30 Times Bosses Were Completely Out-Of-Touch And Simply Horrible To Their Employees, As Shared By These Employees
Every year, US companies spend $15 billion on managerial and leadership development. But how much of that money actually goes to good use? According to a study by Life Meets Work, 56% of American workers claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic. Another study by the American Psychological Association found that 75% of Americans say their "boss is the most stressful part of their workday."
And there's a Twitter thread that illustrates these numbers beautifully. After Jordan Gibbons, a pop star and fashion designer from Manchester, UK, shared a particularly dreadful talk he had with his manager, other people responded with similar experiences, and the whole thing has turned into a painfully funny thread that we simply must show you. Enjoy!
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At least he passed them on round two. I've had some journal editors who were both monstrously stupid on a topic ( one of them even tried to get me to use the wrong name of an institution he could have googled in 3 seconds, because he thought what I had wasn't right) and suuuper nit picky. I have contemplated ending at least one. But my advisor gave me the best advice ever. Don't fly to commit murder, it leaves too much of a paper trail and its too hard to get to the UK from Russia any other way, so I ground it out and did get published. Love Bill so much but that editor can fry
Bosses often have unreasonably high expectations. Some of them even are flabbergasted when the courts tell them that they aren't allowed to pay half the wages just because they think that their employees didn't perform 100%.
Jordan still works at the same restaurant and said he's a little worried about getting fired over that tweet, but reassured us that the business itself isn't bad at all, "it's just capitalism that's the problem."
"My manager is actually a nice guy and he tries to make others happy as well," he told Bored Panda. "Recently, I was told I couldn't get gay pride off because too many people had already booked it off, but he pulled some strings and told me he knew how important it was and I ended up being able to go.
"As his tweet went viral, Jordan was really psyched to see that it struck a chord with so many people. "I think it just highlights a huge problem in today's society," he said. "People on minimum wage are the backbone of this society and I think it's disgusting that people are paid so little. I literally do not stop running around for hours on end and I am paid peanuts. Something needs to change."
When I was in my early 20s my manager wouldn't let people leave 15min early to get to class in time. **Blah blah long explanation as to why that boils down to commute time to the university** 8 of us decided to leave en masse when the manager of the medical group decided that the individual doc offices couldn't independently decide to allow us to leave early as long as our work was finished. Cue me interviewing for a position on a lunch break, accepting that job, and never coming back (the docs I worked under were part of the plan so I didn't screw them over) After my successful rage quit the 7 others left in a similar fashion. It was so satisfying for all of us. Even more so when that manager was replaced shortly thereafter
Peeps HR says there are four main types of a bad manager and they all are somewhat different. The first is a dysfunctional manager who is simply poor at their job and/or managing their team. They are actually pretty harmless for the most part; they are just downright incompetent at what they do.
This may mean they are weak, indecisive, lacking leadership traits/training/qualities, or lazy. Incompetence, according to Peeps HR, comes in many forms but if they are liked, their team may tolerate them.
The second type, and arguably the most dangerous one, is the bully. This person usually uses anger or fear to manage other people and as a result, employees will dread coming to work. This manager has the most corrosive impact on both individuals and teams.
Would have been more satisfying to find a new job and not even bother to quit. Let her schedule you now and find out that you really didn't need the job.
The climber is Peeps HR's third type and they are characterized by excessive self-orientation. Rather than caring for the company, they simply try to look good to those above, paying very little attention to those below. They can be intensely political and see peers as competitors, not as team members.
Finally, there's the micromanager and this type is quite frankly exhausting, as they overwork their team members, holding very little trust in their skills and abilities. They retain control over everything and therefore don't allow people to make mistakes and grow.
We've all heard the saying, "People don't leave companies, they leave managers." Nobody wants to work for a boss who doesn't support them or behaves in a way that puts their career and promotional opportunities at risk. Screw those guys!
Yes I'm asleep, but I'm having this terrible nightmare where an @sshole shyte boss is texting me at 11:26 PM.
The same boss wouldn't be annoyed if one of the men broke his leg in multiple places playing rugby.
More context needed here. Why was he fired? I mean, a company shouldn't keep someone in their staff just because they have sick relatives, or 10 children to feed at home, or whatever. Everyone has issues off work. Maybe the fired person wasn't doing a good job... It's sad indeed, and probably a bad timing for firing them, but again, more context needed.
Seriously people, it's his WIFE & unborn BABY at risk. And Kay Blue is probably right.
US problem. In my country nobody expects or even wants you to do work during your vacation because vacation is supposed to be the time to unwind and not think about work at all.
I would have to see the pace of the work to judge this. I worked with a girl once who dawdled really really badly. Everthing she did was in slow motion. She was lovely and thorough but had no sense of urgency and moved at the same slow pace no matter how busy we were. She was told to pick up her pace several times and got really upset because she said she was going as fast as she could and asked the manager "unless you want to me to literally run through the restaurant". The manager replied 'yes, if that's what it takes for you to move faster then yes!". She eventually got fired because she was just too slow.
Never really understood this "unpaid" thingy. Never took part in it. If you want me to do something for you, you pay me. Don't care if it's working or training.
And you all thought this only happened in the USA LOLOLOL!!!!!!!
Who in his right mind would let a chance of being employed in the fast paced glamorous world of junkfood slip? /S
4 hours is an awfully long time to wait, though. 15 minutes max and than you start calling to ask if they've forgotten about the meeting.
I worked at an institution for mentally disabled people (all adults, but mental levels of about 3-10). Once got told "You are more work for us than our clients". I said "well, if it's like that...", got up, and walked out.
No. No I’m not. But if YOU are, Boss, then YOU go right ahead.
Tell them to f**k off - or punch them in the face when you're out of sight of any witnesses ..... then quit and find a better job !!
The customer is NOT always right. Sometimes they’re assholes making a power play, or con artists trying to get something for free. Once in a great while a customer complaint will be entirely justified. Only once in a great while, though.
Oh yes, the practice of keeping people just below the legal limit of working hours so they don't qualify for health care insurance. US society is really dystopian. Strange how parts of the US are striving to go back in time while they all are living in a future dystopian society.
So, they wrote you up for taking care of your future and your health.
The day after my father died, I had a job interview. During the interview I got a bit emotional. My future boss ended the interview and just said "Make the coming days all about you and your loss. Let me know if I can do anything for you, see you in two weeks and by the way you're hired effective now. We'll sign the contract later."
This spying on employees’ internet activity when they’re not at work strikes me as nothing but stalking, and should be prosecutable.
It's not in their interest if you know that the guy doing the same job as you earns twice as much as your manager because he knows some things that he shouldn't have known.
I had the same thing, and was asked which was more important, college or the job. The job was a job for the present, what I was studying in college was going to be my career and my future. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs will give you a clue as to which I chose.
That Drill weekend makes a huge difference. There are laws protecting National Guard and Reserves members from this kinda thing.
Please tell me she responded with a middle finger as she cleared the door.
I was reprimanded because the health and safety manager audited my workspace and I let them know my chair was broken, which it was. My boss called me into a meeting and lost his s**t screaming, 'cause I had no right, it's his departments equipment. I went to HR and detailed the whole interaction before quitting. My boss then threatened to sue me because I damaged his career potential. It was terrifying to walk away with no safety net, but it was the best decision I ever made.
I got fired because my grandmother who I lived with died. That's the only time I've ever been fired. It was at a mental hospital and was the most toxic place ever to work. I got wrote up once for crying when one of my patients died due to unsafe rules handed down. I had argued against said rule for months and told them something like this would happen eventually. Needless to say, after the death, the rule was gone.
I once had an officer manager who refused one of my colleagues time off to be with her sick 5 yo. Then she (the office manager) went off crying to the boss because her daughter just got her first period and she really had to go home to be with her. Never met anybody as dishonest en selfish as that B****. She expected people to kiss her ass, if not you were not a good worker. Managers are the moste overrated people in any work environment ever. I hate her and her kind with every fibre in my body.
Was that in Germany if I may ask? (Your name sounds German.) Because if so, your colleague had a legal right to stay home with their child (unless they already had taken more than the legal amount of sick child days).
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Half the team is paid on monthly commission. The owner missed the payroll deadline so he told us we would get paid next month instead. Told us not to worry because the check would be double our usual.
Worked a job where once a week I had to be on call. One day when I'm not the scheduled on-call person, dispatch calls me at 2 am by mistake. When I tell them I'm not the on-call person today and inform them who is, they tell I have to go since I answered my phone. I said a resounding NO and hung up. My phone kept ringing for like 20 minutes until I finally unplugged it. The next day I get called into the office and told I'm being suspended for a month for refusing on-call duty even though I was NOT scheduled. I filed a complaint with the NLRB, they lost and had to pay for my entire month of suspension. After that and the fact I had informed every other employee subject to on-call days, No one ever answered their phone or pagers after the end of shift when they were not scheduled for on-call. The company was pissed but couldn't do anything about it.
You helped your coworkers. And it's amazing that this "not taking a work phone call while not working" is a huge deal.
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I made the mistake of telling my boss one time that I hated sitting in 5 pm traffic. She took that as my agreeing to work until 6 or later every night. On a salaried job with no overtime where I was already working 8 plus hours a day anyway. Meanwhile my family is at home waiting for me and dinner. She had no family, no pets, nothing but her work. I think there's something wrong with people like that, especially when they expect everyone else to live for their jobs. Glad I don't work there anymore.
There is nothing wrong with people who don't have families or pets. There is something wrong with people who live for their jobs. You should do a better job separating the two.
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I was once a contractor for the gov't on a military base. Great job, decent pay, decent co-workers, a mix of GS civil service and contractors. One GS guy always downloaded porn on his work pc. He'd get caught and our IT guy had to always remove it. He kept his job, regardless of zero tolerance policy. I went through a divorce, and had some issues with credit. I paid, but was always behind and struggled. It happens. I was fired bcuz I could not be trusted and I was a liar, according to them- just because I struggled to pay my bills. I had access and dealt with gov't credit cards from many units and never did anything illegal. I was a veteran and was lucky to walk into that job when I got out. Was told I'd be a GS after 6-12 mos. never happened. My replacement, also a get, got hired as a GS. Jerk stuff right there
As a teen, I worked at a fast food restaurant and was cleaning the fryers where you recycle the grease and hose out the fryers with it. (You don't really want to know how old that grease is, folks.) The handle on the grease hose broke and I got 400-degree grease all down my arm. Second degree burns, it turned out... My then-boss asks, "Do you think you need to go home?" Duh, dude, I'm not going home, I'm going to the ER. And, yeah.
Years ago, I was a waitress, and we were asked (told) to sign a waiver, to do away with our breaks... (And yes when u are a 'tipped employee' working in 'MA' this is legal.) When I asked my manager, what happens if we don't sign, she pointed behind me, and said, "there's the door"
And they wonder why they're having trouble filling these kinds of jobs now, both in the US and the UK at least. People have decided there's more to life than s**t jobs with s**t pay
I had an under the table job. Working for my mom's boyfriend family at 15 for the summer. I had to take the bus for an hour and then walk two miles to get to where I worked. I quit after the summer to go to school. They were pissed that I didn't continue to work there after school. Um the bus never coordinated with when I got out of school at 245. Then when I caught it I wouldn't get there til five then the last bus home was eight.
I had the hard luck of having a horrible boss with massive self-esteem issues who took out his unhappiness with himself on me. He was endlessly compensating in the worst sort of way. I started documenting how bad it was to eventually approach his boss & H.R. about his unreasonableness. It turns out there was a pattern that every six weeks or so, he would throw a yelling tantrum that would embarrass a five-year old. He was a grown man and a professional businessman who was still throwing tantrums like a 4-year-old. It was so loud that I started shopping for a decibel meter I could wear to further document his abusiveness. His superiors were aware of all of this, but he had a relatively senior manager protecting him. I was an hourly worker in a non-union plant, so you have to step carefully handling something like this so it doesn't blow up in your face. Finally, he really went too far. I unloaded a 14-page letter of complaint to his boss documenting what he had done for a year and a hal bad-boss-4...cb9cd6.jpg 
hmm... the software clipped off the last of the post message. I was going to say: "I unloaded a 14-page letter of complaint to his boss documenting what he had done for a year and a half. The man was demoted, transferred, and out of my sight and hair. Good riddance!. I won one for a change."
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I worked at McDonald's when I was around 16. My boss looked at me and said. "Good thing your not 18 yet...um cause of the things I could do to you!"- wow...he got fired a short time later for sexual harassment!
I often wondered what happened to line managers that seemed to care about their employees but as they got promoted they lost that. Then I found out that their pay went from strictly salary to salary plus strongly influenced by the profitability of their product. Greed does terrible things to people.
What's the objection to having a single consistent type size, font and color?
I was told that you work hard at whatever job you have. I started at minimum wage at my office. When my boss saw that I was a hard worker he kept promoting me. I retired with a 6-figure salary from a job that sent me around the country and the world.
It really depends on being in the right place too. So for retail and food jobs there is really not much upward mobility available. If you are in an office environment, you also need to be in an environment that recognizes your work. I worked in oncology where I worked like crazy and spun my wheels, got no help and got yelled at if one of the docs didn't do something, even when I proved I had been trying for 2 months to get them to do it. Went to a different office and ended up getting promoted 3 times in a years time. Promoted 5 times in total. I get a lot of job offers that start at 6 figures and money is not an issue. Spent the same amount of time in oncology as I have in regulatory review. One recognized my work, the other didn't. My work ethics didn't change, just the environment. Started off minimum wage myself. Best advice is if you are working hard and not getting anywhere, start looking for a different job.
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But be nice to think it's that easy to start a business.
Load More Replies... I have a great boss who really helped me out a lot and also recognizes my work. It is almost a detriment because I have turned down a few head hunters offering more money, but the compensation isn't enough for me to risk entering into a work environment with a crappy boss. I have an employee myself who wants to get a remote job and was talking to me about possibly leaving, she said the same thing, that she wanted the job but was worried about not liking her new boss. Told her I wasn't worth choosing over a potential raise and working from home so she should go for it. But there is a good quality of life you get when your boss is supportive. Plus, my employees work incredibly hard and care because they don't want to let me down. Means a lot to me. Kills me I have no say over their salaries though. I feel like I let them down all the time over that but I do help to get them promoted when I can.
Load More Replies... I was reprimanded because the health and safety manager audited my workspace and I let them know my chair was broken, which it was. My boss called me into a meeting and lost his s**t screaming, 'cause I had no right, it's his departments equipment. I went to HR and detailed the whole interaction before quitting. My boss then threatened to sue me because I damaged his career potential. It was terrifying to walk away with no safety net, but it was the best decision I ever made.
I got fired because my grandmother who I lived with died. That's the only time I've ever been fired. It was at a mental hospital and was the most toxic place ever to work. I got wrote up once for crying when one of my patients died due to unsafe rules handed down. I had argued against said rule for months and told them something like this would happen eventually. Needless to say, after the death, the rule was gone.
I once had an officer manager who refused one of my colleagues time off to be with her sick 5 yo. Then she (the office manager) went off crying to the boss because her daughter just got her first period and she really had to go home to be with her. Never met anybody as dishonest en selfish as that B****. She expected people to kiss her ass, if not you were not a good worker. Managers are the moste overrated people in any work environment ever. I hate her and her kind with every fibre in my body.
Was that in Germany if I may ask? (Your name sounds German.) Because if so, your colleague had a legal right to stay home with their child (unless they already had taken more than the legal amount of sick child days).
Load More Replies... Half the team is paid on monthly commission. The owner missed the payroll deadline so he told us we would get paid next month instead. Told us not to worry because the check would be double our usual.
Worked a job where once a week I had to be on call. One day when I'm not the scheduled on-call person, dispatch calls me at 2 am by mistake. When I tell them I'm not the on-call person today and inform them who is, they tell I have to go since I answered my phone. I said a resounding NO and hung up. My phone kept ringing for like 20 minutes until I finally unplugged it. The next day I get called into the office and told I'm being suspended for a month for refusing on-call duty even though I was NOT scheduled. I filed a complaint with the NLRB, they lost and had to pay for my entire month of suspension. After that and the fact I had informed every other employee subject to on-call days, No one ever answered their phone or pagers after the end of shift when they were not scheduled for on-call. The company was pissed but couldn't do anything about it.
You helped your coworkers. And it's amazing that this "not taking a work phone call while not working" is a huge deal.
Load More Replies... I made the mistake of telling my boss one time that I hated sitting in 5 pm traffic. She took that as my agreeing to work until 6 or later every night. On a salaried job with no overtime where I was already working 8 plus hours a day anyway. Meanwhile my family is at home waiting for me and dinner. She had no family, no pets, nothing but her work. I think there's something wrong with people like that, especially when they expect everyone else to live for their jobs. Glad I don't work there anymore.
There is nothing wrong with people who don't have families or pets. There is something wrong with people who live for their jobs. You should do a better job separating the two.
Load More Replies... I was once a contractor for the gov't on a military base. Great job, decent pay, decent co-workers, a mix of GS civil service and contractors. One GS guy always downloaded porn on his work pc. He'd get caught and our IT guy had to always remove it. He kept his job, regardless of zero tolerance policy. I went through a divorce, and had some issues with credit. I paid, but was always behind and struggled. It happens. I was fired bcuz I could not be trusted and I was a liar, according to them- just because I struggled to pay my bills. I had access and dealt with gov't credit cards from many units and never did anything illegal. I was a veteran and was lucky to walk into that job when I got out. Was told I'd be a GS after 6-12 mos. never happened. My replacement, also a get, got hired as a GS. Jerk stuff right there
As a teen, I worked at a fast food restaurant and was cleaning the fryers where you recycle the grease and hose out the fryers with it. (You don't really want to know how old that grease is, folks.) The handle on the grease hose broke and I got 400-degree grease all down my arm. Second degree burns, it turned out... My then-boss asks, "Do you think you need to go home?" Duh, dude, I'm not going home, I'm going to the ER. And, yeah.
Years ago, I was a waitress, and we were asked (told) to sign a waiver, to do away with our breaks... (And yes when u are a 'tipped employee' working in 'MA' this is legal.) When I asked my manager, what happens if we don't sign, she pointed behind me, and said, "there's the door"
And they wonder why they're having trouble filling these kinds of jobs now, both in the US and the UK at least. People have decided there's more to life than s**t jobs with s**t pay
I had an under the table job. Working for my mom's boyfriend family at 15 for the summer. I had to take the bus for an hour and then walk two miles to get to where I worked. I quit after the summer to go to school. They were pissed that I didn't continue to work there after school. Um the bus never coordinated with when I got out of school at 245. Then when I caught it I wouldn't get there til five then the last bus home was eight.
I had the hard luck of having a horrible boss with massive self-esteem issues who took out his unhappiness with himself on me. He was endlessly compensating in the worst sort of way. I started documenting how bad it was to eventually approach his boss & H.R. about his unreasonableness. It turns out there was a pattern that every six weeks or so, he would throw a yelling tantrum that would embarrass a five-year old. He was a grown man and a professional businessman who was still throwing tantrums like a 4-year-old. It was so loud that I started shopping for a decibel meter I could wear to further document his abusiveness. His superiors were aware of all of this, but he had a relatively senior manager protecting him. I was an hourly worker in a non-union plant, so you have to step carefully handling something like this so it doesn't blow up in your face. Finally, he really went too far. I unloaded a 14-page letter of complaint to his boss documenting what he had done for a year and a hal bad-boss-4...cb9cd6.jpg
hmm... the software clipped off the last of the post message. I was going to say: "I unloaded a 14-page letter of complaint to his boss documenting what he had done for a year and a half. The man was demoted, transferred, and out of my sight and hair. Good riddance!. I won one for a change."
Load More Replies... I worked at McDonald's when I was around 16. My boss looked at me and said. "Good thing your not 18 yet...um cause of the things I could do to you!"- wow...he got fired a short time later for sexual harassment!
I often wondered what happened to line managers that seemed to care about their employees but as they got promoted they lost that. Then I found out that their pay went from strictly salary to salary plus strongly influenced by the profitability of their product. Greed does terrible things to people.
What's the objection to having a single consistent type size, font and color?
I was told that you work hard at whatever job you have. I started at minimum wage at my office. When my boss saw that I was a hard worker he kept promoting me. I retired with a 6-figure salary from a job that sent me around the country and the world.
It really depends on being in the right place too. So for retail and food jobs there is really not much upward mobility available. If you are in an office environment, you also need to be in an environment that recognizes your work. I worked in oncology where I worked like crazy and spun my wheels, got no help and got yelled at if one of the docs didn't do something, even when I proved I had been trying for 2 months to get them to do it. Went to a different office and ended up getting promoted 3 times in a years time. Promoted 5 times in total. I get a lot of job offers that start at 6 figures and money is not an issue. Spent the same amount of time in oncology as I have in regulatory review. One recognized my work, the other didn't. My work ethics didn't change, just the environment. Started off minimum wage myself. Best advice is if you are working hard and not getting anywhere, start looking for a different job.
Load More Replies... But be nice to think it's that easy to start a business.
Load More Replies... I have a great boss who really helped me out a lot and also recognizes my work. It is almost a detriment because I have turned down a few head hunters offering more money, but the compensation isn't enough for me to risk entering into a work environment with a crappy boss. I have an employee myself who wants to get a remote job and was talking to me about possibly leaving, she said the same thing, that she wanted the job but was worried about not liking her new boss. Told her I wasn't worth choosing over a potential raise and working from home so she should go for it. But there is a good quality of life you get when your boss is supportive. Plus, my employees work incredibly hard and care because they don't want to let me down. Means a lot to me. Kills me I have no say over their salaries though. I feel like I let them down all the time over that but I do help to get them promoted when I can.
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