John's Blog

Top Ten Bosses from Hell
One of these days I'll have to submit my story about "Jim-Bob" my own "boss-from-hell." I alluded to this in an earlier post, but due to the pain still associated with recalling that time I didn't tell the story. To make a long story short, I referred to him as Jim-Bob (behind his back) since whenever I ask him a question, he could never give me an answer directly without checking with his boss Bob first. He had just been demoted into the job, and was very arrogant and tough to work with, being very intolerant of any opinions other than the ones he was putting forth. I've always felt that listening to the points of view from my direct reports was an important part of being a boss, but what the heck do I know. We were a good fit, like oil and water.

I was much more innocent and optimistic then, but my biggest sin was not knowing who was sleeping with who. One of my "mentors" who I had mistakenly viewed as a friend, stopped into my office one night, and I guess I shared a bit too much of my frustrations with her. It was only later that I found out that she was having an affair with my boss. Oops!

I didn't suspect a thing when Jim-Bob ask me to send him a series of files. This was back in the days before e-mail, so we used these "TO:/FROM:" pads and inter-office mail for all our communications. The files in question had notes where he had given me direction to do certain things, all of which ultimately resulted in less than the desired results. Each of these situations were mentioned when he put me on warning, and I didn't have the foresight to have made copies of the files before I sent them. Needless to say after the warning, the files were returned to me MINUS the notes.

Ultimately, they did me a favor, since that wasn't a healthy environment. But I still carry some of the emotional scars, and I still carry a grudge.

CYA disclaimer: topic & links selected for this blog occur in a random stream of consciousness.....having nothing to do with my current employment situation! With that being said, some more bad boss links:

11 Rules of Work Etiquette For My Idiot Boss
I Hate My Boss. (Just Kidding, Sir.)
What Makes a Bad Boss
QUIZ: Can you handle a bad boss?
Beware of Bad Boss
Solving Your Bad-Boss Problems
Bad Bosses
Draw Your Boss