Baddest Boss of the Year Candidate

Tower Flower, Florida

My boss, transcends all categories of badness. When he works at all, which seems to average less than 3 days a week, he is avoided and shunned by all the work force, including the managers and supervisors under him. A few of his more printable transgressions:

1. The first week he reported, he found his way to operating quarters in the tower cab, though he may not have known where he was going when he stepped onto the elevator. An employee was acting as supervisor when he arrived. The Boss introduced himself and struck up a conversation with this employee, in which the employee naturally participated. He later formally reprimanded this employee for dereliction of duty because he conversed with him instead of monitoring the operation.

2. The second week, the he attended a team briefing and was speaking. One of the employees closed his eyes while listening. The boss reprimanded him for "sleeping on the job". This has led to a lot of indoor-sunglass wearing.

3. A month later, he gave a briefing on a new personnel action that was adverse; we've had many of them over the last 2 years, coincident with his "visit" here. He was cheerful and positive-acting during his briefing, ending it with "questions welcome". One of the employees asked a question, in a neutral tone of voice. The Boss then went into a 20 minute tirade, screaming at the group about their attitude, and they'd better like it or he'd find people who would, etc.... We've had many briefings since then, but there have been few, if any, questions asked ironically resulting in the boss expressing disappointment several times in people's unwillingness to engage him in discussion.

5. A month ago, the Boss strolls into the employee break area, looks out the window, and says, "What a beautiful day! I think I'll take off early and go boating." Several workers leave the room in a hurry, but one just can't let that pass. (Our facility has been working mandatory 6 day work weeks and overtime for over a year due to staffing mismanagement.) This employee says to the Chief, "How can you come in here and say that to us when none of us can get any time off? Have you no sensitivity to your people or awareness of our situation?" He, of course, received a written reprimand for insubordination. And the boss went boating.

Our boss has been eligible for retirement for many years now, and keeps saying he's going but pushes the date back every time as it approaches. His reason for staying, when asked: his first wife is entitled to a percentage of his retirement when he goes, and he's waiting for her to die.

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