• The KillerFrogs

OT-Best Crappy Boss Story

Frog DJ

Active Member
My on-air partner and I were having a very civil discussion with our 6'6' 240-lb. program director, and he suddenly came unhinged for no particular reason. He screamed obscenities and called us words we can't use on kf.c. Then, to make matters worse, he walked out of the sound-proof studio in which we'd been talking, threw the door open to the hallway and repeated his invectives - with the entire office staff within ear shot.

Less than five minutes later he was back in the studio profusely apologizing and trying to make nice. After he left I turned to my radio partner and said, "He knows he created 'a hostile work environment,' and the entire radio station heard him do it, so he's just trying to cover his keister. If we took this to corporate right now, CBS would have him on the first bus to Lufkin." We both agreed to just let it go.

By the way, our 5'6' 150-lb general manager was like a second father to me, so in this case at least - size doesn't matter.

Go Frogs!
 
W

Way of the Frog

Guest
Having worked for and with family owned businesses I know how difficult it can be especially if the person who founded the company is still involved with it. As MNFrog points out, there is a very big difference in being good at business and being a good leader/boss.

Now, for bad boss stories have three that come to mind. First one I was working for a fairly large group insurance company and we got a new sales manager. I had heard about this guy and he did not have a good rep. The only thing he could actually sell was himself (Don't get me started about the hiring decisions some people make in business.). He would start running off his sales people and pick up the business they had in their pipelines. One of his favorite tactics was not to approve your expense report in a timely manner. Our credit cards were issued through the company, but in our name so if the bill didn't get paid we were accountable. Not uncommon for him to take 5-6 weeks to approve expenses. Ultimately his luck run out with our company which was bad for the entire office. Division head found out what was going on and decided to fire everyone and start over with a new sales office.

Agreed to do some contract work for a husband/wife or I should say the wife hired a few of us in the office. Husband wanted people who were either younger or more inexperienced than him so that basically people would fawn over him. Common for him to call from his car while leaving a sales call and he would want the call to be placed on speaker so we could all cheer for him when he told us about the appointment. Wife was an addict, got sent to rehab, he changed the locks on the office, and fired everyone the wife had hired the day after she was shipped to dry out.

Finally, was doing contract work for a go who was okay, but he would not commit to anything beyond a 6 month contract. We talked about it and compensation, but he was set that the only "permanent" employee of the business was him. I get a call from a recruiter one day about an opportunity and agree to meet for coffee one day before work. We meet, talk, I send a resume, etc....two days later I come into the office and I am told he is terminating my 6 month contract for disloyalty. Apparently the owner of the recruiting firm and this guy were friends, recruiter forwarded my resume on to his boss, and that guy tells the guys I was doing the work for that I had met to talk about another job.

Bottom line is work is something you do, it can provide a means to many things, but it can't define who you are because there are far too many variables in it. Sounds like you are doing the best you can, remember that going scorched earth might feel good when you leave a place, but it can follow you. Taking the high road never hurt anyone, keeps you from getting bitter about what might have been, and makes it easier to look forward at your future instead of being upset about the past.
 

MN Frog

Active Member
I cringe reading these stories as I could fill a 10 page thread with stories of my former business partners. I left a very comfortable partnership of four years making well into six figures at an architecture firm because some of my business partners were generators of these types of stories. It eventually was too much and I left to start my own business 9 months ago. While I miss the paycheck, I lay my head on the pillow at night knowing the money will come and I can foster a culture much different than the one I left. Seriously frustrating stuff.
 
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Armadillo

Full Member
Bad boss story?

Long story short.....

Had been working my tail off for a consulting firm in Dallas for about 5 years. Then I got diagnosed with cancer (age 29). Going thru weekly chemo treatments and my direct supervisor calls me into her office to literally scream at me for not working enough. And I mean screaming....eyes bulging, veins popping, face turning red in rage.
 

Hoosierfrog

Tier 1
No small man syndrome, but plenty of big tall guy intimidation types. The hover over you and stare and glare types.

And one boss would lie on emails to me and embarrass me in meetings to get me gone so that his girlfriend in another department (he was married) could take my job. Luckily they tried crap with others higher up and were both forced out.

And a female co-worker (I am male) who was buddy-buddy with the female head of the research center, all giggly around her, but was horrible to everyone else at work. I saw her abusing her reports daily and felt fortunate that I did not work for her. She had already gotten our boss demoted by getting the head's ear, then one day there was a reorganization where I reported to her. I was able to find work elsewhere fortunately.

Had one of those too. Would always commit the most basic of personal fouls in the head by peering over the partition. I always wanted to ask why someone 6'6" was worried about someone 5 inches shorter (in height, I hope). Got back at him though, got promoted over him, but he still tried to act like he had some kind of control until I finally told him, "you do realize I don't work for you right." Never said another word to me, but always gave the stink eye to me. Egos at work were the worst.
 

Hoosierfrog

Tier 1
Then there was the president of a company I worked for who cut 4 or 5 inches off his office chairs so he towered over you when you sat in front of me. The general Counsel of our company warned me about it after a promotion when I was summoned to the palace for an intro. I thought it was BS until I almost flipped over backwards when I plopped farther down farther than expected. Apparently arrogance passed through to his wife who would drop by the office and ignore the peons. But once anointed an officer of the company she all the sudden greeted me by my first name like we were long lost friends. Such bogus office BS sure makes retirement that much sweeter. Now I only have one wifely boss...
 

frogs9497

Full Member
It's a balancing act without question. You've sometimes got to accept the bad with the good. I work for a company with about 70 employees and that generates $200m in annual revenues. Top leadership is mainly comprised of alpha males, but they've been very successful. So I've accepted working with these [ Arschloch]s for several years in the interest of my own financial benefit. I've leaned how to deal with them for the most part, but they're never completely predictable.

The corporate world will break your spirit if you let it.
 

Lone Frog

Active Member
Most of my bosses have been good (or at least tolerable) people, but I've got a couple of bad boss tales nonetheless.

I got laid off in the post-9/11 economic downturn, and it took six months to find another job. This was at a small PR firm here in Dallas. The owner was the cheapest jackass I've ever met. My first day, I sit down at my desk and power on my computer. The monitor's picture shook and quivered, to the point I had a searing headache after five minutes. I asked for a new one, which he didn't like hearing, and as there were no extra monitors around, we'd have to buy one. Couldn't just go to the store and get it, though. It had to be bought on ebay. To save money. And I'd have to buy it myself, because he wouldn't give PayPal his credit card info. I should have known at the time, but after six months, was just glad to have a job. When my keyboard went bad (several keys quit working and couldn't be fixed), same story. Couldn't buy a $25 keyboard at the Office Depot 200 yards away. Had to buy one on ebay for $10 and wait for it to arrive. This is in a job which required a very large amount of writing. This boss prided himself on never paying unemployment for anyone he fired, and when he let me go after a year and change (he'd lost some accounts and decided to fire two people for it, including me, who had nothing to do with those accounts), I found out why. He told the TWC I was a thief, that I went to client meetings and either fell asleep or insulted the clients, that I never did my work, so forth and so on. Even went so far as to retain a lawyer for the eventual hearing. Useless cheapskate jackass.

My other bad boss actually was a thief. During college, I spent two summers working as a guide at a hunting camp in Mexico. A lot of our income as guides came from tips, and the camp director instituted a policy of pooling tips to share out equally. Abruptly, we were all getting less money, and it didn't take long to realize he was skimming a big chunk of it off the top. We weren't sure how to handle it, but it quit being a problem before long. Rumor is he was also embezzling from the camp itself. One of the primary owners of the camp was friends with the commander of the state police. One morning, I woke up about 3:30 and saw the director being marched out of his quarters and into a police car. Don't know for sure what happened to him (it was August and I left to come back to school a couple weeks later). I just know he wasn't there the next summer and I got to keep all my tips.
 

MN Frog

Active Member
Ok, I'll go...as partner of this architecture firm, my role was the Visionary of the firm (big relationships, BD, culture, big picture ideas, etc.). Part of this role was challenging for older partners to accept. How can a 35 year old be our Visionary? It wasn't very often I would spend an 8 hour day in the office at my desk. However I had a team of 6 people that worked like a well oiled machine without me micro-managing them. We would meet bi-weekly and they would update me on project status, needs, workload, projected hours worked, etc. It was quite seamless.

I spent many of my days out networking with vendors, clients, prospective clients, etc. One day I finally felt enough friction from one of my managing partners that I sat her down with the other managing partner and laid it on the table. I asked her what her challenges were with me. She replied "Well, to be honest, I really don't know what you do here. I see your team working, but you're never at your desk (keep in mind this is after 12 years at the firm). Your team always leaves at 5pm and doesn't seem to put in extra hours". It was at that point I realized I needed to dissolve my partnership and get out. God forbid I run a team that is based on production but balances work/life activities. The firm has a reputation of a work house.

Thankfully the other managing partner realized my value add and pushed back on her. The challenging partner had conveniently forgotten that I had won three of the largest accounts for our firms next 5 years of business though my relationships and "out of office" work. My teams profitability was 2nd only to a large medical team in the office, etc.

Pretty amazing stuff. This partner had her head so far stuck in the day to day projects that she couldn't pull back far enough to see my contributions holistically to the firm. Really frustrating!

If any of you are ever in a position of leadership, I would strongly recommend reading the books 'Traction' and 'Get a Grip" by Gino Wickman. They area incredible business strategy books that creates accountability throughout the organization. I implemented it at my firm and within two years we increased our bottom line by 35%. You can hire an implementer to work with your team to implement the books suggestions. Highly recommended.
 

tcufrogprince1

Active Member
i worked for a guy where my only job was to carry his sweaty personalized towel while he paced around in a field constantantly hitching his pants and tying his shoes. mad man. awful.

This was by far the best boss story. I wish I had a prize. All the other ones make me feel that much better. Im literally sitting at my desk not able to do anything. He wont talk to me, wont fire me and he locked my email and my phone out. I dont have a no compete clause so I am just itching for my interviews with the local competition and the nice client list I can transfer over or he can pay me a fat severance package. How do children like this get to the head of a company when they have never managed anything? Im trying to avoid his son and one of my best friends so that I dont have to bring him in on it, but I know he knows something. I never had so much personal time, so that is a plus. Im even tempted to use the computer to look for other jobs and post resumes.
 

geezer

Colonel, USAF (Retired)
This was by far the best boss story. I wish I had a prize. All the other ones make me feel that much better. Im literally sitting at my desk not able to do anything. He wont talk to me, wont fire me and he locked my email and my phone out. I dont have a no compete clause so I am just itching for my interviews with the local competition and the nice client list I can transfer over or he can pay me a fat severance package. How do children like this get to the head of a company when they have never managed anything? Im trying to avoid his son and one of my best friends so that I dont have to bring him in on it, but I know he knows something. I never had so much personal time, so that is a plus. Im even tempted to use the computer to look for other jobs and post resumes.

You haven't heard from your owner/boss because he's been busy reading the replies to his thread on another website asking people to share their "OT-Best Crappy Employee Story."
 

Bob

Active Member
Back in an anonymous telephone company's affirmative action days, I had a black male for a boss who hated white men, and he had a lesbian boss who hated all men. Darneth me.
 

The Degenerate Frog

Active Member
I'm in the military and on my previous deployment to Afghanistan, my boss would not let us fire weapons at bad dudes unless we could visibly see them firing at us. No ambushes, no mortars, no TOW missiles into the homes they run into and hide in, etc. This boss determined that in the big scheme of things, we are expendable in order to keep the media happy. My boss became unemployed on Jan 20th, and whether you are lefty, righty, or center... I can tell you that the US military appreciates the recent changes to our Rules of Engagement.
 
I realize this could go in general, but I need to vent. I'm a Business Development Manager for a custom injection molding manufacturer. I've been there 2 + and worked very hard and done very well. It's a family run company and my buddy from TCU actually brought me in to work for his dad. After having a previous discussion about buying the 40+ shop employees food out of my own pocket, I was told by the president (my boss and the owner) every once in a while I could expense it on the company card. He said they used to do it before and he would buy pizza. This was two/three weeks ago. Fast forward to today. I buy pizza for the employees and so they don't thank me, as it's with company money, I write a note from our president. Roughly, it says, "Thank you for all your hard work. We appreciate all that you do and lunch is on me. Keep it up!" Pizza came. All the employees were so happy and made sure to say thanks! Well....I get called into his office and he asks me to shut the door. I proceed to get my ass chewed for buying pizza and putting his name on the Thank You note and not telling him that I was getting pizza today. I'm talking fists on the desk, teeth grinding mad. I've never lost my temper on a boss, but I've also never been so disrespected by anyone for doing something I was told I could do. I proceeded to tell him how I felt and as I got to the juicy/messy part I asked to excuse myself before I said anything too damaging. I'm not fired...Wish he would...And I can't quit yet...I'm going through a Wedding. He shut my phone and email accounts off, but yet he wants me to come to work on probation. I'm in a [ crappy ] situation and I thought I would vent. Needless to say, I am sending out resumes. The funny part is all his family came to me and apologized. They don't even like him. Anyone had a boss that had small man syndrome and likes to micromanage the crap out of you?

At least you didn't get Weinsteined!!!! Look at the bright side.
 

HToady

Full Member
Working for a large Corporation, when I was young I really loved and admired my leaders. Maybe I was young and didn't know any better. As I got older, the Yeahoos stared coming out of the woodwork. So much so, that I started naming their management styles:

1. "The Floorwalker". Work was about punctuality. Showing up on time and leaving on time. Didn't matter whether you did anything while you were there. I used to antagonize him by continuously asking to telecommute!

2. "Kiss up Kill down" Was a retired Rear Admiral, all of his superiors loved him. All of his subordinates hated him. Called us all "cockroaches" and our work was "cockroachery"

3."Let Em Eat Cake" The first and last time we saw this woman in our office, was her first day on the job. She came and greeted everyone, and we never saw her again. In a peer review she got downgraded for being unapproachable, so she called in all of the Directors and blamed them for not covering for her.

I used these management style descriptions on a case I presented at the Neely School....
 

frognutz

Active Member
Had a 300 lb boss named Shaquana who told me she was having to take time off because he cousin was in an auto-accident and she had to be at the hospital in case she needed to donate one of her livers.
 
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