Tales of Bosses With Bad Behaviors

Unlike unicorns or the lost city of Atlantis, good bosses aren't a myth; they actually do exist. But look out for the bad ones because there are some doozies.

We asked Bankrate readers to tell us about their worst bosses, and apparently quite a few maniacs are out there managing people. From office tyrants to undermining micromanagers, bosses can find an infinite number of ways to make life hell for employees. Here are their stories.

Unholy alliances
My immediate boss makes sure that everyone knows that she is the Alpha and the Omega, and if you step out of your limits, you can expect to be demoted, your days off will change and your hours of work will be all over the chart.

Also she has a reputation for building an alliance of unsavory and unprofessional people who try to intimidate you to abide by their rules, or else.

The people in this alliance receive whatever they want and get top pay for being model employees.

I have never met an individual who, for the sake of power, has destroyed so many employees' self-esteem, morale and work ethic at one time.

The damage she has been allowed to do is unbelievable.

Surprisingly rude boss

One day, another secretary and I were setting up the conference room for a surprise party for her immediate supervisor.

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He was the deputy to my supervisor and while she was gone to get the cake, I was handling the front office.

Her supervisor needed two new toner cartridges and I told him, very nicely, that she would get him whatever he needed when she returned because she has the credit card. That's how we order supplies.

Well, I guess he was having a bad day, and he told me that I was sitting there looking dumb! I couldn't believe that a supervisor would say something like this.

I politely told him that I wasn't dumb, as a matter of fact I'm very smart. He didn't care and said, "End of conversation." I was livid!

About a week later, I needed to take two days of sick leave. When I returned to work, I was told to pack my stuff and move by noon!

I went to my immediate supervisor and was told by him that I needed a doctor's certificate. I told him that you need one only if you're out three or more days -- I had one though, just in case. I was transferred to another office.

I am now in an office that I like, and the supervisors are much better. I had too many years of federal service to let a couple of people who need to work on their attitudes blow my career.

The file master
I work for a government agency, and my direct supervisor is an overpaid baby sitter.

The problem is that we all do our work, and pretty darn well. 

Two of us who have been there the longest have been disciplined for not filing appropriately -- as though that were the most important aspect of our jobs. 

She generalizes that you're not doing your job, yet it turns out to be a filing issue.

Plus, she audits our work constantly and has to know where we are at all times.

Her manager is no better and has actually disciplined me a few times for being proactive and taking initiative!

It's draining to work for incompetent management as I feel it's a hostile work environment. 

The dominatrix boss
I recently had a boss for five months who was the worst boss I ever worked for.

In fact, I've been working for 45 years and I have been fortunate to never have had a bad boss or bad work environment until I went to work for this place.

The pay was great and the benefits were great, so this manager just assumed that because the job paid so well that she could treat you like (dirt), and she did -- almost every day.

Going off her meds, and the Ol' Yeller...Read more

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