Having a terrible boss can be a stressful and demotivating experience that can impact an employee’s mental and physical health. A bad boss may be unapproachable, controlling, micromanaging, or exhibit other negative behaviors that create a hostile work environment.
In some cases, a bad boss may even engage in illegal or unethical behavior, such as discrimination or harassment, which can be particularly damaging to the affected employee’s self-esteem and well-being.
Having a terrible boss can also impact an employee’s job performance and career prospects. A boss who does not provide clear expectations or feedback can leave employees feeling confused or unsure about their work, while a boss who takes credit for their employees’ achievements can lead to resentment and decreased motivation.
In addition, a bad boss can create a toxic workplace culture, leading to high turnover rates and difficulty attracting and retaining top talent. This can ultimately impact the success of the entire organization.
Overall, having a terrible boss can have far-reaching negative consequences that can affect not only the affected employee but the entire workplace. It’s important for organizations to prioritize creating a positive work environment and ensuring that managers are trained to be effective and respectful leaders.
Unplanned Vacations
I had a boss who refused to let me take an “unplanned vacation” to see my grandma on her deathbed. I quit on the spot.
It was strange because up until that incident, she was really cool and laid back. But when I asked for the weekend off to go visit my dying grandmother, she snapped and lectured me about how I needed to “plan” my “vacation” better.
(ostentia)
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Counting Every Last Minute
I had a boss that absolutely hated me. After realizing she wasn’t qualified for the position and had already slept with two different guys at the company, I came to the conclusion she was a joke and to just be dismissed.
I never paid much attention to her and when she’d show up at my building once every blue moon I kind of just ignored her. I was busy and didn’t have time to play her games.
She wrote me up for being late on three separate occasions. 1 min late, 3 min late and 6 min late. I lived an hour from work and had to deal with traffic, I left my house 2 hours early most days to account for this. But when there’s a wreck, there’s not much you can do as the freeway is backed up and side roads are clogged. Each time I got stuck in traffic I called to let her know.
Still wrote me up in hopes to eventually fire me. So I started leaving the house crazy early, I’d get in super early and leave early. She haaaated it.
Eventually her behavior got her fired and people till this day remember her and laugh at what a horrible person she was. I also had that write up removed from my file as it was recognized that she was treating many of her employees unfairly.
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Horrible Driver, Horrible Boss
I once worked at a company where the CIO (Chief Information Officer) sideswiped a woman’s car as she pulled into a parking space. The woman who had the car that got hit got out and stood beside her car to see what damage was done.
The CIO got out of her mercedes and brushed right past the woman without so much as speaking to her. Completely ignored her and walked away. Even with witnesses.
The woman that had her car damaged had to go to the HR department and the company cut her a check for damages (the actual business paid for it – not the CIO, she got away scott free without ever admitting anything or paying anything).
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Just One MAJOR Problem
My first boss managed a gas station. He was good in most ways–efficient, fair, disciplined, ran a tight ship. Just one drawback.
He was racist. I don’t mean that he was insufficiently outraged by Dukes of Hazard re-runs. I mean that he used the N-word often and loudly. He resurrected other racist words that would have sent Bull Connor running for a thesaurus.
The truck driver who delivered our tankers of fuel every week was a black man, and they almost came to blows over this.
His comeuppance finally came when the corporate office hired a new third level supervisor who was a young black man out of business school. That boss just could not take orders from a black man.
When he quit, he trashed the office and tore up every floppy (it was the 80’s) disk in the office so we couldn’t do our accounting for a few days.
(gnujack)
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Kitchen Nightmares
Reminds me of my first kitchen manager. She was so insane that she would make a list of little stupid stuff that wouldn’t be perfect when she walked in. Common items would be : pen left on counter, microwave not set to zero – I never used it my whole shift (im a cook, cooks dont make food with microwaves) it was the nurses afterhours, radio not set to her station, etc. You get the clue. When I found out she was fired right before Christmas, that was music to my ears. It blows not having income around the biggest holiday. The maintenance man gave me a heads up that they were hiring at another location, so I applied and was hired immediately for that night. It was so great to get away from her.
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Sharing Is Not Caring
My supervisor at this nonprofit was maybe a couple years older than me, and for the six months I worked there, never bothered to set me up with my own computer. I’d work in the mornings and she tended to show up around lunch time, so she told me I could use hers, which was pretty annoying in and of itself. But more often than not she’d come in about an hour before I was scheduled to leave, and stand over me, eating her lunch, as I worked at her desk. I’d say things like, “Oh I’ll go find somewhere else to work” and she’d say no no you’re fine. And continue to stand over me as I sat at her desk.
She was also the Director of Marketing, and for about two weeks she had me walk around the city and put up flyers in various cafes/buildings for this class we were hosting. Two weeks later she’s frustrated that no one’s signed up. As the Director of Marketing, you should have some sort of better strategy than putting up flyers in coffee shops…
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Why Did They Hire You, Again?
Several years back I started a new job and was told the office would re-organize in the new year and my position my be shuffled to a new work group. A month later we’re busy running a major year-end event and things are going to s***. Everything requires total coordination across multiple divisions and came to a grinding halt with a lady in my office. She hadn’t prepared adequately and the entire process was hours behind schedule, causing huge problems. She proceeded to have a melt down and walked around the office screaming at people. Guess who became my new supervisor?
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Don’t Kill The Messenger
At my last job at a marketing company, our President and Owner went on an hour long tirade to a client, basically calling them “stupid’, “ungrateful”, “idiots”, along with a bunch of swears. It started because the client, a dentist, presented my boss with some ideas that came from her receptionist.
Just the standard advertising suggestions (bench signs, radio ads) that the layperson would know, but nothing so bad that someone deserves to get ridiculed and harassed over.
(bucaqe)
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So, That’s Where All The Money Is Going?
I’m a personal assistant and have worked for some very wealthy and insane people . . . Wealth-management CEO & his Russian bride: He would tell me everyday of the new jewelry and sports cars he was buying his wife. Literally, everyday she got a gift that cost over $50k! He spent more on her daily than I would make working for him in one year. Russian bride when I had to help her would never look at me, or even speak to me unless she had no choice. She would just make hand gestures or the maid would “translate” her glares to me.
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Closed For Business, Effective Immediately
My first job was working fast food for the biggest cheapskate ever. This was over ten years ago, so I am kinda fuzzy on specifics, but he would regularly schedule me for more hours than I was legally allowed to work, paid less than minimum wage due to a loophole, and refused to turn the ac on, even in the lobby, to save money.
One day, I was scheduled for a shift that he knew I was not available for, (I relied on my parents for rides so I couldn’t work week days,) so I spent the night before at a friend’s house who lived close enough for me to walk. It was raining heavily that day so after walking twenty minutes to work I was drenched. I pulled the door handle and the building was locked. No signs on the door, just locked. I call my boss and he says, “You don’t have to work today, we are closed for business.” I say, “Am I working tomorrow?” “No, we are closed for good.”
He was afraid people would half-ass their last shifts and steal product if they new we were closing, so he just didn’t mention anything. One of the managers was his own brother, and he didn’t even bother to tell the guy that he would be unemployed and needed to find a new job.
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Comedic Levels Of Incompetence
For those who know Dilbert’s “pointy-hair” boss in the Dilbert comic strip, my boss is his human counterpart.
He hears nothing of what you’re actually saying, even when he takes you aside and asks for input (which is rare). Even after a discussion, 5 minutes later he doesn’t remember a word you said, no matter how important the subject.
He is the personification of the “Peter Principle” – namely, he’s been promoted to his level of incompetence. Everyone who works with me agrees, in full. Yet, he makes the big bucks …
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My Boss, The Creep
My boss is an absolute HR nightmare. First of all, he’s the CEO of the company and thinks he can get away with anything because his brother is the company lawyer and his other brother is the HR manager. He is SUPER inappropriate. Like makes awful sexual comments to me all the time. In the beginning he used to hug me ALL THE TIME. When I told him that I wasn’t much of a hugger, he said “well, we will have to change that.” Creepy. He also told me all about his first sexual experience (with a co-worker!), and said that women should be more sexually aggressive in the workplace. Urm, whert? Needless to say, I’m nope-ing the f*** out of here real soon. Putting in my two weeks on Monday.
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The Most Incompetent Bookstore Manager Ever
I worked at a mall bookstore when I was in college and the manager was, kindly put, a moron. She would enter payroll wrong, couldn’t make a schedule and while I do really think she WANTED to be nice she just didn’t have the brains that God gives your average rock.
So jump to the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, about 3 months prior to release we had a pre-order sign up sheet. Obviously there was some insane demand for this book and the list was about 4 pages long. So a couple weeks or so before release we had to actually place our order and she counts up our pre-orders and asks me how many more past that we should order, I tell her at least double, maybe triple the number of preorders as the company was going to have a midnight release party for the book.
About is time I had to take some time off as I was in school and had a major project that needed my full attention so I come back 2 days before the release party, and the pre-order sheet is still out, and it’s now 9 pages long. I bring this up to her and ask how many extra copies she ordered. “I decided do just double the preorders, why?”
I hand her the sheet, the deer in headlights look was priceless, she was going to be short about 20 books for the release party. That’s when I told her I wasn’t going to be able to work the release party.
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My Uncle Was The Worst Boss I’ve Ever Had
I worked alongside my uncle in a betting shop for almost 2 and a half years, and I ended up hating him. He would try anything just to make it look like he was in charge. He once made a cashier count all of the betting slips in the shop (there were approx 7500), and made her re-count them because he didn’t believe there were that many. He referred to himself as his colleagues’ “employer” which caused a stir; he was a manager at a shitty retail store and not the employer of anything. He felt the need to sign everything “THE BOSS”.
And he was a constant one-upper; I have an English degree but you’d be damned if he didn’t know more than me about the pronunciations of Middle English words, Shakespeare, grammar, EVERYTHING- he just had to try to be cleverer than you in an attempt to seem like he was above you.
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Paying For My Boss’ Failures
My boss was horrible because she was spineless. She was a friend of mine who owned a castle opened for events, tours, etc.
The castle had a resident non-profit which received all revenues. The idea was that after her death, it would own and preserve the castle in perpetuity.
The problem was she had financial problems. Big ones. Two new board members tried to take advantage of the situation, telling her they’d bail her out, etc, under certain conditions.
One of the conditions was firing me. I had been there a couple of years, my parents had become estranged and sold the family home and both had moved, and I had allowed the non-profit to hold back some of my pay checks in order to ensure that others who really depended on it would be able to get paid on time.
She was desperate and had her back over a barrel so she allowed them to do it, promising me she’d get them to change their minds.
I was nearly homeless and had 24 hours to find a place to live. I ended up moving in with my mother who, at first, made it clear that as felt inconvenienced. I can’t blame her because she was going through her own problems. We are very close now.
When the scheme fell apart, the damage had been done. A user former employee moved in and poisoned her mind against most of her friends and former employees. I’ve never been paid back and, although the castle has been sold, they maintain a social media presence and harass me from time to time.
(cfvh)
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My Boss Almost Drove Me Off A Cliff
I used to be an archaeology technician and my crew chief (an evangelical christian that believes the earth is 6,000 years old) was driving us out to a site. The previous day we had a flat tire and he changed it.
So fast forward to the next day, I’m sound asleep in the truck, when I get tapped on my shoulder. My boss stopped on the side of the road and was standing next to me outside and said, “Don’t move, the wheel may fall off.” The idiot forgot to tighten the lug nuts and the wheel came loose and was just rolling on the axel as we were barreling down the road at 80mph. I may have died that day…
(zZINCc)
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Two Months On The Job Is All It Took
My boss threatened to fire me after less than a month on the job because they found out I suffer from depression and anxiety, both of which I manage extremely well I think. I was an apprentice supposed to be being trained in admin, but ended up just being a scape goat for their negligence and f***ery. One story that sticks in my head was her telling me I’d f***ed up some prescriptions and a couple of people with terminal illnesses had nearly died because of it. I was an apprentice admin assistant, prescriptions weren’t even my department. I quit after 2 months. Funny thing is, I’ve met people who previously worked for them and turns out I’m not the only one they’ve taken advantage of, and the patients see it too.
(deleted)
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Not-So-Sweet Ice Cream Shop Owner
I worked for this guy at an ice cream store. He kept cutting my hours for arbitrary reasons, so I got another job and put in my two weeks notice. Halfway through my two weeks notice, I got the flu, and tried to call in. He told me if I didn’t show up I would be fired. So I showed up, and he told me I wasn’t being “cheerful enough” for the customers. So I looked at him, said nothing, grabbed my bag, and walked out the door. At which point he followed me and threatened to call my new job and tell them I was a terrible employee. I called his bluff, and then called my new job to give them a heads up. They said “we don’t care, you’re already hired. Feel better, we’ll see you Monday.”
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That Shouldn’t Be Legal…
I started work at a company, and the first day the owner was hospitalized for a risky pregnancy for her final trimester. I had no real training, had NO idea what I was doing, and the final straw is when she had someone install 2 webcams with mics & speakers to my computer. One facing me, one facing my screen. I found out during a phone call that it was an open line and she was watching me 8 hours/day to make sure I was… working? Doing well? I dunno. But it was creepy and I noped the f*** out of there.
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Promises Not Kept
I once worked for a small nonprofit with a terrible Executive Director–she enjoyed pitting all the senior staff against one another by making up stories about things people had said, promising three people the same promotion, and generally orchestrating power plays. Staff turnover, as you might imagine, was super rapid (and not just among the senior staff), but the board of directors never caught on that anything was amiss because the rotation policy was built in such a way that board members rotated off every two years. The whole experience was hideous and nearly drove me out of the nonprofit field.
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Despicable Owner Thinks Job Is More Important Than Family
I worked at a glass company few years back and the bosses were cheap. One of the older guys was at a job when he got a call that his mom was passing and he needed to come immediately to say goodbye. He called the owner of the company and let him know that he needs to go and they need to find someone to replace him. The owner kept him on the phone for half an hour arguing to get him to say because it was cheaper than to cancel a job or try and find someone to cover from him. The guy got to the hospital too late and the when the owner found out he was far from apologetic. I’ve never seen anyone display that level of scumbaggery in my life.
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My Boss, The Cinnabon Thief
This man… OMG this man… I have too many stories to count.
He is so clueless and selfish it brings new meaning to the words.
For a long time, I’m talking years. Usually on a weekly, or at the least, every other week I’d always bring in a big box of sweets (usually pastries) for everyone. The boss, along with all of his other charming qualities, was also very lazy, and very impatient. So if he was the first one to the box, he’d usually just rip the everloving shit out of it instead of just…ya know… opening the box.
But this one takes the cake (pun intended) and it ended me bringing desserts and ruining it for everyone.
One day I bring in a box of 15 Cinnabons. That’s about two for everyone (small business, not a lot of employees). I hadn’t had breakfast that day so a little more after an hour later I decide to grab myself one. The entire box is missing. What?! Is it in the trash?! No…wait a second… where is Boss? I ask the only other person working that day if Boss is gone. And she confirmed he straight up walked out of the store with the box in hand. Furious I call his wife (who is usually home) and demand she tell him to turn around the second he walks through the door and brings it back. Her response is to just giggle and say something like “oh… he never thinks…”
About fifteen minutes later he comes back into the store with the box. I look inside…EIGHT ARE GONE. That means this selfish bastard tried to take the entire box and when he got caught, took over half for himself. I said clearly, “I hope you really like those eight cinnamon buns…because I am never bringing anything in again.”
That was about two years ago, I’ve never brought in anything for the office again.
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Working During The Most Unnecessary Times
I was a reporter at a newspaper once. My kid woke up sick. I texted my boss to take a sick day. she responded with a series of angry texts about how I was abandoning her and How she “needed” me there because she had a 40 page special section that was due. My kid is pretty young so it’s hard to tell how sick he is so I roll the dice and take him to daycare. After a hour and a half at work my boss realizes that the section is just filled with copy from old newspapers and she doesn’t need me. I decided to stay out of spite. Daycare calls like ten minutes later, asks me to come pick up my son. I then left a note to Her that I was quitting. Her bad behavior made me leave.
Found out two weeks later she quit because she didn’t have enough “support” from her bosses. Kinda think if My boss didn’t push so many people out (I was the last to go from the group that was there when she arrived) she would have been fine. This all happened when he was around three years old. Some people are just crazy. This did not happen during COVID-19.
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Boss Selling Ponzi Schemes Is Never A Good Sign
Oh, there have been so many, but I’m going to go with the jacka** who started selling Amway from his office. I’ve posted about him before. He was pressuring all of his staff to buy stuff, and implying that people buying from him and/or joining him on the pyramid would benefit from it (raises, extra vacation, etc.). He also tried to get the company to start purchasing through his side business. I reported him, and when HR asked him if it was true, he said “Sure is! Do you want in?” Bam, escorted out the door.
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Workplace Simulator
I once had a boss that was a psychopath. Apparently she recreated the workplace and employees in the sims game and enjoyed playing god and lighting us on fire. It was a hobby she was dumb enough to brag about to the wrong person. Needless to say she gone.
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