Hey Pandas, What’s The One Thing A Boss Said Or Did That Made You Lose All Respect For Them? (Closed)
What's the one thing a boss said or did that made you lose all respect for them?
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I'd stayed really late to complete many urgent projects for him and he knew I had. The day after the last time I had my performance review with him. I wasn't expecting a pat on the back for my work in helping him out, but I certainly wasn't expect him to turn around and say that I didn't do enough for the company either ... He even had the audacity to suggest I put more time in and help out more ... It was like he was a completely different person and that's when I lost all respect for him and I left the room and went to the pub for whiskey :-)
I used to be a footballer and my boss was the coach/manager. We were losing at half-time and he was livid in the dressing room, calling us all the names under the sun, shouting and swearing. This style of management is common and some argue that it 'switches players on' and gets them focused so it wasn't a surprise.
Anyway, so far, so dull. Until he starts talking about the opposing forward who had been running rings round our defenders. His clever tactical solution? Cut off the supply? Put two men on him? Nope. Our coach wanted us to break this kids legs. Literally put him in hospital.
That's when I started to lose interest in the game. There are so many horrible people in professional football it disgusts me. For balance, it's probably worth noting that there are some good guys too. Guys who visit hospitals and support charities without wanting recognition for it. So there is that.
When they couldn't bring themselves up to say the truth on what was their motivation for certain organizational changes and instead chose to coat it in a way that it was best for the employees, even though the employees never asked or wanted the change. My instant reaction was "oh great, I guess we're just gonna BS each other instead of talking for real."
Begged and pleaded for me to not quit (horribly understaffed and not even attempting to bring on more staff). Then after we hired some new people and I got them semi up to speed, she fired me.
Though I will say it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to my career, it resulted in a very difficult year.
Sprinkled glitter glue on pine cones, added a bit of string and gave them to the staff as Christmas gifts. The kids at art club did a better job!
He made a big point about how hates micromanagers, and how he trusts his employees to do their best work and make their own decisions. He doesn't just want a bunch of "yes, man" employees, but employees who will think for themselves and challenge his assumptions and opinions. He wants all his employees to use their unique talents to contribute to the team. Then he proceeded to micromanage me for 5 years to do everything exactly he way he does it and only do exactly what he says.
I had a boss that was homophobic. He hated gay people or anyone in the community. I lost respect for him but I told him that I was gay and experienced hate everyday. He didn't know what to say after that. Please don't force your opinion down people's throats. It's not your life to live.
I was new in management, and a more senior manager was talking about delegating more work. The phrase was, "Push until there is resistance." As in, give them more and more work until they start quitting.
Luckily, even at 22 I knew what teamwork meant. I could never treat people like that.
When they would make disparaging comments about team members that had nothing to do with their work and failed to get to know said team members. They said awful things during management meetings that had no business being said. They even went as far as to talk poorly about an ex long time employee at a staff meeting who they had never even met. Some of the staff were shocked but no one said anything, at least to upper management or HR. They used so much jargon speech that a lot of team members would need to contact other supervisors to clarify things. I had finalized an employee evaluation and sent the final draft to them to sign off on. Mind you I had been writing these for years and I had always given fair and clear feedback. This was the first evaluation that they were involved with. They sent it back to me with almost every line struck through and replaced with their awful jargon laced comments that had nothing to do with the employee. I tried meeting with them to discuss these issues and they became defensive and said they would rethink what they said around me. They had only been the manager for 4 months and everyday they seemed to have to say things to belittle myself and others. When I put my notice in they went to corporate telling them that I had quit by sending an all staff email and that I was “attempting to sabotage them”. I was summoned to an HR meeting and was told that “I was not being helpful during the new management transition”. I told them that I had sent my notice that morning and that I had sent an announcement to the staff later in the afternoon. They did not know about the first email. Regardless, I was told that that day would be my last day as the Manager had told them that they “didn’t want me to finish out the two week notice.” I had worked there for more than a decade and gave so much of my time and energy to this job. I loved my coworkers and I decided that if I told them everything the new Manager had said it would have hurt them, so I made the decision to not say anything. It was hard to walk away but I knew I was replaceable. The other managers I had worked with didn’t even reach out to ask me why I left so suddenly. One of them finally did and said they were all told that I walked out. I told the story of what happened and they were shocked. Since I left, more than half of the team I worked with have quit. I’m so much more relaxed now and will never be a manager again.
Bless your heart! You have been put through hell! I'm so sorry that that happened to you. Some people just have their head stuck up their a**.
