What is the worst boss that you've had?
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I come from a industry of really bad bosses. After school I worked in the restaurant industry for a whole 6 years. Partime studying inbetween. The bosses I've had ever since becoming a programmer is a breeze in the park comparing. I've always done my job and in the 4 years of working havn't had even a small resentment towards one. Its been smooth sailing all the way. Then again, my job is really a breeze. I can work on a single project in my company for up to 2-3 years. Maybe I'm just blessed in that way.
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Restaurant bosses are pretty bad. Usually a combo of incompetence, severe alcoholism and barely restrained violence. Most of the ones I knew were probably on their way to jail.
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
Worst is to pick from a long line of bad ones. Some who didn't know how to manage, some who I was physically afraid of. Some who couldn't figure out a goal. BUT... My worst, I think, was a guy named 'J.R.'. I was working for him buying and selling gold, jewelry, and coins. He went through secretaries at about one a day. I came back from lunch once to be told a story of how he had thrown his latest one out physically. She had sent a package via Insured mail instead of Express. Most of the time secretaries would work up to lunch and then not come back. He was stealing from the government (I was pretty sure), from his former partners (who were willing to sign a quit-claim to get out), customers, and eventually he decided to steal from me (pulling amounts out of my paycheck when he thought I'd made some error). I think I haven't had worse. I worked for him for one month and once we got to the stage where he was taking something out of my paycheck I quit. I watched him start an argument with a customer over some little thing that shouldn't have even generated an argument. When the guy stormed out, and my boss stormed to his office, one of my co-workers turned to me and said "there goes a guy worth 13 million bucks, I think we could have sold him a lot of stuff based on what I know his interests to be". He also had an issue with turning in accurate reports to the police when we'd buy stuff over the counter from people. I would put down an accurate description of a ring, and he'd tear it up and make me write "gold ring" or something like that. He didn't want the cops coming around and looking it over to see if it was stolen. I compare every boss I have against him; and although some have really tried to take the place of "worst" I'm still convinced he was the worst. He went out of business about a month after I left. :jig:
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
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Restaurant bosses are pretty bad. Usually a combo of incompetence, severe alcoholism and barely restrained violence. Most of the ones I knew were probably on their way to jail.
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
My worst, and only, boss has been me.
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
Almost all my 100 or so bosses were duds. They were all about getting projects out on time, productivity gains, testing and budgets. Boring! None of them were in it for the fun. None could write decent software even if it was to save their souls. Or maybe they had already sold their souls to the god of corporate conformity. The ones I liked were inevitably fired. The best software that I constructed was done when I was my own boss.
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
My present one. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice bloke. But when your boss thinks you come to work because "you like it" and not because it pays the bills then I think he's not from this planet. Create a sentence that includes the words "piss up" and "brewery" and that the sort of boss I have. I've even told him I'd be happier stacking shelves in a supermarket than working for him and he still doesn't get it that I hate the f***ing job! :doh:
You do trust me, don't you? IF EVERY nation gets the leaders it deserves, what in God's name have we done to deserve Francis Urquhart?
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
I've had some losers, but, for the most part, no one picks on me. This might be part of bringing up, casually in conversation, that "I've Found A Hit Man To Be Cheaper Than A Lawyer, and More Reliable, Too."
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
my worst boss was shafeeque, who worked in anti-virus company. he was such a pain that entire team was fed up of him. he caused several team members to leave because of his ego, his deep rooted frustration, his inferiority complex, and what not. Pity was that, company never paid attention to increasing complaints, saying that he deliveres the project, which is all that matters for them. deepak
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
His name is J. Roloff. He now works as a programmer somewhere in San Francisco. Printing coupons or something. The guy was such a poor developer/manager. He ended up firing me within his first year and after I had been successful at the company for 7 1/2 years. His reason: I did not follow his wrong advice on writing a specific MS SQL Server stored procedure. Such as loser. However, I did end up as an executive in another company.
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"You can't hire 9 pregnant women to have a baby in 1 month". That's what I always say when a boss realizes that the deadline is impossible and they just add new resources. It just doesn't work that way.
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
I've had quite a few, but none compare to my former Bitch Supervisor from HellTM. I and my coworkers have hours of stories to tell about her. She was perfectly suited for the company we work for. The company sacrificed a goat on the alter of schedules every morning. She was called a supervisor instead of a manager because her manager realized she wasn't a good programmer, but know how to crack the whip and promoted her above us. She had the perverse idea that being higher in management meant you were a superior being. She would have been excellent Secret Service material, she would definitely take a bullet for her superior. When I was interviewed for the job, she was polite and attentive, wanting to know what knowledge and experience I was capable of bringing to the company. It didn't hurt that two others on her team had recommended me highly. The position was called "Project Leader", at my previous place of employment, that title was for a person in charge of multi-million dollar projects. This was something I was prepared to step into. After I was hired (at a significant raise, further deluding me into thinking the position was what I had expected), I learned that my position was to be "scapegoat in waiting." The politeness and attentiveness disappeared, now that she was my boss. I was to direct the programmers in her team and guide them in the software development and then take the blame for all her micro-managing mistakes. I would be allowed to blow my nose with written request three weeks prior to the event. The company policy was two weeks vacation and two weeks of sick time and two personal days. You could take seven days of sick time, but after that you had to have consoling. Later the company went to the sensible policy of four weeks of PTO, but at the time, she would insist I tell her what I was going to be doing on my personal day so she could make the judgement call on whether my needs were greater than the company's for that day. I would infuriate her by saying, "It's personal." But I wasn't always the scapegoat, she had two others on the team she had always derided their work. One in particular, nothing he ever did was acceptable. Whereas when I was accidentally left in charge of the department for two and half months while she got her mail-order baby from Brazil, I found him to be an excellent worker. My only complaint about him was that he would sign up for too much and I'd have to take work away from him. His code was very solid. She once made him change t
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I've had quite a few, but none compare to my former Bitch Supervisor from HellTM. I and my coworkers have hours of stories to tell about her. She was perfectly suited for the company we work for. The company sacrificed a goat on the alter of schedules every morning. She was called a supervisor instead of a manager because her manager realized she wasn't a good programmer, but know how to crack the whip and promoted her above us. She had the perverse idea that being higher in management meant you were a superior being. She would have been excellent Secret Service material, she would definitely take a bullet for her superior. When I was interviewed for the job, she was polite and attentive, wanting to know what knowledge and experience I was capable of bringing to the company. It didn't hurt that two others on her team had recommended me highly. The position was called "Project Leader", at my previous place of employment, that title was for a person in charge of multi-million dollar projects. This was something I was prepared to step into. After I was hired (at a significant raise, further deluding me into thinking the position was what I had expected), I learned that my position was to be "scapegoat in waiting." The politeness and attentiveness disappeared, now that she was my boss. I was to direct the programmers in her team and guide them in the software development and then take the blame for all her micro-managing mistakes. I would be allowed to blow my nose with written request three weeks prior to the event. The company policy was two weeks vacation and two weeks of sick time and two personal days. You could take seven days of sick time, but after that you had to have consoling. Later the company went to the sensible policy of four weeks of PTO, but at the time, she would insist I tell her what I was going to be doing on my personal day so she could make the judgement call on whether my needs were greater than the company's for that day. I would infuriate her by saying, "It's personal." But I wasn't always the scapegoat, she had two others on the team she had always derided their work. One in particular, nothing he ever did was acceptable. Whereas when I was accidentally left in charge of the department for two and half months while she got her mail-order baby from Brazil, I found him to be an excellent worker. My only complaint about him was that he would sign up for too much and I'd have to take work away from him. His code was very solid. She once made him change t
"It's personal" hahahahaha This guy I mentioned was worse. He got upset because I purchased a personal computer, with my own money because "the company already provided you a laptop, why do you want another computer?" Also the guy was nitpicky in the details without really knowing what he did, but even worse he *thought* he had vision, but he didn't. We once landed a partnership with a company that had sold several million euro with their product, and this guy landed the deal to distribute in the US. He was supposed to be an expert distributing products, but he isn't. He just made my life miserable by making me do all the work. At the end it didn't work because the European CEO got tired of my bad boss just telling him his product is crap. How can a already-sold-many-million-euro product be crap, told by the guy hasn't sold anything?
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
I'm self employed and can say it can be pretty hard working for my boss. He has unreasonable expectations and sets incredibly optimistic delivery schedules. He has an uncanny ability of knowing when I'm bludging off or having a long boozy lunch. Then again ...
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xavier morera wrote:
(he is french
That's all you had to say.
"I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. " — Hunter S. Thompson
hahaha Not quite accurate. I did some biz with some guys from a company called NetReport. French and the bosses were great!
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Wow, that sounds familiar. I had a similar boss. When I ditched that company and moved to my next gig it was the best feeling ever.
Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it.
Same thing happened to me. I don't know why us human beings are so afraid of the new. We may be stuck in an extremely crappy situation but we don't move. I moved and now I am in this wonderful company, no really, it is great.
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A far better question would be: who is the best boss that you've had and why? I bet almost no answers to that one since they're all pretty bad: most people become managers for the wrong reasons and then fail becuase they receive either the wrong training or none at all and are socially incapabale of managing other people. Just becuae, for instance, someone is a great developer does not mean that they will be a great manager.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
I've had some great bosses [been working in IT for 25 years, though]. My first boss[es] were the best - had I had a crystal ball, I would have stayed with that outfit for all these years. Most of my bosses were just fine; the worst was an x-marine [duh], ass-kisser [duh]. His motis operandi was to trounce on anyone and everyone to get to his objective.
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I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
My first boss out of college use to tell me to use pirated software, place all my SQL code in C# instead of creating store procedures(Some cases the queries were like 6 printed pages long and would not let me use a string builder atleast), micro managed my code down to if I could use a while loop over a for loop and last but not least lied to people about his application failing always blaming IT because we were in a separate Web Development department. -- Modified Monday, July 18, 2011 3:16 PM
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My first boss out of college use to tell me to use pirated software, place all my SQL code in C# instead of creating store procedures(Some cases the queries were like 6 printed pages long and would not let me use a string builder atleast), micro managed my code down to if I could use a while loop over a for loop and last but not least lied to people about his application failing always blaming IT because we were in a separate Web Development department. -- Modified Monday, July 18, 2011 3:16 PM
Ohhhhh... the blaming game... I hate the blaming game...