A reader from North Carolina writes:

My former bosses…worked for a heating and air company…one was a bully to the guys…but not to me…he was very sweet to me. It wasn’t until after I was gone that I learned that he treated the guys much differently than he treated me. Quite the eye opener. His wife was definitely paranoid. We worked extremely hard for them. We did things with the utmost professionalism. We didn’t drink or do drugs. I’d turn in anyone who wasn’t pulling their weight and they were gone, so we were left with a very tight, professional crew. We watched out for THEM and their business… multiplied their customer base… and represented them as top notch… Loved what we were doing… and in return, we got phones monitored and accusations of off duty affairs… accusations of plotting to take their customers…

One minute they’d say, ‘your phone minutes are free…use them as you wish when you’re not at work.’ then the next thing we know, we’re told that we spent more time talking to each other than with our spouses… we were told we could do side jobs, just don’t use any of their equipment to do it, until we did one…and then we were told that we weren’t allowed to do any side work cuz we could make more money on our own than working for them, so if people wanted us to do side work, to tell them no, that they needed to go through the company and we’d be paid our hourly wage…that we were taking away from THEM if we did side work… We would talk to each other about jobs…troubleshooting over the phone if one of us got stuck and we couldn’t make contact with the boss… and really helped each other out… then we were told we weren’t allowed to talk to each other period… and if we got together during non work hours, we weren’t allowed to talk business at all… Then, finally, she told me that we were too valuable to them and that she couldn’t ‘let’ us leave…and that eventually, every employee will try to screw you…that’s what her sister told her…apparently she’s off her rocker, too… so, she said we’d have to sign a non-compete clause, after we’ve already worked for them for 3 years… and the non-compete would not allow us to work together for another company, open our own business or use any ‘marketable skills’ that we used while we worked for them… for THREE years AFTER we quit working for them…and it would encompass every county they have ever done business in…. We were told that we wouldn’t receive evaluations, cuz if they told us we were doing really well, then we’d expect a pay increase… This was all at the same time as we were being told we were sooo valuable to the company and they wanted us to be with them for many years to come… During all this non sense talk, I didn’t respond…just took it all in…thinking it was absolutely nutso… which she then turned against me, saying my non response was a sign of guilt… I look back on this as I write it and wonder how I managed to stay there as long as I did… Sooo…one of their neighbors turned them in for operating their business out of their home without a license… and they ‘terminated’ me cuz they had to get down to one employee… my buddy gave his notice… and we opened our own company a couple weeks later. They’ve since ’stalked’ our website… have refused to pay vacation pay that was earned… submitted my attached unemployment for the last month I worked there as me having refused to do work that was available when there was no work available… and went through my phone log calling every phone number on it, sure that I was making plans to leave them and stealing customers… they accidentally called me… cuz the number on my current phone was the number my child had when I was working for them, so it would have been one of the numbers I had called…they said it was a ‘wrong number’ when I answered it. Too funny… their name showed up in my caller ID. They called a professional associate and told him off…that they knew he knew we were plotting against them… he called me and asked, ‘what in the world is going on with them?!’ They’re still trying to figure out how we screwed them over…they’ll drive themselves crazy looking, cuz we didn’t do anything but represent their company to the best of our ability til the very end… and THEY let ME go… I had no plans until that time! They’re nuts. And I’m sooo glad to be done with them! Whew!

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Idaho writes:

 My boss told my significantly younger co worker that I had a thing for her and then told me she informed her. Much later, she is still trying to motivate me to take on extra projects by giving me opportunities to spend time with my “crush”. Too bad I’m married and can’t take advantage of that nonsense!

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Maryland writes:

I have the paranoid boss with some doses of the bully and the wimp. A very strange, very taxing person to work for, I’ve learned a few things in my time.

She parks on the other side of the building so she can “catch” us doing whatever it is she thinks we’re doing when she’s not there to babysit us. The brown-nosers have the inside track with her, as she will tell them anything and everything, even work related matters that are supposed to be strictly confidential. She works extremely odd hours to prove her dedication to the company (and to suck up the overtime, I’m sure). She goes thru periods where she will not talk to certain employees, even a “hello” because she is upset over what she perceives as some disloyalty. And she would throw any of her employees (except the suck-ups) under the bus in less than a heartbeat.

She will allow suck-ups to sleep on the job, but if you’re on the “list” that particular week, you better not take too many bathroom breaks. She will wait until it’s the end of the week and you are getting ready to leave for the weekend to tell you something needs to be taken care of _this_minute or else the company will go to hell in a hand basket.

There’s no use complaining to her supervisor about her. The long term plan is to eliminate the department completely, so they don’t really care if the workers are happy or not. So the best solution in this case is to find another job and I am looking.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

Hi there. I’m in Vegas again, having flown here next to two lovely women in perfectly pressed pant suits who conversed with each other over the strategic plan of their real estate enterprise for TWO SOLID HOURS. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t read. Couldn’t even say anything to them like, “Please be quiet, I’m begging you,” because, well, they were just so NICE.

This put me in mind of the concept we explored yesterday, the one concerning the establishment of a Rudeness Police, hereinafter referred to, when I wish, as the RP. It seems to have touched a nerve with a lot of you, and although I haven’t really done this yet, I thought I would share the pet peeves of some of you that have been cordially annoyed enough at the behavior of your fellow citizens to commit yourself to writing.

Fern of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, a state far more polite than its reputation, I think, relates hers (warning — some of these are pretty disgusting, although the fact that they even exist makes them worthy of RP note):

1. Broken Snapple and/or bottles all over the street. I always hope the kids (or adults) who threw them will somehow run over them when they drive by.
2. Emptied bottles of water now filled with urine — no joke (and I live in pretty upscale Bergen County).
3. Used condoms tossed on the street. 
4. Holding the door open for someone at a store or at the movie theatre and they walk through and don’t say “thank you.”
5. People talking on the phone while they are sitting with me at lunch. (I don’t think I’m THAT boring.

The tersely named “C” in Montclair, which is also in New Jersey for some reason, writes, “What about including loud eaters? Nothing is more disturbing than listening to the patron seated behind you shovel popcorn into their mouth like they haven’t eaten for days, while I sit there in agony secretly hoping they accidentally bite off their own fingers and choke – could we please add these people to your list? I for one think electronic dog collars are a great solution…perhaps we could up the ante by having repeat offenders sit in buckets of water while they watch the movie.” C adds at the end, “By the way – you rock Stanley!” Thanks, C. Back at ya!

Peter, who could live nowhere but in New York, suggests that “The seats in theaters should be wired to submit shocks to people who start talking and being rude. I say we give them 15 seconds then freakin’ zap’em! Even better (If I were king), I’d issue electric collars like we do for dogs and when people’s bad behavior begins, send a current through them that’ll make’em think twice! Kudos to Regal. They’re on the right track.” Personally, I think that’s a little excessive. As we assemble the RP, we should watch that we don’t simply punish people for every minor infraction. AB in Providence, for instance, relates that “while waiting for the bus, I saw a woman who sat in her car and let it IDLE for over ten minutes while she read the paper. Mind you it was a comfortable, dry 65 this morning so there was no need to leave the car running for heat or air conditioning. What a waste of gas… and oxygen.” I agree, of course, since I spend a lot of time in California and am very green now. But I’m not sure environmental insensitivity should classify somebody as worthy of detainment. “It works both ways,” says Philip of Smithtown, NY. “How about theater chains start having some respect for their paying patrons and eliminate the commercial advertisements before the movie. I think it is rather rude on the part of the theater chains to go in to a movie after having paid $8 or $9/ticket and be subjected to 5 to 10 minutes of advertisements. If I want advertisements, I can watch TV!” Now there’s a solution! Big screen! Your own couch! And TV, too! What a thrill!

A reader from San Diego writes:

2 Bosses- 1. The Indecisive & 2. The Just Get It Done & Don’t interfere with my gold/tennis/vacation plans

The Indecisive cannot make a decision and has some characteristics of the wimp- such as the endless paper trail & work sitting on his desk. Totally frustrating as constantly redoing work as it gets lost.

2. The just get it donwis actually easy to work for as he is never around & when he is, it is merely to socialize and discuss his many adventures. Only problem is when cash flow slows down, then he is pushing for more production ,

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from California writes:

My manager’s boss is between a bully and a paranoid. Let’s call him Jack. I have to interact with Jack too and it’s very frustrating for me. Jack will tell me to do something, so I do it, and then he freaks out and say’s “why did you do that?” I tend to be a very blunt, honest and to the point kind of person and I tell him “Because you told me to and here’s the e-mail to prove it.” My manager ducks! I think it amuses him because everyone else is ducking too. They haven’t fired me yet and I’ve been there 11 years. Jack’s assistant says Jack loves me, but my boss says “Yeah, like a wife beater loves his wife.” My main strategy to survive is to keep as much distance as possible away from Jack (his office is 100 miles away), fly under the radar as much as possible, but continue to stand up for myself if I need to. Bullies are cowards and I figure he needs me more than I need him. I can always find another job.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Portland writes:

I had the sad experience of working for a crazy boss, which ultimately ended my career with a great company.

The CFO that hired me at a midsize manufacturing firm, and for whom I successfully worked for 10 years, was ready to retire. The company does a big search and hires an outside guy who supposedly has scads of experience with finance and global manufacturing. After a giving the new guy a 3-month test drive in a senior VP role, the old CFO retires and the new guy takes his place as CFO.

First thing he does is remodel and enlarge the former CFO’s office. Shoulda been our first clue?

We were willing to give this new guy a chance, but he hit the deck with his mind already made up that he wanted to hand-pick his staff instead of working with the team he inherited. Me and other direct reports of the old CFO started to get treated pretty badly. I understand that in the animal kingdom, when a new lion takes over the pride, the first thing he does is kill all the cubs sired by his predecessor. Some behavior patterns don’t change much in the executive suite.

As he took up the reins, he was given a directive from the board to do a nationwide search and hire couple of world-class VPs. What does he do instead? He promotes a couple of short-term employees (both with less than 1 year of service to the company ) to the VP positions. Neither was qualified for their positions, and knew this in their hearts, so they immediately became intensely loyal to the new CFO and turned into his lapdogs. Meanwhile, the new CFO starts treating all the existing managers badly, telling them that they don’t know how to do their jobs, etc. etc. As the months went on it became apparent that this guy sold the company (and the recruiting firm they used) a bill of goods regarding his talents and experience. Directions he gave the accounting folks left them slack-jawed in amazement that a supposedly-experienced CFO would know so little about proper accounting practices. Whenever questioned, he verbally abused the transgressor, sometimes to the point that people would leave the office in tears. He also made a habit every chance he could get of trash-talking his predecessor, who was really well-liked and respected throughout the company.

Another curious pattern also started to develop. The unqualified people he promoted from within, and also some new (and unqualified hires) were all Mormon, just like the CFO. I’m sorry, but when does a public company become a make-work outreach mission for low-talent church members? I guess he was the most comfortable managing incompetent direct reports that belong to the same religion.

Eventually we figured this guy out. We determined that he knew he wasn’t qualified to be a CFO and having direct reports that actually had some talent was very threatening to him. So there you have it: an incompetent, defensive, sociopath? a triple threat!

As the months went by he and his lackey VPs tried everything they could think of to provoke me. I refused to rise up to the bait. But when I saw he was arranging things to put me into an impossible situation where he could fire me, I left the company.

But occasionally the universe does take action to rectify colossal mistakes. After about a year of this nonsense, the company missed an earnings projection badly? like coming in at about 20% of what was predicted only 2 months before. The new CFO was given his walking papers a few weeks after that. And a couple months later, one of the unqualified VPs who had now lost his protector was unceremoniously canned after spending a year alienating the entire executive team. Cosmic justice is good to see, even from the vantage point of my next job.

It will take a long time for the company to recover from this clown’s treatment of employees and his appalling decisions about who to promote. The damage and loss of talent he caused were significant. It is truly amazing to see how a crazy boss creates this dark cone of dread, despair and lost productivity beneath him in the company org chart.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Spokane writes:

My crazy boss is a classic bully. He’s the Creative Service Director for mid-market TV Station. You’d think that as the Creative Service director he’d be somewhat creative? Not at all. He would have his employees come up with idea after idea only to shoot them all down with no reasonable explanation… though he’d never come up with anything of his own.

On a daily basis you never know what you’re going to get with him. He could go from semi-bearable to raving lunatic at the drop of a hat… and you better watch out, if he was on a rampage he’d take it out on everyone around him. Worse is that he is very abusive and inconsiderate to people’s feelings: From calling our female anchor ‘fat’ (to her face) to threatening to fire ‘his’ employees, he was a loose cannon with a short fuse. Everyone at the station had a horror story to tell about this guy, even department heads were loathed to work with him. Time after time we would catch him lying to us about an idea ‘he came up with’, or lying to get himself out of hot water… you couldn’t believe a single word he said.

All in all he made life at the station unbearable and miserable…but when it comes down it… it’s not his fault but the station’s GM for hiring him.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Kansas writes:

I was controller for a privately held company in Houston. The company had 300 employees and the Owner had all mail routed over his desk which he would distribute. He read it all. We had an office in Nigeria that we got evicted from because the rent was not paid on time because the notice was still on his desk when he left for vacation.

To get around his madness I would give the PO Box of our direct deposit address to certain clients and vendors. The bank would deliver that mail to me the next day by courier with the bank deposits. I would have been fired on the spot if he ever found out I had discovered a work around to his “mail control”.

No one would deliver him bad news. He approved a budget for a building in Louisiana. Unfortunately, when all the money had been spent the concrete driveway was 5 feet shy of the highway. So you have this multimillion dollar building with 5 feet of dirt and mud you had to drive over to get the building. No one would go to him and ask for the money to finish the drive. He used to brag all his projects never went over budget!! Obviously he never visited the building.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Spokane writes:

A reader from San Diego writes:

I recently left a high stress, strict deadline job in television production. Although I loved the job and my coworkers, I could no longer work with the growing incompetence that existed at the upper management levels.

When the highly effective, much beloved boss decided it was time to move on, the general manager decided that the best move would be to replace him with the cheapest, least competent person he could find because he could pay them less and save the company money.

In the span of 6 months, the useless new boss managed to take over 5 weeks of vacation. Her inability to make a decision or give leadership or direction caused us to lose valuable ratings and we slipped from first to last place. She often felt threatened by her assistant, so she openly undermined him and his work while managing to blame him for the fallout of her poor leadership.

It quickly became apparent that this new boss was in way over her head. Her incompetence turned to vindictiveness as she began to hear rumblings that employees were questioning her ability to do the job. She punished loyal employees, which drove them out (or she outright fired them) and she replaced them with friends she owed favors to.

At this point, she’s still with the company……barely. The GM seems to be slowly figuring out what’s going on. Too late for me, but maybe in time to save some of the talent that’s left at that shop.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Massachusetts writes:

my boss is definitely a BULLY, she complains constantly about how much she has to do because ALL of her employees are STUPID,INCOMPETANT,LAZY,ETC. depending on who is on her hit list for the day will effect how she treats the other employees that day. for example today i had to work a 91/2 hr shift with a delivery coming in, this is a conv. store. all coffee and cooler made and stocked with perhaps half of the stock that was delivered put away, also did bank deposit and daily report, ring customers and she had the nerve to start telling customers how she has had to make all coffee and put away stock, mind you it is just me and her in the store at rush which starts around 5:30 am and lasts until about 8am. she came in at 6:30am, i started at 10:00pm the night before. she does this everyday that there is a delivery, and it doesn’t matter who is working, every one gets this same treatment no matter how hard they work or how well they do their job. every day people come to work walking eggshells as they have no idea what sort of tirade she will go on or who is the target for the day.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

I worked for a crazy boss . There was just the two of us, and he hadn’t said a word to me in several days. I made some attempt to find out why he was not speaking to me. There was no response, so I repeated myself. This offended him to the point of frenzy, loudly dissing me by saying that he was the boss and he didn’t have to talk to a worker. I countered by becoming silent and aloof for at least a day, when suddenly he appeared in my office doorway. He exclaimed in a miserable voice, that the good die young, and he had just received a phone call that his best friend was dead. I was mute. The next morning, I put my keys on his desk, and walked out.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Arkansas writes:

My boss is the bully boss. She is always accusing me of insane things, gets a real high out of reprimanding me for things that either haven’t even happened or they are so ridiculously minor that you would think she would have enough sense to not even mention. The first time she publicly yelled at me it felt like someone had just kicked me in the stomach, and like I couldn’t get enough air. While she was yelling at me I suddenly felt week and leaned against a desk…then loud enough for everyone in their cubicles to hear yelled “get off that desk”. Immediately I jumped up…but she just kept yelling the same thing as if she had an audience she was playing to. She can be accusatory one minute, and then tell me everything is just fine the next. It changes all the time. She looks to be about 75 or 80 with a real chip on her shoulder. Everyone else just gives her chocolate and treats her like she’s boss of the year. It’s just not in my personality to be such a fake. Because of her I’m thinking of changing careers because I know when I leave she’ll be all to thrilled trash me to anyone who’ll listen. Any advice on how to leave this job and maintain some type of dignity? I know she’ll want to cause a huge scene.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

Always tries to dominate. It’s her way or no way. Tries to seem like she really cares about what’s going on. She does things only if it makes her look good. She is there but is not there. Bottom line is that she looks good. She never understands the pressure she puts anyone else under. All she really wants is that those of us that are under her make her look good. I always do, but why not get paid accordingly. A 3% increase every 24 months is supposed to be wonderful. Not so. I help carry a department to be what we are. I guess it stinks to be me. Tell me what you think.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Indiana writes:

My boss has to always be right. And she’ll make sure you know it. It doesn’t matter even if she is wrong. She’ll be buddies with you, but turn on you in an instance. She is very demanding and high strung. If you question her about anything, it’s always, “Because I’m the boss.” Or, because I said so. Or it’s my store even though we are corporate run. Then if you do something wrong, she belittles you by making fun and telling other co-workers all about your latest mistake. She has no patience with anything. I’m Assistant Manager to her, but she won’t train me on everything, and then she’ll tell the District Manager that I’m not performing as an Assistant the way that I should. I’ve worked for her for almost 4 years and I’m now looking for a new job. I can’t take anymore of her Dr. Jeckyll, Mr. Hyde crap. What’s good for her isn’t good for anyone else. I’m not the only employee that’s unhappy there. Thanks for listening.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New Jersey writes:

A year ago I made it to the finish line of my working career and retired. Eight years before the finish line I got a new boss and it was a nightmare from that day on. It would take an Orwell or a Kafka to describe it so I won’t even try. I survived this individual and kept my sanity by composing letters of resignation which I never sent. One read as follows:

Frequently, when people in high places resign their positions, we are told, innocuously, they are leaving “to pursue other interests.” But, as people realize, this worn cliché is often nothing more than a thin veil of political correctness draped over irreconcilable differences with a superior. In each case where this is so I’m sure a scathing tell-all could be written, recounting the teeth-gnashing experience and lip-biting toleration of these differences, were it not for a desire to just put it all behind and get on with life. Instead, people in such circumstances will take what solace they can from their faith that the mind’s eye of the public sees through this veil the reality of a superior and subordinate who are not merely poles apart but from different universes. In this spirit, I am writing to advise you of my resignation from the Company, effective two weeks from today, in order to pursue other interests.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Honolulu writes:

My boss is a bully and I’m hanging in there hoping for her early retirement to come soon! She has purchased property thousands of miles away and is having a house built. I am so tempted to call the builders and offer them a bonus to finish ahead of schedule!
 
Some of my boss’s endearing characteristics:

1) She hires a new “pet” and talks in glowing terms about them in meetings for their first few months of employment. “Oh, Joe is just going to do a FAAAA-bulous job cleaning up our Finance Department. He’s so well-qualified and we’re lucky to have him!” After a few months of working with Joe, she doesn’t like him if he doesn’t kiss her feet enough so she disparages him in meetings with others every chance she gets. “Can you believe this?” She plops a file on the desk with a thud. “Joe from Finance turned this in and it’s all disorganized! I tell you, some managers just aren’t going to make it around here.” *Note: If she isn’t talking to you in meetings about somebody else behind their back, odds are very good that you are her current object of back-stabbing conversation in other meetings.

2) She blames everyone else when the company blows a deadline because of decision-making that has been sitting on her desk for months. Her subordinates (and their subordinates) regularly forward items for decisions (because she micromanages everyone) which she allows to pile up and pile up on her desk. Managers create weekly reports they e-mail her and print hard copy and route through her administrative assistant to show her all the items on which they need her to render a decision. They turn in their portions weeks ahead of deadline to give her plenty of time to respond. Sometimes they send daily e-mails. When they leave a voice mail message, she will occasionally call them and hiss, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have that report here on my desk. And why are you asking me about it at the last minute?” She tells her subordinates that if they want something, they need to come right in her office and tell her what needs to be done. When they do that, she looks up and responds, “I don’t have time for you right now,” or extends her hand to receive the latest report which gets thrown surreptitiously into the ever-growing piles.

3) She “works from home” but only maybe half of the time does anyone get an e-mail or feedback from her during those times. She “works from home” through plastic surgeries, divorces, sale of her home, renovations, care for her horse, or whatever else is more pressing than the mounds of work on her desk. She doesn’t even tell HR when she isn’t coming in so no one ever really knows if she is there or not. (She has her mole *cough, cough* administrative assistant open her office door, turn on the lights, and push her chair up by the computer to make it look like she is there.)

4) No one else gets to work from home, even if they’re battling avian flu.

5) She hires new staff to help her “catch up” and get her workload “under control.” She offers them no training and heaps large scale projects on them that are already a year behind. She requires them to report weekly on their status getting the projects caught up, even though the new hires don’t even know enough about the company or project yet to get it moving forward. When they ask her questions, she tells others in meeting, “I might as well be doing it myself. Do I have to do everything for them?” If they spend countless hours researching and getting up to speed so they can move the project forward, she indicates they would be employing better time management skills if they would ask her because “they can benefit from my wealth of knowledge and experience.” If they are exceptionally bright and get the ball rolling better than she expects, she demands they tell her who gave them approval to do anything. When they stammer that they thought she wanted them to handle it independently she glowers over them with, “You have no authority to move forward on that without senior management approval,” and grins like the Grinch. One newbie told me that she asked him how she might help him. He replied that her input would be greatly appreciated since he had never worked on a project like the one at hand before and he knew she took the company through it the first time a few years earlier. Her response? “I did it all by myself the first time with no trouble.” And then silence. No offer to meet to provide guidance or tips or any support at all.

6) She receives e-mails from outside organizations regarding deadlines and doesn’t forward them to the managers who need them in order to create reports and/or formulate a response in a timely fashion. I was once on vacation when such an e-mail arrived. She quietly filed a hard copy away in a binder in her office but never forwarded it to me. Over a month later, we were two weeks away from a major deadline when I found out about it. I begged the organization for an extension of the deadline and spent the next 6 weeks at the office, even on weekends, barely going home to nap, shower, change and start all over. I had the evidence that she had never shared the e-mail with me but sat on it, because I know the CEO and president have taken her side before when evidence of her incompetence has surfaced. I struggled with my sanity, trying to save the company and get done what should have been done long ago. Her report to the CEO and president while I was in the midst of this drama was that my “managerial skills are weak but (I am) showing signs of improvement.”
 
7) She inserts notes into company reports to make it appear that phone calls and meetings happened that never occurred. She altered my notes in a company log to make it look as though I were accusing a colleague of a problem that she had created. She altered the notes of my subordinate to make it look like he was involved in something he had nothing to do with.
She spends her time each day reviewing blueprints for her new house and bidding on jewelry auctions online.

9) She throws documents in the regular trash instead of the shredder in violation of privacy policies and procedures.

10) She demands that everyone in the company review and update P&Ps, job descriptions, documents, etc. on an annual basis but she hasn’t done it in years.

11) She takes low level employees “under her wing” and offers them “training” because she claims the managers aren’t doing it. She lets underlings at the lowest rung of the totem pole walk in her office unannounced (which she never allows managers to do) to ask simple questions. She suggests to them that they are management material and deserving of raises. She talks in negative terms to them about their bosses. She creates disloyalty within departments. Managers are not allowed to take disciplinary action against employees without her approval. She disallows remedial training, instructive, or disciplinary meetings with her “pets” but permits discipline against those who won’t be her moles.
 
12) She limits everyone’s contact with the CEO. She is the only one with the CEO’s fax number and no one else is allowed to e-mail or speak with him without her prior consent and approval. Not even the CFO gets direct contact with the CEO. (The CEO doesn’t even live in the state.)
 
13) She micromanages more and more but does less and less actual work and then complains that other people should be doing the work that is on her desk. She invents new logs and reports that need to be created. She spends countless time in meetings berating managers for what she perceives as inaccurate data or formatting she doesn’t like. When they finally get it the way she wants it, she never pays attention to it again. At the end of the day, piles of these reports are in the trash outside her door. If she was actually reading them, she would know what the needs of the managers are instead of them having to e-mail, call, and vulture outside her door for a moment with her to tell her that she has forced us to blow another deadline.

14) A major accreditation process that occurs every two years had previously been handled by her directly. I was hired last April. She was out for surgery most of April and then took two weeks of vacation in June. In July, another manager and I scheduled to meet with her to begin to prepare for the reports this process would entail. She delayed our meeting twice and eventually cancelled it. I asked her about it weekly in my status report meeting with her. She would respond, “Oh yeah, I guess we should get to that soon, right? I’ll schedule a meeting for us to go over it and get the ball rolling.” By December, she was telling the Board of Directors that we had a game plan in place for the accreditation though she wouldn’t even meet with me. By January, we were in deep doo doo and sorely behind on organizing the accreditation review. She tasked me with rewriting P&Ps instead. In February, I started working on the project myself. In March, she screamed at me for working on the project myself. Later in March, she asked how she could help and I gave her a list of documents I needed from her. In early April, we met again and I gave her my timeline. I still had none of the information I needed from her. In mid-April, she responded by reviewing 10 of the 73 sections and giving me feedback/tweaks she wanted made. By the end of April, I had created an entirely new internal process, started a committee with three of our outside consultants, trained a department on entirely new procedures that I had drafted myself, and created confidentiality statements for consultants/employees to sign. She added to her job description that she was in charge of the committee, even though she had little to know knowledge of what they were required to do.

By early May, she asked me for a new timeline of my work on the project. She had told the accreditation organization that it was their fault that we weren’t able to meet our deadline (she had it extended 4 times) and set the drop dead deadline of May 21. On Tuesday, May 15, she told me that on the 25% of the material that I created from scratch her “back is against the wall.” She wanted me to go ahead and submit it without her review because, “(She) looked at it and it looks great!” She said she had feedback for the remaining 75% of the application but it was all handwritten and she wanted time to e-mail it to me so it was neat and orderly. Realizing there was no time left, I asked her to give me the notes and I could work from those. She refused. Friday, May 18,she “worked from home.” I received no feedback from her until 3:00 in the afternoon (our office closes at 3:30) when she sent 5 e-mails pertaining to different chunks of the application. Each one merely said, “OK.” After her approval, the finalization of the application documents would take, I had estimated, 11 business days. Good thing I started working on it ahead without her go-ahead. The application is due 26 hours from this moment. I am now on the downslope of getting it prepared for submission but will probably be up all night to do it.
 
I realize I just burned 30 minutes typing my frustrations, but it is well worth the Red Bull I will be guzzling at 3:00 a.m. trying to upload all of the data to the accreditation organization. The absolute only reason I’m still working there is because the wench’s retirement mansion should be completed in less than a year and she will hopefully move on soon thereafter. I can’t imagine it is possible they will replace her with someone as horrible and inept as she is, so I’m waiting to see what the new blood looks like. I’ve been around long enough to learn that moving on to another organization doesn’t ever seem to solve anything because there are crazy bosses in other places, too. We have no non-compete agreement that keeps me from going to one of our competitors. There is always the possibility that she’ll fire me before she goes (I know an awful lot of dirt about her in my time working there), but I have begun to feel like my ultimate success or failure in my position is not in my control at all. I have seen people who have kissed her arse go down in flames at her whim. Last week she promoted someone she nearly fired last year. I try to do my very best but I know that how hard I work or how well I do ultimately doesn’t matter to her. She’s bipolar to the Nth degree.

I’m just going to ramble a little further. I’m an attorney. I came on board to do in-house work because I don’t like to wear a suit every day and I like working at companies rather than firms. I have never prior to this worked for anyone who wasn’t thrilled with my work. I’m a perfectionist with reports, I manage my time well, I supervise others well, and I’m very creative and driven. This is the first time I have worked for someone who acts like I’m some kind of problem child who doesn’t take initiative or strive for high quality. I always expected everyone to keep up with their own work and the support staff to help them keep organized so it happens. I have never seen managers who have to regularly beg and prod for someone in senior management to do something. Her office is a black hole where nothing ever returns unless it can be used to get someone in trouble. I’m not after her job but the other managers and I aren’t her damned mommies to push her procrastinating a** to do her job like the rest of us have to wake up and do every day. It’s a shame that an entire company works around one person in order to attempt to be effective. I have no idea how she justifies her $150K+ salary at our tiny organization. It is evidence to me that the CEO and president are complete idiots (oh yeah, we are bleeding $$$). There is mounting evidence that they too might be looking at early retirement and a sale of our company might be imminent. I would count it as a huge blessing for the place to be run by a bigger company that has a better clue what it’s doing.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

My boss has no regards for rules. He reprimands by shouting and raising his voice even in front of other people. He doesn’t care about hurting the feelings of his subordinates. He doesn’t have control over his temper. It won’t be long before he loses his subordinates and do all the work by himself.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Florida writes:

My crazy boss is just that. I think she is bi-polar. She’s a bully and narcissist combined. A little backstory; she is about 50, single, lives with her mother in a small 2 bedroom apartment. She was once close to marriage and she claims her mom blew it for her. I don’t believe that after getting to know her personality.

I started my job about 6 months ago and she seemed normal. She interviewed me and really was great. She chased me down the hall to make sure my second interview went well with the CEO. She called me back twice in between interviews too. I thought she was cool and again, normal.

Then, about 2 months into the job I noticed some irritation and aggravation in her. Then the mood swings. They happen like lightning, you don’t know it’s coming or where it’s going to strike. She seems to be ok or even in a good mood; then all of a sudden the “wrong” question or statement out of my mouth and BAM!! I get hit from behind – sucker punched. I’m learning just not to approach her unless someone else is in the room because then she actually responds to me like a human being. Otherwise, she is extremely condescending and rude.
I don’t know how to handle her personality or lack of one. I tried ignoring her for the first time last week and I was much happier! I actually got a lot of work done without being upset or stressed about her attitude toward me. It seemed to work until the end of the day when I did need to speak to her and she was very cold and very blunt in her response.

I find it difficult to work in this situation for many reasons; one, being I’ve never had this problem before with any co-worker. Two, I get along with everyone else in my office very well. Three, I’m her assistant and that makes it even more difficult as we are supposed to work closely.

New category for your next book: The bitter old hag syndrome

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader in Louisiana writes:

Oh yes, crazy bosses. And I’ve seemingly got one who has evolved in my workplace, where I’ve worked for 30-plus years, but must deal with a “superior” who has been there no more than five years and seemingly takes the liberty sometimes to make me feel as if I’ve just started working at the same place. Okay, maybe I need to work on my own self-pride of feeling that I can do the very job that I’ve done for so long and still try and do with the efficiency and newness of a first-year employee. But the “boss” I’m referring to in this case has some past expertise in my same area and I honestly feel that maybe he would love to be doing the same thing I am. In that way, I honestly feel bad for him. But we’ve had some differences and I’ve noticed since then that he’s taken the opportunity to play major “mind” games with me, saying he’s backing me totally, on my side, etc. When, less than five hours later, he may be raving bad about something. Honestly, I cannot figure this guy out. One day, he’s all lovey-dovey and nice, the next a raging maniac. Other co-workers have said the same thing. Initially, he and I got along, but the relationship has slowly dissipated into a sometimes light version of Holyfield-Tyson. I have to work on my own feelings and emotions because I’ve let a lot of what he’s said and done get to me and have reacted in the wrong way, but I just cannot help it. He’s one of those individuals who can totally sap every ounce of sensibility and reasoning that you have. But again, maybe I’ve let him do that and that’s my own fault. Help me, somebody. Please. I love my job, but I am really getting tired of the things he’s done.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

I worked in the research labs for a company I won’t mention, except that its initials are Eastman Kodak. My boss thought that because it took him 5 minutes to read my monthly report, then it must have taken me 5 minutes to do the work. He would give me jobs that had strict deadlines. After they were done, he ignored the results. He would give me research problems that were impossible to solve, then berate me when I failed. Then he would give me something easy because I “wasn’t capable of handling more complex work” and then berate me when I came up with a good solution because the problem was “trivial”. I finally walked into his office and quit. His response: “You can’t quit, you’re fired”.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Boston writes:

My story is about a research company that hires five IT guys instead of scientist to make products. He also insist on buying used lab equipment and trying to have it fixed and spending all the company profits instead of buying new state of the art equipment and giving his employees better pay and benefits. He also has his girlfriend on the books so the both of them can get the best of health insurance and the rest of the employees have the bottom end of the barrel for health insurance. The funny thing about it is she doesn’t even work at all and she gets a salary and all the best benefits than the full time employees.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from North Carolina writes:

My boss is totally by-the-book when it comes to his job. Thus, he expresses himself ninety eight percent of the time as a total jerk. He will stop at nothing or run over whom is in his way to accomplish his mission(s). When you work with him you can tell he must hate life. I have never encountered such a sour personality. It’s one thing to not like your job but my boss plainly dislikes everything. He hardly smiles unless he is dishing out criticism or punishment. For those in the office whom have dared go against him, they have quickly experienced how cruel he can be. If you are on his bad side you will get a bad schedule and I have even heard him bad mouth that employee to his one close friend. His one and only loyal “sidekick” is a true you know what kisser if I have ever seen one. This girl would walk through fire for him. He took her from just a plain hourly associate and gracefully took her under his wing into management. Everybody at the office thinks it’s sickening to say the least. She’s the only person at work that seems to do no wrong in his eyes. Little that he knows is that the word around the office is his “sidekick” tries to sleep around with others at work a lot. She has even propositioned me and a few of the people I work with for a little “fun.” Hopefully the day will come when they move on to another place.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Michigan writes:

My mother was in hospice dieing and my boss left both phone messages and emails telling me I had to come back to work because there were other people who needed time off. (she knew my mother was gravely ill.)

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from South Carolina writes:

My department head is a drama queen with a capital Q. This guy, yes a GUY, ALWAYS has some personal problem. At least 2 days a week, he calls out. His wife has every disease from epilepsy to cancer, he’s unappreciated at home, his wife’s daughter is actually his and she doesn’t know it, he can’t work 40 hours a week because he can’t afford the child support to his ex-wife, he has to work 2 jobs , he can’t stay all day if he does show up for work, he has to sit in the ER all night many nights because of his wife and her 12 different diseases she has, he can’t keep up with the department because no one tells him what is going on. HELLO!!! I thought the BOSS was supposed to actually be a BOSS. Perhaps the topic of “WHINY PAIN IN THE A**” should be added to this forum. Or “WHINY PAIN IN THE A** WHO HAS TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT HIS PERSONAL LIFE”. And I mean EVERYONE. People who say women are difficult never had to deal with this guy.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

 Example: Opens a 2nd store, a franchise, , advertises for sales/managers, hires new people, telling them all they are the manager. After most quit, I am made ‘’sales manager”, put on a 2% commission, and base salary. Doesn’t tell other part-time college students that I am manager. Doesn’t put title on business cards, tells me not to boss anyone around. Tells me to not tell anyone I am on a commission status, then goes out of his way to drive sales away from me, taking them himself, or gives sale to part-timers, allegedly, not on commission. Denies everything when confronted.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Michigan writes:

I work in a University department that is 95% women (as I am as well). Most of the management are Boomers or slightly older. Many are quite accomplished: Ph.D level etc – but if you get a man in the room, over half of them become simpering idiots.

The male employees, though of similar backgrounds, education, work-load etc – always get praised for the smallest tasks and receive 90% of the promotions/pay raises. They are listened to with greater respect and their ideas are treated more seriously – regardless of if the idea is completely ridiculous. The men, for the most part are good coworkers and nice people – but do not work any harder, or in any way excel beyond what women in the department accomplish.

I can’t understand why the Boomer managers, as women, are so resistant to supporting the younger female staff. They act like doting mothers to the men in the department, but are micro-managing, never-satisfied, demanding, competitive harpies to the younger women. If this was the way they had it early in their careers, you’d think they would be more understanding.

We desperately need more female mentors, but attempting to approach one of these types of women for guidance is like bending your neck to the executioner. I’ve worked at a myriad of places, and most follow this pattern. It will be a happy day when the mass-Boomer retirements happen and hopefully the new brood will be more open-minded: not poisoned by early childhoods immersed in the dregs of the 50s.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Tennessee writes:

My boss came into my department one day and was trying to get us to hurry an order that was to be picked up by the customer. The time frame from when the order was taken and the time they were picking it up was not even realistic. Nevertheless, we were working as fast as we could. But he just lost it and starting jumping up and down, he then laid on the floor on his back and started kicking his feet in the air like a bicycle and yelling, “just go, go, go, go”….. his dad (the owner) was standing next to him and told him to get up off the floor and come outside for some conversation. He was about 34 years old at the time. I am glad there were two other witnesses in the room at the time although I doubt his dad will ever admit it happened to anyone (which is part of the problem). This is one story of many.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Ohio writes:

Sadly, I work for a bully boss. This year, he cut salaries for his most hard-working employees by $8-14,000 a year with 24 hours notice. He refuses to hire more teachers and so we do not service students on IEPs as the law required. He has created a second school to keep students longer than allowed by law, (I work for a charter school), drives a state vehicle, (no superintendent in the state of Ohio does that), hires his relatives, friends of his kids, his kids and a bunch of “yes men” that never stand up to him. For trying to unionize, he shunned us for weeks and followed us around without speaking–and then summarily fired 4 teachers—in an EMAIL!

He’s quite a peach…. The man is sheer evil!

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

My boss doesn’t know how to talk to staff working under him. He likes female over male. He points finger at you all the time. He only sees what is wrong. He never appreciates any thing. He is insecure. He is so afraid of other bosses. He approaches my staff without my knowledge.

I had to put a stop to all his nonsense by going to EEOC for harassment. Now he can only talk to me in presence of his boss who conducts bi-weekly meetings to discuss issues. He wants respect, but he does not give respect. He very seldom laughs. People call him a “Mortician”

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Ohio writes:

Let’s face it… some people are just not cut out to be a boss. My dilemma comes from years of having a hands-off boss and thriving in making my company millions of dollars by being self directed.

After a down-sizing, I now work for a micro-micro manager. I actually think I am now 2″ shorter then when I first started working for him, from being told how to do everything. My job is 10 times harder when installing systems because the installation is also micro managed and I need a list just to remind myself of all the pieces and changes I have to make a system complete.

If that isn’t enough, I work on a team which does not even come close to team work. We work in silos, everyone for themselves. So there is an abundance of tribal knowledge and they are keeping it to themselves.

In the 2.5 years that I have been with this company I have not seen any projects that help the company, it’s customers or their associates.

The weird side is hearing him tell a story about how he was in Boston and saw a running marathon about to start. He hurried back to his hotel and changed into shorts and tennis shoes. Then registered to be in the race. The race begins and he runs about a mile when he noticed all the runners are women. He was running in a woman’s race!!!

I have never seen a manager promote himself as much as mine does. I am now one of the lucky few who has nothing to do while at work other than busy work and look for another opportunity.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Phoenix writes:

My boss is a combination Paranoid and Bully; a 38ish lesbian with a penchant for telling you one thing and changing her mind before she gets to the end of the previous sentence.

She puts the “rash” in “irrational”.

Promises the world, then reneges for the slightest reason.

Incapable of taking criticism, or any idea that wasn’t hers initially.

Favorite pastime: pulling projects from one subordinate to give to others without any notification, knowing that the subordinates will inevitably be talking to each other.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Ohio writes:

My boss is crazy. I asked her what her management philosophy is and she changed the subject to ice cream. In the middle of summer she wore a heavy winter coat and passed around plastic penny rings for each of us to take. I refused. She confronted me because staff bought me a bigger birthday cake than they gave her. One employee gave a suicidal client a cigarette lighter (after she said she intended to light herself on fire.) The woman used the lighter on herself. Our CEO promptly promoted the lighter giver to manager. She let it be known that she wanted to hear no bad news, no information about staff hurting clients, she only wanted ‘happy talk.” Please diagnose this dingy bi**h.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Ontario writes:

My previous boss was a backward-visionary. He had no intelligence to see anything in the future. Was never open to any ideas except his own.
A spineless man who loved the adulation of his female staff.

Worse boss I even ran across in all my years of working.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New York writes:

Many years ago I worked at a non-profit which happened to be going through a re-organization of its senior management. The board happen to hire an interim executive director We did get along well, until my performance appraisal where she began crying because she never had anyone willing to mentor her the way she was willing to mentor me (I never asked her to mentor me by the way!). She proceeds to tell me how her father never listened to her and her therapist insisted she begin to focus more on herself. I managed to interrupt her before she became further unglued. Once I interrupted the crying stopped and apparently according to her I was on average a 1 (highest), but when it came to my business appearance I really was a 3 because I wore a blouse that she felt was too revealing. Needless to say two weeks after my review she was let go because she had an emotional breakdown at a conference. Apparently one of the board members acted too much like her father.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Washington writes:

My boss asks me to order things from the internet during office hours. I have told him no, and he insists that “I’m quicker”. He makes me run personal errands, he also asks advice about his kids, cars, medicines, everything you can think of pretty much on a daily basis. He says it’s because I have kids and have “been there, done that”. He cannot make a decision without my input. I’ve told him no, he just laughs. He makes me buy the secretary’s gift on her day, he makes me buy dinner and deliver dinner and flowers or whatever to employees in the department whenever a need arises and takes credit. He was actually turned into H.R. by a former employee and nothing was done. I can’t stand this guy. I am looking for a different position in a different department, but in the meantime I dread coming to work knowing he’ll for certain bug me about something. The other thing that irks me is that we have strict rules about abusing the internet at work and I’m sure he’ll feed me to the wolves if I’m ever caught ordering whatever the heck he needs next time.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Alabama writes:

I am from England and worked for a Solicitor (Attorney) in a large law firm. I was able to turn out a far amount of work, they had to replace me with two people when I left however I used to work for one of the junior partners.

He was a bit of a nerd who thought I should be tied to my desk and if I wasn’t he would go in search of me even to the point of hanging outside the ladies restroom and knocking on the door calling my name. Of course I didn’t respond to him and all the other woman would tell him I wasn’t in there when I was but this type of behavior was unacceptable in my opinion given my performance.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Michigan writes:

What about the boss who brings his religion to work? I had 3 years of horror working for this guy. Personally, I am the type of employee that thinks and works outside the box–cliché. I am artistic, well read, and try to keep an open mind on all topics from what I read in the paper to how the company was run. This boss felt that the employee handbook was written by god himself and if you strayed from the handbook you would get lectured by a good ol boy Christian who felt he was the moral pulse for everyone. He once told me how homosexuals would lead to pedophilism–I stated “what” and laughed, he didn’t think it was funny and was totally serious.

He felt that drinking was a “godless” action that deserved a trip to hell no less and would smell your breath after lunch. He also stated that if I had one beer at lunch I would be drunk and be sent home without pay. I always had one beer at lunch everyday just to spite him. Every time he would threaten me with time off because he could smell beer on my breath I would say only after he schedules a sobriety test. I always won that battle. His Christian views and methods carried over in his work and I finally could tolerate no more. The last straw was when he sat me down and told me all he wanted was for me to “Come around” to god’s way of thinking. That might have worked but me being an atheist kind of put the staff in the wine so to speak. I don’t care if you’re , Christian, Buddha, Muslim–whatever, just leave it at home because this country is not a Christian country or a Buddhist country, its a country of Americans who live, work, and worship anyway they want and to bring it into the workplace is nothing more than criminal in my opinion. Wait, I think it is criminal but you think anyone does anything about it…no. Being a secular atheist I am almost always the target of people being prejidest against me because I don’t believe in god. It can be worse at work. I often have to hide my views and listen to superstitious people go on at work how their Christian upbringing will save the world and how much love there is when you take god in as your savior–bullshit I say.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader in Ohio writes:

First off, I was up for promotion to be the Executive Admin. Assist. to the VP/GM. That is until they told me I wasn’t assertive enough and I didn’t have enough experience. (8 years isn’t enough?!?) So they hired this broad that was so assertive she was on the line of being a B!$ch. When she asks you a question, you never get to answer. She talks right over you and keeps telling you about how things were at her old job. She is the most scattered brained, nonprofessional person I’ve ever had to work for. She is supposed to have a lot of experience in this role, however, she can’t seem to do anything on her own and after six months she still doesn’t even know the names of the office staff. She dresses like a fool, acts like an even bigger one, and is almost 16 years old than I. She has taught me nothing, except how NOT to act. This morning she licked the whole side of her coffee cup because it was dripping: in the lobby of all places!! Wow! Don’t you want her working for you? It seems that I am venting, however, I enjoyed typing this all too much!

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Colorado writes:

I have a boss who is a liar. She loves to make up lies about my work, saying I have made mistakes when she is the one that has made them. Silent Treatment? Every day! She speaks to me rarely. We communicate through e-mail and she sits about 15 feet from me! She used to slam her office door shut, that has stopped after I complained to her boss about it. She would rather do her community work here at her day job and put off what needs to be done here until she absolutely can no longer put it off. I’ve been here over a year, time to find something else I think!!

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Los Angeles writes:

I work on a team of alphas. Our boss is a classic wimp and his boss is a classic narcissist. One buries us under a sea of meaningless jargon, paper, meetings and inaction and the other spends all of his time trying to think of ways to get us to love him by trying to buy us. It’s like working in an insane asylum. The very last thing anyone actually cares about is getting anything done which of course is the only thing a team of alphas is interested in.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Illinois writes:

Let me see..first off, female,,, loves to be the martyr,,, and is always changing her story. Work for a small business which requires office work completed, grounds keeping, sewer plant operations, water testing, and overall general maintenance. Water and Sewer are covered, but the maintenance is not…. I have begged for a full time maintenance man to be hired via an ad in the paper…. By the way… I am office/slash groundskeeping and have been working for this business for the past 6 years. There is not ever a full time maint man hired so the boss can constantly complain and say over and over….. She is the one holding the business together as she hires out small jobs to be done, and either they are not experienced and do not do the jobs properly,, or they are no shows,,,, Now….. the owner of the business is in Chicago and the only one to have any contact with him is Her,,, and no one else,,,,, She tells him on the phone,,, how stressed she is,,, and how much she needs help,,,, so he sends down help from Chicago,, and when they get down to the business,,,,, there is not ever anything to do,,,,, This goes on like this forever and forever and it never changes,,,,, It is a nightmare…… This woman is 69,,, forgetful,,, and changes her story every other day,, but has a “boss” complex,,,, and the business is going into the sh***er but no one can see it,,,, I am so frustrated, not knowing whether to quit.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader in Maryland writes:

My boss is definitely a bully. He is so controlling and manipulative, I seriously doubted I could work with him. Things began to build up until he pushed me too far, then I stormed in his office, closed the door, and told him off. He was angry, then shocked. He acted like his behavior was the result of my not “working efficiently”. I later found out that a lot of previous employees had left because of him, and he was considered “difficult to work with”. Since he had a well-known reputation as being difficult, he apparently was afraid to have it proven by my leaving 2 months after starting working for him. He backed off and left me alone, but occasionally he raises up like he is going to strike. Either I strike first, or take off for a few days to let him cool off. When I return, he basically avoids me. So now we have a “working” relationship, and I no longer leave work with a headache.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from Texas writes:

My boss didn’t start out crazy, in fact she was very sweet and almost TOO timid to be in her position, however that all changed when she decided to go on a diet! Her Dr. prescribed her diet pills and ever since she started taking them she has had the most random mood swings! If she’s in one of her moods you could sneeze and in that split second she will sneak up on you and say “Taking a break? Looks like you don’t have enough to do!” and then walks out of the room and 1 minute later walks back in to tell you what a great job you’re doing !!!???!!! She has lost her mind. The worst part is that she really hasn’t lost much weight with those pills so… yeah, not worth it.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

A reader from New Jersey writes:

Back in 1996 my former employer went out of business and my wife and I had our first child. I took the first decent Accounting job offered, which was an Asst. Controller’s position with Handler Textile in Moonachie NJ. Thankfully they too are out of business.

I would be lying if I said that I don’t read the obituaries hoping to find my bosses name. She was the essence of pure evil. She was a brilliant tax accountant but a complete horse’s ass as far as dealing with others.

On my very first day working for HTC, she told me, and I quote EXACTLY AS IT HAPPENED, “…I’m an honest person and I feel it’s only right to tell you that you weren’t my first choice for this position….but let’s see if we can work together anyhow.”

Great start. That was the high point.

My office was diagnally across the hall from hers. During lunch I would close my door because I didn’t want the rest of the office to walk by and see me stuffing my face. She would walk over and open it, telling me that “she didn’t want this door closed.” I kept closing it, just to make her mad.

I only worked for her for 3 months until she went back to her old CPA firm in NYC, but it was 3 months of hell. Every day she would crap all over me. I complained to the “head” of personnel, and he told me that “…oh…that’s just Virginia being Virginia…”

I finally had enough of her insults and just lost it one day when she threw a spreadsheet back at me across her desk (yes, threw it) and demanded that I redo it, telling me to “…pretend that I’m stupid.” I replied, “I don’t have to pretend.”

That was it. Sticks were tossed aside and the gloves were dropped. I was at a point where I really didn’t care anymore. The F-bomb was being thrown around like popcorn at the circus, mostly by me. The CFO (another person setting the standard of being clueless with a big salary) had to physically break it up. I have never been so close to taking a swing at a woman in my life.

She finally decided that she had enough and tendered her resignation, but not before deciding on 2 consecutive Fridays that she didn’t want to leave the company in the dark at year-end, and she would stay to do some more fiscal closing work. You can imagine my expression when I heard on those Fridays that she would be back on Monday. Talk about taking the wind out of someone’s sails.

You cannot imagine the joy I felt when I came back on Monday and saw her office empty. I had won the World Series and the Super Bowl all at once. But my joy was to be short-lived because I was about to learn that the stupidity effecting the Controller’s office was magnified by the ineptitude of the CFO. In this case he was the Clueless Financial Officer.

To say that he was a slob was akin to saying that the ocean is salty. I lived in a fraternity house and we would have thrown this guy out for being a pig. Dried coffee dumped all over the desk, cigarettes on the floor, oh I could go on forever. I still have no idea what he did to earn his $120,000 per year and get his company Jaguar. He was the type of person who would take 3 hours to decide if they wanted Fried Rice or White Rice with their Chow Mein.

And that’s the short version of my hitch in hell.

What do you think? Is this boss crazy?

What do you think of Bing’s advice in this week’s column?

USA TODAY reports that, in an effort to stem audience rudeness at its movie theaters, the Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) will be handing out wireless devices to certain patrons whose job it will then be to alert Security about any breaches of etiquette before, during and after the movie is in progress.

One can only wonder what the average security guard in your local movie theater would do with a pack of popcorn-throwing, cursing, muttering, cell-phone wielding rowdies. Or how he or she would deal with a two-year old screaming her head off while mom and dad watch Davy Jones emerging from his locker with tentacles dripping. Presumably, such unarmed, underpaid, and sometimes underweight security detail would be able to brandish empty tubs of popcorn and say, “Hey! Don’t do that!” while the offending parties laugh and offer suggestions about their mothers.

Still, Regal is to be commended for trying to enlist cordial, civilized citizens in the effort to control and contain the growing ranks of drooling, yelling others. I’d like to suggest something even more radical: the issuing of such devices to anybody who wants them. It could be funded by either a Federal Program or by Warren Buffett, who possibly has more money than the United States at this point.

The idea is pretty simple: we each have a device. When we see or hear something rude and disruptive to the rest of us being committed by somebody who doesn’t care about other people one bit, we set off the alarm, the Rudeness Police arrives and detains that person until they issue an apology. As is generally the case in our culture, anybody who apologizes publicly for anything is immediately punished by that public in a manner 100 times worse than if they hadn’t admitted any wrongdoing whatsoever. When the Rudies are sufficiently chastized, they are then free to go.

Certain rules would apply. Anybody who has been cited for Rudeness within the past 12 months may not have a device. Those who are so cited lose their gizmo for the same period of time. Those detained for multiple infractions over time are subject to banishment to someplace where Rudeness does not matter–France, maybe. Potential hardware upgrades are possible for those who attain senior Rudeness Police status, including devices that spray a noxious fluid and those that deliver a 10,000 volt charge, particularly to people who talk on cell phones in restaurants.

Here are some examples of people who would immediately be detained in my book:

• Moguls who yell at people over their Bluetooth connection while walking on the street to and from lunch;
• Anybody who refers to excreta or sex with someone else’s parent while audible to others in a public place;
• Drivers who employ less than two digits to gesture at fellow citizens of the road;
• People who BlackBerry others while speaking to you, even if you are very boring and know it;
• Individuals who refuse to give up one-half of an arm-rest in coach;
• Men with beards who do not inspect them for bacon bits after eating;
• Anyone who, when aggravated at hotel, restaurant or spa, employs the phrase, “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”
• Bill O’Reilly.

This is just my list, of course. You may have your own. You may in fact be one of the people listed above, or sympathize with them in some way. That’s fine. Go about your business.

We’ll be watching.

What do you think of Bing’s advice in this week’s column?

Today, it being a holiday and all, I thought I would take a break from thinking about business… and think about business. Why is it that every thought we have immediately defaults to a business application? We’re obsessed. This weekend, which was supposed to be, in the words of an email I received on Saturday from a senior executive “a nice long break,” there has been a huge chain of correspondence on the positioning of an upcoming deal. I had to finally tell one of my guys, “Hey. Go barbecue something right now.” That was the last I heard from him. But I’m pretty sure there’s activity going on behind my back that I’m just not being copied on because, you know, I’m eccentric.

I need to detach now and then. For this purpose, I often read Scientific American, because it’s hilarious. Every discipline, from physics to math to biology, turns out to be shrouded in the kind of arbitrary nonsense that is completely recognizeable to anybody who has ever been called upon to present a five-year strategic plan.

My favorite article in a long time is in the June issue. I highly recommend it to any person who has secretly held the belief that the best business strategies are non-rational. It’s called The Traveler’s Dilemma, and it’s about game theory. I’m not going to go through it. It’s about two tourists, each of whom comes home from a trip abroad with a damaged souvenir, and how they go about retrieving its value. This happened to me recently after a trip to Mexico, but that’s another story. The point of the exercise is that the player who proceeds logically and rationally will often be the one who loses, that rationality is not, in the end, the best strategy for every game.

“What is interesting,” says the author, “is that this rejection of formal rationality and logic has a kind of meta-rationality attached to it. If both players follow this meta-rational course, both will do well. The idea of behavior generated by rationally rejecting rational behavior is a hard one to formalize.” Sure it is. But sometimes it’s the only way to play a crazy game.