Bad Bosses or I Escaped a Reign of Terror

So, I recently escaped from a bad boss.  I don’t know if I’m completely ready to fully explore the depths of her reign of terror yet, but she was most definitely Robespierre.  She might have needed more pharmacological help than she was actually getting.  She made my life hell and it took me many months before I got everything together before I could leave the job. 

I think back on all of the bosses I’ve had, and most of them have been decent.  Even some of the crazier ones seems like saints compared to what I just endured.  However, some of the bad bosses stand out.

Extortionist – There was the crazy real estate lawyer who demanded that we (the word processing staff) work all hours of the night for him. He was a big character and a bully. After a while I suspected something wasn’t right with his operations. Those who have a guilty conscious often have radar for those who suspect them.  He was right and I was right. I was let go, only to find out many months later that he was found guilty of extortion.

Gentle Speaker – It's been my observation that those who speak softly are those hiding the blackest souls.  This boss barely worked.  While I toiled day and night – feeding coal into the engines of the Titanic, he had a dalliance with a much younger staff member.  His family lived 500 miles away.  He tried to fire a colleague who had just been diagnosed with cancer.  After all he said, It’s nothing personal it’s just business.  

Robespierre – She had no sense of humor, least of all about herself.  She had a few sides of her personality and I never knew who would enter the room. All these sides were well in the range of terrifying. She had no idea what I did, and yelled at me for working over 11 hours a day. “What do you do!!!,” she would say. Rather disconcerting. She constantly criticized and yelled at me. At the same time would tell all who would listen that she studies how to communicate with people. I always wondered, from who? Stalin?

She would advise me to do something, and then if it didn’t work out, blame me. One day, we had a big event uptown. She specifically told me to be downtown that day. Then when the day arrived, barraged me with emails asking why I wasn’t uptown. A half hour before the event she called, demanding why wasn’t I uptown, when I reminded her that she told me very specifically to be downtown, she said, why didn’t you tell me? I hung up frustrated.  I ran and made it to the event on time. I decided then and there, that I would no longer be subjected to her harassment and bullying.

And so, I left. One should never be bullied by anyone. Life is too short.