can get some funny, outrageous, or maddening stories. I've had two so far. Here's my first one:

In the summer after I graduated college, I went to work for a microbrewery/restaurant for a very short time. Now, a little back story: My two best friends had been roommates for 3 years while we were all in college. One of them decided to go to grad school in New York City, leaving the other without enough money to make rent, so he ask me to move in to take our departing friend's place. I was looking for a more permanent job, but my friend's landlords gave him till the end of the summer to make a decision, so I, wanting to help him out, was kind of stuck.

When I first applied to this place, I asked the general manager if they were hiring, he said they were and gave me an application. Now, this was in the middle of the day, so the place was pretty empty. Nonetheless, I asked where he wanted me to sit. He gave me a dirty look, told me to find a friggin' open booth instead of asking stupid questions, and if I wanted to work for him, I needed to get my head out of my ass and get some situational awareness NOW! That should have been a red flag, but I took it as a test to see what my commitment to getting the job was. I was a soup sandwich, undisciplined screw up as a kid, so I was used to getting kicks in the ass and being told to unf*** myself. Anyway, I fill out the app and get a job offer a few days later.

So I get through orientation and start my on the job training with a waitress/host who is very nice. My second day in, I see the GM and, since we have some down time, I go up to thank him for giving me the job. He gives me a dirty look and says (paraphrase): The time you took trying to bullshit with me could have spent looking for something useful to do. What did I tell you about situational awareness?
So I go back to my post and ask my trainer about him. She just kind of hesitates and says, "Uh...well, how do I put this? Working for him...he has very, VERY high standards that very few can meet. That's about all I should say."

The next day, I do most of the host duties while another trainer observes. This trainer, IIRC, was dating the GM and was his female equivalent. Very cold, if I tried to make conversation under any circumstances, she'd tell me to shut the hell up and mind my own ****ing business. So, for the first customers of the day, I greet a family, bring them to their table, tell them the specials, and they seem happy. I get back to the host station and she points to the dry erase board with the table layout. Crap! I forgot to cross off the table where I was bringing them! I say, sorry, my bad. She gives me this EXTREMELY annoyed look and says, "You were told that this was the procedure in training." I said I know, it won't happen again. She says, "Look, get everything right the first time. We TOLD you how to do this job, so there's no excuse for any f*** ups. I don't want to hear that you're learning from your mistakes. I want to hear that you're not making any to begin with." Okay, so I know I'm a lifelong screw up who has yet to impress anyone I meet, but this seemed a bit ridiculous. The rest of the night goes fine, and I go home and call my dad about this, and he says, "Well, try paying attention to detail and maybe you would be screwing up like this!"

So two days later, I come down with a bad case of bacterial pneumonia. I had about a 103 fever, I couldn't stand up without getting dizzy, and my cough was uncontrollable. I had to go in and take the host entry test, which basically asks you about everything on the menu and every procedure. It's also a short answer test, so no multiple choice or hints. I'm sitting there, shivering with a fever, half awake, trying to figure out this test. I finish it and go home. The next day, at my parents' insistence, I go to call out. The manager asks if I'm contagious; I say no, at this point I'm on a Z-pack so I'm not contagious. He says take some ibuprofen and get in here, I don't want any excuses.

So, I go in, sweating as my fever breaks, barely able to stand or breathe. At one point, I had to sit for a second to regain my equilibrium. The GM sees me sitting and shaking my head to clear it says what the F**K are you DOING? I tell him and he says, "No sitting at the host station! I already told you: No excuses! Why is it every time I see you I have to talk to you about something??" He leaves and 10 minutes later, I'm greeting guests, feeling a little better at this point. In front of the guests, he comes out with my test and says, "[My name] just so you know, your test was PATHETIC! In all my years I've been here I've never seen anyone with a worse score. I mean, did you not study or are you just plain stupid? You ought to be ashamed of yourself and your parents ought to be ashamed of you too! You're a disgrace!"

Two days later, one of the other managers calls me in and tells me that, after seeing how I worked for only five days, the GM wasn't even going to bother having me do a retest. Get out and don't come back.

So, I know most of this was my fault. Like the manager said, don't make mistakes; get it right the first time. But still, this was the worst, most destructively critical boss I've ever had.

[Doc Safari]

I worked for a guy that was a parolee from a federal prison. I did not know this when I went to work for him. If you did something to piss him off during the day, he'd call you in the middle of the night to give you a hard time, often drunk off his ass, and often borderline threatening. One of the other employees lost his house and had to move in with the guy. I found out later this employee complained that boss had tried to sodomize him.

Worst boss EVER.

------------

Years later, I worked for a guy who was simultaneously out of touch with the company goings-on and was a micro-manager to boot. So in essence he ended up micromanaging all the wrong things. He would never listen to talk that things were "broken", like employees forgetting to quote adequate freight charges so an order doesn't lose money. Yet as long as he didn't have to hear bad news he was perfectly happy. He would listen in on phone calls, coaching the person what to say as if he was the speaker. So you had the effect of two people trying to talk to the person on the other end of the line. It was hilarious as long as you weren't the employee being "coached."

Yet when it came to important things like account collections, he let the company's accounts go 65% delinquent one year. If I'd been his boss I'd have fired him for that. But since he was a part owner, who's going to fire him?

But boy, let an employee hint that there should be changes made to help the company make more money and run more smoothly, and that employee was likely on the short list to be run off. Even the man's own nephew couldn't work for him after the way he was treated.

The boss basically had one tool in the employee handbook: fire somebody. He would hire people away from successful 15-year careers somewhere else, and if they didn't turn out to be the bee's knees, he would toss them aside without any consideration for them, no attempt to help them survive in the job, no attempt to train them better, etc. It was simply, "Well, you didn't work out like I thought."

I watched the company's constant turnover remake it from an efficient money-making machine into a sham where things looked good on the surface with the "lucky survivors" keeping their jobs. Meanwhile the company made far less money than it could have, and lost money behind the scenes that would have gotten any mid-level manager in a corporation dismissed quickly.

Since it was a national franchise, I came to the conclusion that it was designed to survive no matter what screw-ups run the individual stores, but it was sure disappointing to see the place lose money for stupid shit.

I finally learned to keep my mouth shut. I developed a "live and let die" philosophy. As long as my paycheck cleared I could have cared less if the company made money. And I was happier and better treated for not saying a word.

[soulezoo]

I worked for a short time at a place where the owner hired illegals, especially the attractive women, then blackmailed them with INS reporting to get them to sleep with him. Nice guy.

[Sensei]

I worked for a short time at a place where the owner hired illegals, especially the attractive women, then blackmailed them with INS reporting to get them to sleep with him. Nice guy.

In the military, there are a number of O-6 nurses who hold the rank because of their gender, race, and the fact that they managed to keep breathing longer than anyone else. They like to think that they are doctors and practice gross negligence every day. The thought of being treated by one of these idiots makes me think that my chances would be better surrendering to ISIS if wounded on the battlefield.

[Abraham]

BoringGuy45

"Get out and don't come back."

Best thing that could've happened to you.

Working for miserable martinets should not be tolerated - ever.

Yeah, I had to tolerate such nonsense in the military, but be assured, once out, I didn't put up with type crap.

The bosses you had will probably, if it hasn't already happened, run into some psycho employee who'll stomp them for their insane treatment of their employees.

[BoringGuy45]

BoringGuy45

"Get out and don't come back."

Best thing that could've happened to you.

Working for miserable martinets should not be tolerated - ever.

Yeah, I had to tolerate such nonsense in the military, but be assured, once out, I didn't put up with type crap.

The bosses you had will probably, if it hasn't already happened, run into some psycho employee who'll stomp them for their insane treatment of their employees.

He eventually ran the business into the ground. That restaurant doesn't exist anymore. The only problem was if had given me one more day, I was going to just quit. One should not be in constant fear for their job with less than a week there!

[williejc]

I was moving a school desk from a 2nd story room to the 1st floor. On the way down the stairs, the principal screamed, "Who's running this place, me or you." He was serious.

[SteyrAUG]

My "worst boss" has been every government "fast tracked" employee who was less qualified for their job than the people who worked for them.

I'd rather take shit from somebody who actually belongs in their position of authority because they are effective and have the necessary skill sets than work for somebody who has no effin' clue what they are doing and regardless of how they treat you, everything you do for them is offensive because they simply don't belong in a position of authority over anyone.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Anyone ever see The Purge movies? The number one targets on the night of the purge were bosses . . . :lol:

[lethal dose]

You guys have no idea (actually, maybe you do). I was upper management who actually gave a rip about my employees... totally breaking the mold of what my employer created. After having my nerves racked, my stomach being sick for years, catching nothing but flack for not being a neo-nazi, and resisting their desire to make me work 80-100 hours/week, I gave THEM the boot.

[just a scout]

Uhh... My old Fire Chief? Told him one day, if I didn't need the job, he'd be dead right there after he berated me in front of everyone including the city manager for something completely out of my control. And not professionally either. Lots cursing, screaming and name calling at me over something so inconsequential.

[The_War_Wagon]

A steakhouse I worked at - briefly - while in college, had three harpies for managers (Larry, Moe, & Curly) that between them, couldn't have scraped up a hundred IQ points. Not only would they berate you in front of fellow employees, but also in front of customers. The place closed at 11pm, and if you weren't done cleaning/mopping/dishwashing etc. by 11:30pm, they'd just clock you (EVERYONE) out, right there on the spot. EVEN if a large party came in at 10:40pm, and weren't out until 5 after 11, they did it anyway, to keep overhead low. I'd just slow down even MORE then, since I was on my own time, and wasn't gonna rush & screw things up for these dingleberries, who clearly were late for a date or some such. Infuriating them was awesome, and since they'd clocked me out, what were they going to DO about it? :jester:

The place went out of business before I graduated... can't IMAGINE why... :rolleyes:

[3 AE]

Did a six month stretch at KFC when I was in high school. One of the managers was the screaming type. Never a compliment, always berating the male help while treating the girls up front like prima donnas. School graduation parties along with the summer holidays were the worst. I'll never forget "Labor Day". That was the busiest of all. Twenty four gas burners going full bore with oil filled pressure cookers at 350 degrees for the Original Recipe" and two large deep fat friers for the "Extra Crispy". It was madhouse back there. Chicken parts flying, coating mix and batter all over us, the floors and even the walls. Hot oil splattering our bare arms and clothes. When "D-Day" was over, it looked like a bomb went off in there. What a mess. The five of us guys who did all of the cooking were on our butts, exhausted but not beaten. We had cooked nearly 500 pots of chicken and numerous batches of "Extra Crispy" in that four hour shift and we all felt proud breaking the store record.

Then the manager comes back into the kitchen and starts screaming at us to get off our lazy asses get that huge mess cleaned up while she and the girls up front clocked out, laughing at us on the way out. All this for $1.15 an hour! Though a month later, one of the guys got some Polaroid photos of her and the owner in a compromising position in the office. Since he was going to quit anyway, he laid it on the line to the owner. Either the "She-Devil" goes or the Polaroids end up in the hands of the owners wife. The owner looked at the photos, looks at "She-Devil" and calmly says to her, "You're fired". Us guys got our ten cents an hour raise right there. Karma was on our side that day. Payback's a bitch!

[Dienekes]

Ah, yes. Most of the time I had decent bosses; some were damn good men by any standard. The others--live in a hell of their own making.

Nemesis does kick in, eventually. Thank God.

[weggy]

Who are some of the worst people you've ever worked for? I'm not talking about jobs that just plain sucked due to low pay, bad work environment, customers, co-workers, etc. I mean, who did you have to grit your teeth the most for when you said, "Yes, Sir"? Just wondering if we can get some funny, outrageous, or maddening stories. I've had two so far. Here's my first one:

In the summer after I graduated college, I went to work for a microbrewery/restaurant for a very short time. Now, a little back story: My two best friends had been roommates for 3 years while we were all in college. One of them decided to go to grad school in New York City, leaving the other without enough money to make rent, so he ask me to move in to take our departing friend's place. I was looking for a more permanent job, but my friend's landlords gave him till the end of the summer to make a decision, so I, wanting to help him out, was kind of stuck.

When I first applied to this place, I asked the general manager if they were hiring, he said they were and gave me an application. Now, this was in the middle of the day, so the place was pretty empty. Nonetheless, I asked where he wanted me to sit. He gave me a dirty look, told me to find a friggin' open booth instead of asking stupid questions, and if I wanted to work for him, I needed to get my head out of my ass and get some situational awareness NOW! That should have been a red flag, but I took it as a test to see what my commitment to getting the job was. I was a soup sandwich, undisciplined screw up as a kid, so I was used to getting kicks in the ass and being told to unf*** myself. Anyway, I fill out the app and get a job offer a few days later.

So I get through orientation and start my on the job training with a waitress/host who is very nice. My second day in, I see the GM and, since we have some down time, I go up to thank him for giving me the job. He gives me a dirty look and says (paraphrase): The time you took trying to bullshit with me could have spent looking for something useful to do. What did I tell you about situational awareness?
So I go back to my post and ask my trainer about him. She just kind of hesitates and says, "Uh...well, how do I put this? Working for him...he has very, VERY high standards that very few can meet. That's about all I should say."

The next day, I do most of the host duties while another trainer observes. This trainer, IIRC, was dating the GM and was his female equivalent. Very cold, if I tried to make conversation under any circumstances, she'd tell me to shut the hell up and mind my own ****ing business. So, for the first customers of the day, I greet a family, bring them to their table, tell them the specials, and they seem happy. I get back to the host station and she points to the dry erase board with the table layout. Crap! I forgot to cross off the table where I was bringing them! I say, sorry, my bad. She gives me this EXTREMELY annoyed look and says, "You were told that this was the procedure in training." I said I know, it won't happen again. She says, "Look, get everything right the first time. We TOLD you how to do this job, so there's no excuse for any f*** ups. I don't want to hear that you're learning from your mistakes. I want to hear that you're not making any to begin with." Okay, so I know I'm a lifelong screw up who has yet to impress anyone I meet, but this seemed a bit ridiculous. The rest of the night goes fine, and I go home and call my dad about this, and he says, "Well, try paying attention to detail and maybe you would be screwing up like this!"

So two days later, I come down with a bad case of bacterial pneumonia. I had about a 103 fever, I couldn't stand up without getting dizzy, and my cough was uncontrollable. I had to go in and take the host entry test, which basically asks you about everything on the menu and every procedure. It's also a short answer test, so no multiple choice or hints. I'm sitting there, shivering with a fever, half awake, trying to figure out this test. I finish it and go home. The next day, at my parents' insistence, I go to call out. The manager asks if I'm contagious; I say no, at this point I'm on a Z-pack so I'm not contagious. He says take some ibuprofen and get in here, I don't want any excuses.

So, I go in, sweating as my fever breaks, barely able to stand or breathe. At one point, I had to sit for a second to regain my equilibrium. The GM sees me sitting and shaking my head to clear it says what the F**K are you DOING? I tell him and he says, "No sitting at the host station! I already told you: No excuses! Why is it every time I see you I have to talk to you about something??" He leaves and 10 minutes later, I'm greeting guests, feeling a little better at this point. In front of the guests, he comes out with my test and says, "[My name] just so you know, your test was PATHETIC! In all my years I've been here I've never seen anyone with a worse score. I mean, did you not study or are you just plain stupid? You ought to be ashamed of yourself and your parents ought to be ashamed of you too! You're a disgrace!"

Two days later, one of the other managers calls me in and tells me that, after seeing how I worked for only five days, the GM wasn't even going to bother having me do a retest. Get out and don't come back.

So, I know most of this was my fault. Like the manager said, don't make mistakes; get it right the first time. But still, this was the worst, most destructively critical boss I've ever had.
I worked for the Postal Service for 32 yrs. Where would you like me to start?:mad:

[lethal dose]

Ah, yes! The "beat the dog when it's bad and never give it a treat when it's good" type.
Did a six month stretch at KFC when I was in high school. One of the managers was the screaming type. Never a compliment, always berating the male help while treating the girls up front like prima donnas. School graduation parties along with the summer holidays were the worst. I'll never forget "Labor Day". That was the busiest of all. Twenty four gas burners going full bore with oil filled pressure cookers at 350 degrees for the Original Recipe" and two large deep fat friers for the "Extra Crispy". It was madhouse back there. Chicken parts flying, coating mix and batter all over us, the floors and even the walls. Hot oil splattering our bare arms and clothes. When "D-Day" was over, it looked like a bomb went off in there. What a mess. The five of us guys who did all of the cooking were on our butts, exhausted but not beaten. We had cooked nearly 500 pots of chicken and numerous batches of "Extra Crispy" in that four hour shift and we all felt proud breaking the store record.

Then the manager comes back into the kitchen and starts screaming at us to get off our lazy asses get that huge mess cleaned up while she and the girls up front clocked out, laughing at us on the way out. All this for $1.15 an hour! Though a month later, one of the guys got some Polaroid photos of her and the owner in a compromising position in the office. Since he was going to quit anyway, he laid it on the line to the owner. Either the "She-Devil" goes or the Polaroids end up in the hands of the owners wife. The owner looked at the photos, looks at "She-Devil" and calmly says to her, "You're fired". Us guys got our ten cents an hour raise right there. Karma was on our side that day. Payback's a bitch!

[Zane1844]

Did a six month stretch at KFC when I was in high school. One of the managers was the screaming type. Never a compliment, always berating the male help while treating the girls up front like prima donnas. School graduation parties along with the summer holidays were the worst. I'll never forget "Labor Day". That was the busiest of all. Twenty four gas burners going full bore with oil filled pressure cookers at 350 degrees for the Original Recipe" and two large deep fat friers for the "Extra Crispy". It was madhouse back there. Chicken parts flying, coating mix and batter all over us, the floors and even the walls. Hot oil splattering our bare arms and clothes. When "D-Day" was over, it looked like a bomb went off in there. What a mess. The five of us guys who did all of the cooking were on our butts, exhausted but not beaten. We had cooked nearly 500 pots of chicken and numerous batches of "Extra Crispy" in that four hour shift and we all felt proud breaking the store record.

Then the manager comes back into the kitchen and starts screaming at us to get off our lazy asses get that huge mess cleaned up while she and the girls up front clocked out, laughing at us on the way out. All this for $1.15 an hour! Though a month later, one of the guys got some Polaroid photos of her and the owner in a compromising position in the office. Since he was going to quit anyway, he laid it on the line to the owner. Either the "She-Devil" goes or the Polaroids end up in the hands of the owners wife. The owner looked at the photos, looks at "She-Devil" and calmly says to her, "You're fired". Us guys got our ten cents an hour raise right there. Karma was on our side that day. Payback's a bitch!

Best story I have heard.

None of my bosses have been that bad. My last boss was very laid back, though he did very actual work, while making sure we never slacked off. I have seen him do everything he tells us not to do. But, do as I say, not as I do.