Do your defined work first and let the work she sloughs off on you go to the back burner. When your work is done, make an honest effort to do the extra work she delegates, but not until. If she complains, then ask her to give you written priorities so you can be sure that you understand the re-definition of your job duties. You are government employees after all. Use the bureaucracy to your advantage.

You could also try malicious compliance. If you know she’s gone in January and being replaced with somebody who understands the situation, then what do you have to fear? Life’s too short to let bullies keep your stomach churned up.

All you need is a good reason for a reporter to interview this person. Reporters have a way of making people the story. Here’s an idea: liars such as your boss frequently lie on their resumes. What reporter wouldn’t want to break that story?

Since she likes to take credit for things she didn’t do, come up with a good sounding but career ending idea. Let her in on it. Play it up like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. She’ll take the credit for it. When it blows up in her face, get that reporter Troy T was talking about involved. Reporters love chaos creating stories because they sell papers and TV ads spots for high rating shows.

I agree with Tom below. Be sure to keep your work caught up and request written instructions on other requests. Have documentation (memo, e-mai, etc.) as to your concerns on the work load and priorities. You work for the government and are in at least one protected group (i.e. over age 40 and possibly more if you are a female or minority). It will practically take an Act of Congress to terminate your employment if you have not had previous poor performance reviews or did not receive previous reprimands. If she starts giving you a hard time then call HR and threaten to file a discrimination claim.

The problem is you are all putting your trust man to rescue you, try putting your trust in the Lord and all other things will be added unto you. How many times have you prayed as a group about this? were two or more are gathered in my name, i am present’ Try prayer in agreement and marvel at the out come. remember you have tried everything else and nothing worked, if only all of you can believe. it is not by your power or might but by his spirit all things are possible through GOD pray with faith. You’ve tried everything else, try JESUS. Amen!

These employees are making the assumption that their evil boss will not be re-elected. But there is always the chance that she will be! What then?

As for now, the employees who take anti-depressants can consult psychologists to see if they qualify as being disabled. If so, they would be eligible for Family and Medical Leave and Short-Term Disability. If they do qualify, they can alternate taking the FML (12 weeks) and STD. When one finishes, the other can go out. This could indicate to higher ups that something is rotten in the State of Denmark. Of course, if their job does not offer short-term disability, this would not be an option.

I say off her. I know a guy named Larry who owuld do it for cheap!

When elected As$#$#$#$ like this
continue to harrass honest workers
she has to have something in her
closet worth leaking to the press
something embarassing enough to
make her resign!!!!And I could
never understand how some people
rose to the top its amazing. Sometimes you just have to stoop
to their level!!!

You sane people are all failing to repay the Karma Krank Kershna God for these wonderfully performed gifts , (by NOT contributing in kind with similar, little sketches, of real-life-entertainment.) It would hurt nobody to fill another’s empty day with a like or similar memorys, worthy of this ‘better-than-TV’ gems catagory? Of course! So get yourselves creatively juiced, and start returning a small of fraction of this enrichingly and completely unforgettable, free, entertainment!!!! Please. Don’t make me beg.
Hey, can it be that is what all these are after all?

You sane people are all failing to repay the Karma Krank Kershna God for these wonderfully performed gifts , (by NOT contributing in kind with similar, little sketches, of real-life-entertainment.) It would hurt nobody to fill another’s empty day with a like or similar memory, worthy of this ‘better-than-TV’ gems catagory? Of course! Not! So get yourselves creatively juiced, and start returning a small of fraction of this enrichingly and completely unforgettable, free, entertainment!!!! Please. Don’t make me beg.
Hey, can it be that is what all these are after all?

I learned in working for someone like this to document, document and document. And I used our EAP program and that helped me. If you have one to use, use it. I so understand what you folks are going through as I went through for 18 months. I would as a group go to the HR folks on a neutral location and just let them know the problem. You may even have to find an lawyer who specializes in employment issues to help you out also.

Good luck!

Option 1: Ignore her, she’ll be gone soon!

Option 2: Pray, people like her “self-destruct” – I had a boss like that about 5 years ago. She “self-destructed”- they made her retire! What gose around comes around.

Option 3: Team up and file an Class Action EEO Complaint – they may remove her and place her somewhere else…

i DO feel your pain. As a federal worker myself, i can tell (as done before here) to use the system to your advantage. For intsance, our “bi-polar” boss finally made a mistake by asking us to e-mail her our “employee profile” to get a “better picture” for a year review… well, the “union got a hold of that” and gave her a warning. Her boss was not that nice.
Keep an eye on what see she does (EEO as suggested). Sooner rather than later this a$$ will make mistakes. Wait for it.

Use a soft touch and turn the tables on her. She is in such an emotional state – out of control ethically – that it is best to use simple and brief language with her to help her snap out of it, such as: Could you help me with this? You need to put a stop to the adversarial posture you have taken with this situation. Think of it as a situation not a problem. Asking for her help puts the ball back in her court. Then detach yourself and just watch and listen and document in a job journal or diary. Also on your off time send her love. You will be surprised how this works. You dont have to tell her or anyone else that you are doing this. Let the situation stand on its own so everyone can see clearly who is really responsible; it will expose it and resolve it.

I have 2 ideas:
A) Work to Rule.
or
B) the old “sit in” with a twist for the new Millenium
If you’re numbers are sufficient – you could drive a narcissist running with the right coordinated behaviors. You can have fun with this one, just because you’re old- doesn’t mean you’re incapable. Be creative.

It always surprises me how many incompetent, wacky people manage to get into political office. That being said, I suggest you bide your time and hope that this woman is replaced. Basically, do your work and do it well. Do what she asks (her work assignments) when necessary; just enough to stay off her radar. Do it well; you don’t want any of her errors or problems to be yours.
You say you don’t want to go to the HR department; you assume they are aware of the problem. What if they aren’t? This woman’s title is Finance Director. To me that means she oversees budgets and possibly the distribution of funds. If she is as self centered and as much of a liar as you say, HR just might what to look into how she handles the financial areas that are her responsibility. It wouldn’t be the first time someone took public funds for personal gain.

Meanwhile, don’t take this home and brood over it, you give her more power. Stick together and present a united front. Go out together, laugh and have some fun (hoepfully at her expense).

I had the same problem with a raging narcissist, the whole staff was interviewed by the board because she was so blatant, but the board couldn’t even get rid of her. Her insults were recorded on an MP3 file and loaded onto the internet, then sent to the board. It still didn’t work. So we started gaslighting her, just to keep our sanity. Narcissists need the constant flow of attention. You can 1) either stay completely away from her, under her radar or 2) you can tell her how fabulous she is. As soon as she starts ranting, just tell her how great her shoes look. It’s amazing how fast it works. We also did weird things like change out the pictures on the wall, which would freak her out and send her off on another tangent. The best thing you can do is redirect her attention. And get the heck out. She will destroy your spirit if you stay. My boss was such a raging narcissist that everyone in town was scared of her, and there was no getting rid of her. If she got wind of someone leaving, she would call the future potential other employer and scream threats at them. I had to go to a different industry to get away from this freak. And yes, she was also a pathological liar — she actually stood in front of a room full of people and screamed my name, claiming that I didn’t know one of our donors was dead. The donor wasn’t dead but she would stop railing around in public about how incompetent I was. Eventually she apologized to me, but only because I think she called the donor’s home to apologize for missing the funeral or something, and found out he was still alive. Good luck to you. It was suck out your soul.

Quit your job, moron! It IS an option. 50s is not old. That’s a very lame excuse. I cannot feel sorry for you at all.

I would try to win her over buy extraordinary flattery and gifts. Complement her hair, her shoes, her knack for putting it all together. Then ask her for some advice on something she likes to talk about. Herself perhaps? Ask her how she would handle a particular project?? “Susan, you are so smart at blah blah, could I ask you for some advice?”