Worst Boss Ever

[Papa Steve 55]

To enhance the 'worst job ever' thread.

While in college I worked maintenance for the school. Most time it was sitting at a desk waiting for somebody to call with an issue like no TP in a bathroom. This day I had a teacher stop by to tell me about a pothole right where her front tire came to rest in her assigned space. I went to look and she was right, a basketball would have easily fit in it. So i called my boss and told him we needed some cold patch to fix it, easy enough. Next day the teacher calls having a fit! Says I have to fix this new issue right now, going on and on. I go look. It seems my boss got a deal on crushed stone. Three yards of it, and had it dumped right on top of the pothole. So now I went from a hole to a hill, blocking two other spaces. I cant just spread the stone, its a paved lot. Right across the street is a small city part with a fountain a few trees and some benches. I call a couple friends and we start moving the stone onto the pathways around the fountain. They looked like hell and a lot of students used the area in the spring. My boss pulls up. Goes off the wall on us. Stealing school assets, stupidest kids he ever saw, we are paying for all the stone etc etc etc. Wants to meet with us in the Deans office in an hour. I tell my buddies not to go, it was my plan, I'll deal with it. I wait a couple hours, he's a no show so I take off. I run into one of my helpers, they tell me a car stopped by the park and somebody got out and started talking to my boss, taking pictures and doing what looked like an interview.

Next day, on the front page of the Providence Journal is a picture of my boss standing in front of the fountain. Gist of the story is he is saying how in these tough economic times business have to do what they can to help out in the community. For the next several weeks the paper ran stories about how other companies stepped up to help in other small ways. My boss told me what i did was wrong, but he was going to let it go this time.

 

[bwdial]

When I dropped out of college, way back in the 1990s, I got a job as a photographer at the Glamour Shots at University Mall in Tuscaloosa.  The manager of the location had been one of their top photographers at their Birmingham location, so he was rewarded with the position of manager.

He was NOT management material.  He was an early 90s mullet-and-goatee, bolo-tie wearing, bad decision making cheese-ball.

First, he came up with the genius plan to go to the West Alabama State Fair and hand out free sittings.  I swear, I think we gave a free sitting to every female resident of Tuscaloosa and the surrounding counties during the fair.  I had suggested that we try and get a meeting with the area realtor's association, and put together some sort of discount packages for them, but that was considered crazy talk.

So, this genius has our front of store staff start calling and setting up free sittings for every single person who had filled out a form at the fair.  Now, this sounds like a great marketing plan to get as many people as possible into the store, but keep in mind, a "sitting" at Glamour Shots means a full makeover by a fully-licensed makeup artist.  Most afternoons, we usually had a single makeup artist, but due to the increased appointments, he had to have two in the store every afternoon, and three on the weekends.  Also, this was pre-digital, so we were burning through, and then processing 70mm medium format color film for every one of these sessions.

Now, these sessions were, of course, supposed to be a way to upsell individuals into expensive photo packages, but the vast majority of the people we were shooting were either broke, or high school students (also broke) who did not have the ability to pay.  Furthermore, many of the women openly admitted to me during their photo shoots - which, of course, came AFTER the makeover - that they were just there for the makeover because they were going out to the club.  Likewise, the high school students were just there for the makeover, and had no intention of buying photos.

Now, the other factor in play was that we were required to take a 20% deposit on any photo packages that were ordered, and it was strongly suggested that we try and get them to buy the 8-unit, $220 package.  That was our starting point, and you could whittle it down to what they could afford, but the manager would definitely be asking what you were thinking during our weekly store meetings.  Now, you'll remember that I mentioned we were required to take a 20% deposit on all photo packages, right?  Well, it came to light that everyone wasn't required to take this deposit.  The manager, and his hand picked photographer that he brought down from the Birmingham store had been ordering 8-unit packages with five or ten dollar - not percent - deposits, if even taking a deposit at all.

Then, when the owner of the franchises came in for a meeting to let us know that the store was closing, he tried to throw all of the staff - except of course his lap-dog - under the bus.  He blamed us for low sales and not being aggressive enough when it came to sales, and since I no longer had a job anyway, I let him have both barrels.  I explained to the owner how we'd given out free sittings to every high school in west Alabama, but that when I suggested targeting realtors, I was shot down.  Then I told the owner to go look in the bins where we kept the orders that were waiting to be picked up and count all of the ones with the manager's name, or his lap dog's name, on them that had been ordered without the proper deposit.  The other two photographers and the makeup artists all backed me up, and it was glorious!

I was friends with the front of the store staff who wound up having to call everyone who had orders sitting in the bins, and they said they wound up giving virtually all of them away just to get rid of them, and that there was nearly $100,000 worth of photos that were not, or only minimally paid for before they shut it down for good.  Needless to say, after all this went down, the manager got fired, because he managed to grind a very lucrative business into dust inside of nine months.

[Buckeyebowman]

Been there! Worked for a division of a wholesale wine and beer distribution business, and our manager was one of the most brilliant individuals I have ever known! Suddenly he calls for a tele-conference, where he announces that he is leaving the company to work for another outfit that we know! Next thing, we buy a smaller competitor, take their name as ours, and hire their sales manager as our Director of Sales! 

After that, one salesperson quit completely, and another moved to another division of the company. Turned out they had both worked under our new director at the company that we had purchased and would not continue to do so! So I suppose the writing was on the wall! The guy was a complete a**hole! I'd been around the block a few times and knew when the guy was just SO wrong! My problem was I couldn't resist saying so. 

So, I got fired! Best thing that ever happened to me! Much less stress!

[Yukari]

I thought this tread was about exes. 🤣

[Big C]

I've been in Corporate America for 17 years now. During that time, I've only worked for two bosses and both have been great - both very supportive of me personally and in my career development. I've heard enough stories about nightmare bosses to know how valuable a great manager is. It's part of the reason I've never seriously considered changing companies, despite the opportunity to make a bit more money elsewhere. The grass is not always greener........ 

[Piz]

I wouldn't say he was a bad person but he had a habit of saying inappropriate things.  We were taking a break, one morning, when he started telling us how amazed he was that we were being paid so little.  The company, I should add, did contract work up and down the eastern seaboard.  The boss regaled us with specific examples of what the company typically had to pay...usually two to three times what we were getting.  

To be fair...he was probably just rattling off something that had been on his mind.  The effect on the crew, however, was decidedly negative.  

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, Big C said:

I've been in Corporate America for 17 years now. During that time, I've only worked for two bosses and both have been great - both very supportive of me personally and in my career development. I've heard enough stories about nightmare bosses to know how valuable a great manager is. It's part of the reason I've never seriously considered changing companies, despite the opportunity to make a bit more money elsewhere. The grass is not always greener........ 

Similar experience here.  My supervisor (boss) is 90 miles away, rarely visits the office.  My revenue production is ahead of the other producers/directors.  More national awards, more happy clients.  That's just how I operate... guess I'm my own boss... the boss of me.  Every once in awhile he'll ask me to produce a video on something I'm particularly good at (like food cinematography, lighting or scripting) and he'll provide it to the entire company... which is national.  He and I email/text and grouse about certain things; we play golf on occasion... otherwise he leaves me alone.  I make him look good... sometimes I make him look like a genius.  And he always throws more money my way, even though I didn't ask for it.  Life is good, go life go. 😊

[Papa Steve 55]

On 5/4/2020 at 4:06 PM, Big C said:

I've been in Corporate America for 17 years now. During that time, I've only worked for two bosses and both have been great - both very supportive of me personally and in my career development. I've heard enough stories about nightmare bosses to know how valuable a great manager is. It's part of the reason I've never seriously considered changing companies, despite the opportunity to make a bit more money elsewhere. The grass is not always greener........ 

Most people quit bosses, not companies.

[dennyjones]

On 5/4/2020 at 6:22 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

I make him look good... sometimes I make him look like a genius.

He will keep you around until he changes companies or dies.   People in position of power (supervisors) grab onto competent employees to boost their own status in a company.     If he changes companies, he probably will come calling.   Personnel that help others look good or like a genius are rare.   

[Double Mocha Man]

20 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

He will keep you around until he changes companies or dies.   People in position of power (supervisors) grab onto competent employees to boost their own status in a company.     If he changes companies, he probably will come calling.   Personnel that help others look good or like a genius are rare.   

Thank you Mr. Jones.  I just realized I patted myself a little too hard on the back.  

[GolfLug]

I have not had to deal with complete incompetence in a boss but certainly had tough bosses who I have had deep differences with.

I have come to learn that bad bosses are like tough courses. Gotta play good target golf. Has forced me to become a good manipulator of my limited talent whether it comes to paying in kind with passive aggressiveness when I can't hide, selective ass kissing to dumb them down or deploying the ever available and easiest but the most effective skill of selective hearing. Wears them down the most. Who hasn't? Ha ha. 

Welp, haven't heard an overly gushing compliment of how good a boss I am  myself and I am sure I have employees who would love to trip me so that I would break my other ankle to match so who am I to complain?..😄

Edited May 28, 2020 by GolfLug

[bwdial]

5 hours ago, GolfLug said:

I have not had to deal with complete incompetence in a boss but certainly had tough bosses who I have had deep differences with.

I have come to learn that bad bosses are like tough courses. Gotta play good target golf. Has forced me to become a good manipulator of my limited talent whether it comes to paying in kind with passive aggressiveness when I can't hide, selective ass kissing to dumb them down or deploying the ever available and easiest but the most effective skill of selective hearing. Wears them down the most. Who hasn't? Ha ha. 

Welp, haven't heard an overly gushing compliment of how good a boss I am  myself and I am sure I have employees who would love to trip me so that I would break my other ankle to match so who am I to complain?..😄

My toughest boss was one of my best.  He was extremely blunt, and when you made a mistake, he certainly let you know what you did wrong, but he also explained how not to make the same mistake again, and then it was over.  He was really great about not holding something over you, and making you feel miserable about going to work.  He also was not shy about taking a customer to task if they felt like they could bully one of us.  There were several instances where he took the phone, or stepped in between me and a hostile customer, and told them that their business was not worth it, and either hung up on them, or escorted them out of the building.

Edited May 28, 2020 by bwdial

[CarlSpackler]

6 or 7 years ago, I had an invite to play Firestone CC. I arranged to take the day off and all was set. Our VP of Engineering wanted to schedule a meeting that day about our change order system, so my boss (a.k.a. - Mr. Cheerful) cancelled my vacation for me to attend this meeting. I didn't really need to be in it anyway, but so much for that invite. The day came and it was a beautiful day, sunny with low humidity. The VP of Engineering cancelled the meeting... <dramatic pause> ... TO GO PLAY GOLF!!! My boss avoided me for weeks. He knew how pissed I was.

[bwdial]

42 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

6 or 7 years ago, I had an invite to play Firestone CC. I arranged to take the day off and all was set. Our VP of Engineering wanted to schedule a meeting that day about our change order system, so my boss (a.k.a. - Mr. Cheerful) cancelled my vacation for me to attend this meeting. I didn't really need to be in it anyway, but so much for that invite. The day came and it was a beautiful day, sunny with low humidity. The VP of Engineering cancelled the meeting... <dramatic pause> ... TO GO PLAY GOLF!!! My boss avoided me for weeks. He knew how pissed I was.

That is so wrong.

[CarlSpackler]

14 minutes ago, bwdial said:

That is so wrong.

Tell me about it. It still makes me want to cry.