My Bad Boss Contest 'Honorable Mentions'

The 'You've Been Scrooged' Awards...

Toilet Paper Tightwad

By Anonymous, Virginia

The owner of our store required us to build a parade float to enter in a community contest.  Our manager opted for the standard construction stuffed with multicolored facial tissues to resemble flowers.  The day of the parade was rainy and the tissues soon became soggy and quite unattractive.  After the contest was over (we didn't win, obviously) she instructed us to pluck the tissues from the float and deposit them in garbage bags.  For the rest of my tenure with this company, these bedraggled, somewhat moldy tissues were the only toilet paper available in the restroom!

Being Paid Over Daylight Savings

By Duke, California

I was working the graveyard shift for an airline in Los Angeles.  On this particular night, the clocks were due to be turned back due to daylight savings time.  I clocked in on time at 10:00 in the evening, and clocked out at 6:00 the following morning.

When the boss came in that morning, after I had clocked out, he moved the clocks back one hour to reflect the change in daylight savings time.

I was surprised later to find out he had changed my timecard to reflect me clocking out at 5:00 instead of 6:00, and was even more surprised to find out he had docked me the hour of pay for the hour between 1:00 and 2:00.  In discussing this with him, he explained to me that I was scheduled to work that hour twice, but could only be paid for it once, thereby resulting in only 7 hours of pay.

In spite of the fact that I had clocked in for 8 consecutive hours, and worked 8 consecutive hours, he believed I was only entitled to 7 hours pay due to the change in daylight savings.

Dinner's Served

By Survivor, South Carolina

We were having a goodbye lunch for a co-worker and the boss actually wanted to participate.  It was highly unusual because he seemed to really get involved.  He suggested a buffet-type BBQ dinner with all the trimmings.  Several employees volunteered to bring homemade desserts.  The boss also suggested we split the cost between us (the employees) and he would allow us use of the company building.  Everyone chipped in a fair amount of money.  Lunch was really good and much more than we could eat, so there were plenty of leftovers.  Some of the desserts hadn't even been touched.  After lunch, that was closely monitored to an hour, we all went back to work.  We thought it was kind of peculiar when we saw the boss's wife walking through the halls, but soon understood exactly what was going on when we went to the kitchen after work to get our dishes.  She had driven up to the back door and loaded ALL of the leftovers the employees paid for into her truck!  Even the homemade desserts and our dishes!  Later we learned they had frozen the leftovers and served them for her family reunion!

The Awards for 'Attila the Manager'...

Heart of Stone

By Steve

I had been working in a grease factory.  The bosses were heartless and treated the workers like scum.  My job was evolving into a supervisory position, and one of the bosses was giving me special training one day when we got word that there had been an explosion in the factory.  It was frightening news that an employee had just been badly injured and might lose an eye.  We were hurrying down the corridor on our way to the accident site when my boss stopped suddenly for a moment and carefully instructed me:  "Remember when we get there, you've got to act like you care."

Stun Gun

By Susan, Ohio

My former boss had a strange idea of what constituted incentive for our sales team.  If you wrote her an email to let her know you had sold a very important account you could expect a response like I got...a one word reply: "and?"  No praise, no encouragement, no acknowledgment.

Worst of all was the day she called us all to a weekly staff meeting and thought that the way to encourage us to make more sales calls was to fire a STUN GUN she had borrowed from a co-worker behind our heads as we entered the meeting room!  Including behind the head of a fellow employee who suffered from congestive heart failure and was waiting to have a pace-maker put in.  The crackle of a stun gun firing still crackling in our minds as we sat there at the meeting mutely staring at our boss as she launched happily into her meeting.  Despite a rule against bringing weapons into the work place, when a couple of folks at the meeting reported her to corporate, was she fired?  Nope.  The next meeting she tossed candy at us...literally, and told us she was trying a different way to help us make sales.

Bad Temper Dispatches Fire Department

By Glad to Be Out, California

My boss was so angry because an employee resigned her position that he pulled the fire alarm to force all the employees into the parking lot so he could scream at everyone.  While he screamed red-faced at the employees about his anger over the resignation we started to hear sirens from fire engines in the distance.  My boss screamed at the top of his lungs "that better not be for here."  Well of course it was because he neglected to put the fire alarm system on test.  When the fire department arrived he forced one of the employees to try to get the fire department not to fine the company for the error of the alarm.  This was just one of his many temper tantrums over my 15 years with the company.

The Strange But True Awards...

The Safety Chicken

By Hannah

My store manager implemented an embarrassing (and happily short-lived) safety incentive: Employees caught violating safety procedure were immediately given a two-foot rubber chicken on a string to wear around their necks--in front of customers.  To get rid of the chicken, an employee needed to catch another employee behaving "unsafely."  The practice quickly descended into a game of hot potato, with employees chasing one another around the store in search of the slightest violation to rid themselves of the safety chicken.

Egos & Buttons

By John Boy, Minnesota

I worked as a leasing agent for a large company.  The VP of real estate was extremely vain and egotistical.  One day, the real estate manager called me in to his office and informed me that the VP noticed I had 3 buttons on the sleeves of my blazer.  The VP's blazer only had two buttons on the sleeves.  So I was told to cut two buttons off of each sleeve so I didn't look like I outranked him.

Strange Religions

By Religion Monger

I asked for Passover (one of the most religious of all Jewish holidays) off from work.  I was told no, because if he let me take that day off, "who knows what other crazy made-up religions and holidays people would come up with."

Workplace Requirement: Group Laughing for 60 Seconds

By Pete

I once had a boss who heard or read that even insincere laughter could improve mood and morale.  With this in mind, during every Monday staff meeting, 8 of us (his employees) were required to force ourselves to laugh for 60 seconds.  Keep in mind, this was a requirement, and we were not actually laughing at anything in particular.  It was just sit, laugh for 60 seconds, and then report your weekly activities for the previous week.  What an idiot.  Good news is, he lost his job and now paints houses for a living.

The Family First (Or Not) Awards...

Due Date Dilemma

By Future Daddy

As a shift worker for an employer that required 24/7 operations, it was important for me to tell my boss when my wife and I were expecting our first baby.  Our OBGYN had pinned down the delivery date with reasonable certainty to a date two months away.  Dreading the confrontation that occurred anytime the shift schedule and requests for time off were linked together, I told my boss when the baby was expected and that there was a conflict because I was scheduled to work the evening shift.  I watched him turn red as I explained that a relief might be necessary to cover my shift so that I could take care of the details and be there for the delivery.  My boss looked at me over his glasses and said with a sneer, "You got her pregnant on your time off, so you need to have the baby on your time off."

Manipulative Genius

By Mini Me

While in the labor and delivery room, giving birth to my second baby, a nurse brought me a message printed on a pink slip of paper.  The message was from my boss and included updates of various real estate deals he and I were working on.  The nurse embarrassingly explained to me (between my contractions and pushing) that she had told my boss that I was delivering my baby, but said that my boss was insistent that the nurse give me this message while in the delivery room because he said he knew that I would want this information.  He was UNBELIEVABLE!

A Stressed and Tired Army Mom--Real Shock and Awe

By Wanda, Ohio

My son was deployed in Iraq and had been gone for about 30 days without a word.  Becoming more concerned and stressed I wasn't sleeping well.  Feeling like I was on the verge of tears I decided one afternoon I would just go home.

I went to my boss's office and told him I was leaving for the day.  He inquired why and I told him how I was feeling.

He in turn told me, "You need to get over it.  I would never send my son to Iraq.  In fact, my wife and I have mapped our route to Canada."

Shocked, all I could say was, "I didn't send my son to Iraq, he volunteered," and walked out.

Funny thing is now our "big" boss's son is in Iraq.  I wonder if he gave him the same get-over-it speech.