Your Bad Boss Stories Are A “Work” Of Art
Posted June 23, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s Pandora’s Box.
And there’s whatever we opened on Wednesday.
That’s when we told you about a U.S.-based union-backed contest to find the worst boss in that country. Canadians weren’t eligible to enter, but we figured there were enough disgruntled locals who likely got burned at their biz, so we decided to open our email inboxes for your experiences.
And it was clear you wanted to vent. We received enough bad boss comments to fill a newspaper help wanted section.
There were bosses who wouldn’t let people leave early to pick up relatives, supervisors who told a pregnant woman she couldn’t keep a medical appointment, overseers who didn’t think being in the hospital was a good enough reason to miss work, and even one man who had to build the furniture for his own cubicle on his first day of work!
And while we’re not giving out the vacation prize our American counterparts are awarding, it does seem there’s a value in simply letting everyone get this out of their system.
Here’s just a random sampling of your ‘work-for-a-jerk’ stories. For obvious reasons, we’ve left out company and business names and for your protection, your monikers are shortened, too.
If you’ve faced a similar situation, you can commiserate. If not, you can spend the rest of your work day feeling grateful. Our thanks to all who wrote in.
“When I got home, I called the office, (my family had called and reported the accident to my boss). I was told that my personal belongings would be brought to my home and that I was fired to violating the sick day policy of 3 days per year. He had even hired another person to replace me. (By the way, I sued and won!)”
J.S.
“I worked as a Jr. accounting clerk (many years ago) and for each month-end I need to photocopy a set of financial report for my boss, but there was this one time that I did my routine task and I also took the time to 3-hole punch it for her. Apparently, I did not realize the 3-hole puncher I used was NOT aligned properly; as a result, my boss was unable to put the photocopied report into the binder.
“Within minutes from the report being dropped off, my boss called me into her office and told me what kind of a ‘sh***y’ job that I had done and told me to GET OUT !! Anyway, my apology to her and offer to re-photocopy the report were not accepted.
“I really hope somebody can come up with a ‘Laser-guided’ 3-hole puncher someday!!”
S.S.
“Recently, my family (who I hadn’t seen in a year) were due to visit from…England, I was due to pick them up from Pearson Airport.
“My boss ordered me to not go get them and told me that they should get a taxi instead, because I had to work late.
“I didn’t pick them up.”
D.P.
“When I was pregnant with my son, I worked for a boss who hauled me into his office saying that I could not take time off to see my midwife under any circumstances (urgent, regular appointments including prenatal tests, morning sickness, etc.) during my pregnancy.
“He told me that my work responsibilities came first and were more important than my responsibilities towards my unborn child. He fired and harassed several other people in the office.
“My boss got what he deserved in the end, his wife suddenly left him for another man, he was diagnosed with diabetes and later had a heart attack!”
D.S.
“My boss…cheats on his wife, and tells us about it, he hits on all the women in our company worldwide .He takes all the credit for all the work his department does. We’ve never gotten praise or encouragement for what we do.
“We only get back handed compliments like “You do a great job, when you are here that is”. There is absolutely no one else out there that can match all his horrible traits. If I could only go into detail about what he does in our company, I could write a novel, turn it into a screenplay and make a movie with it.”
T.G.
“I worked for a brief period at a large popular Ontario casino. All new employees are forced to sign an agreement whereby you can be terminated without cause during your first 6 months. I worked nights and there was a supervisor who had a bigoted attitude towards others of any ethnic origin but especially Aboriginals.
“He routinely made derogatory remarks. We had been told to report such incidents under the Human Rights Act. I did. Guess who got the boot? Yep, and he is still there 9 years later.
“Nuff said.”
S.C.
“My boss thinks the world revolves around him. He will ask me to see him before I leave. It’s time to go home so I go over to see him and he is on the phone. He asks me to just wait a minute.
“I sit at the next desk to him for over a half hour while he is on a conference call. When he finishes he says it’s ok, there really isn’t anything to discuss.
“He has had all day to talk to me but often catches me as I am walking out the door and then he wants to talk to me for about 15 minutes. He does this often.
“Last Friday was the worst. I leave at quitting time and think that I have avoided him. I take the elevator down from the 4th floor. When the elevator door opened on the ground floor he is there waiting for me (out of breath). He ran down 4 flights of stairs so he could talk with me!”
J.T.
And finally one worker’s experience that shows that sometimes no matter how much you do, it’s never quite enough.
“I once worked for [a realty company]…
“On my first day, I arrived to find that they neglected to prepare a workspace for me. Instead, they showed me to a room filled with boxes of new, disassembled furniture. I was instructed to build three full desks (complete with cabinets and shelves), two filing cabinets, and four chairs by myself, using only the hex screwdrivers packed with the furniture.
“Their reason? The staff at the head office consisted almost entirely of women who “didn’t know what went where”, and they didn’t want to hire additional help. I didn’t want to say no, because it was my first day and wanted to make a good impression.
“In hindsight I should have refused because over the course of the next 8 hours I struggled to build all the furniture, tore my $150 Boss shirt in several places, and ruined my only pair of black dress pants from all the sawdust. They didn’t let me have a lunch break either. “Wouldn’t you rather finish up first?” my supervisor asked me.
“But that’s not all.
“When I finally got a place to sit (after a full week), I was given my daily tasks, and all was fine. Slowly, my supervisor began re-assigning other people’s tasks to me. For example: when one lady remarked how much she hated performing VISA transactions, my supervisor arranged for me to take over the job.
“In 4 weeks time, I was responsible for photocopying, data entry, sorting, filing, VISA transactions, customer call-outs, and database management….in ADDITION to what I was doing already. It got so bad that there were individuals who wandered around for the majority of the work day, complaining how bored they were because they had nothing to do all day.
“One day, at the end of 5 weeks time, the VP pulls me into his office. He tells me that I’m not being productive enough. I proceeded to inform him of my overwhelming workload and my supervisor’s disregard of my requests for help.
“The VP then leans forward in his seat, and tells me the following: “I have to tell you, I don’t actually know what’s going on. I can’t concern myself with the staff, because I have my own stuff to do. So I’m going on the word of (my supervisor’s name) here. I’m sorry, but we’re letting you go. Good luck in the future.”
“Tell me this isn’t the worst boss ever.”
J.W.
