The Bad Boss - generics
 

I reckon the bad boss / managers most of us have to put up with all fit into a few generic types....

We had a great office atmosphere when i was incharge - people were left to get on with their work , they didnt need me looking over their shoulders , micro managing every little thing, giving them a hard time if they were 10 mins late in the morning...as long as the work gets done..right ?:eek:

No - new manager has killed the atmosphere in here, terrible pedant, he cleared my desk when i wasnt in , in his first week ! (He hates any mess, his desk is immaculate )
No people skills, rude, unrealistsic deadlines constantly set, the list goes on and on...whats your ogre of a boss like , can it be worse than this ?

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

That sounds just like my team leader!!! hes always micro managing an telling me how to do my job and interfering with everything :mad: pees me off!
My manager isnt to bad though but my team leader does most of his job anyways so hes stays out of the way, i just hope my team leader doesnt get promoted!!!!

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

what is a bad boss?


Oh you mean me!

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Hmm...

My boss isnt bad per se. As in he does leave me to get on with my work and I onloy meet up with him once a month. However I did have a sudden "emergency" meeting a few weeks ago which left me feeling extremely deflated, pressured and paranoid.

Basically I was told that I wasnt seeing enough patients (i see 18 a week and i have to see 20) and i was asked whether there was a problem and wheter im lacking confidence and have professional anxiety :shock:

It was so out of the blue that I now feel extremely uncomfortable and feel as if I have to prove absolutely everything im doing.

So its not directly bad, just atmospherically bad in terms of environment?

But my boss is nothing compared to some of my friends. One of them screams and shouts at her in front of everyone in the office!

Maria

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

there is a reason for this, but since your not at the top you dont get to know. if i told you i would be breaking the upper management code or conduct, for this i would be hunted down and disposed of.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Did you tell him that psychologists all say that a very tidy desk is the sign of an unstable mind, pete?

And i should know, my desk is almost always immaculate to the point of its being almost an OCD thing... and you know what i'm like :)

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

what he said

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Zig - i couldnt really sayanything as he cleared my desk when i wasnt there !

Its one thing to have a spotless desk - but to clear other peoples desks - thats borderline psychopathic - iniit?

as well as insulting !

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

if someone had cleared my desk i would have gone mental and pizzed all over his.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

so thats the secret.....

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

yeah mine's like that...

only thing worse tho... my boss is


my older sister!! :smt062

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

lmao 5/1 someone had just done a course about man management and they were some of the buzzwords used in the seminar

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

i don't have one they sacked him :lol:............... but, he was crap, crap on his tools, crap at ordering stuff, constantly forgetting thing, braking the machinery, making born machinery worse whilst trying to fix it, completely brain dead, stupid deadlines, no back bone and a back stabber

we no run it ourselves :lol:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Sorry to hear about bad bosses..
Mine's great actually (both of them - one for each job)..
Basically, they don't really feel like bosses, as they work with me as any other member of the team, we talk about ideas together and the only difference is that we have different attributions. They manage the larger picture of the projects (to which a small group of us contributes as well) and we do some details, but it's never completely separated stuff.. They never shout and always let you know when you screw up in a good way, that motivates you to up the pace and do it properly. And yes, I do feel lucky about it :)
I feel this form of management really works well, as everyone can see a small part of everyones work and can understand why people make decisions the way they do.. Can't really understand why people think authoritarian management is in some situations (if any) a good idea..

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Oh dear, basic psychology Spidey, as my current Year 12's can tell you.

Tidy desk = anally retentive character caused by fixation of instinctive driving forces in the anal stage of development! x

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

yup. And i would have told him to leave it well alone from now on as its an "organised chaos" and now he's moved stuff its gonna take you forever to get it back to how it was.

You calling me gay in a roundabout way Messie? ;)
In all honesty, its only my "customer facing" desk that is tidy...in top. In the drawers its always been a hell of a mess and an organised chaos. No one else would be able to find something if they looked for it but if they asked me for it i'd know exactly where it is.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

What makes a good manager in peoples opinions? (bar the opposite of the previously mentioned :razz:)

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

a good manager facilitates not delegates.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

What if the staff are rubbish*? :razz:


*edit: oops expected that word to be filtered.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

I've sadly had more rubbish managers than good ones. Seems to fit a pattern that if you are sh*te at actually doing a job, then you get promoted into a position where you manage people doing a job that you cannot completantly do yourself.

They all fit the following pattern.

They lie, they forget things, they cant organise themselves let alone anybody else, they do things themselves that they dont allow you to do yourself / discpline you for, rudeness seems to be a common theme, As does not listening to the people they employ. Micromanaging, unrealistic deadlines seems quite common to.

In my profession normally its ex techies who have forgotten all their technical skills, but like to think they still understand whats going on when they dont.

I had one boss who I got so frustrated with I said

Me - "You pay me alot of money dont you"
Him - "Yes"
Me - "So do my wages reflect my technical skills, position within the team"
Him - "Yes"
Me - "So why dont you listen to me then, or do you like wasting money or something"
Him - silence

I got fedup with telling him things were going to break, him ignoring me, the thing breaking that I said it would, and then him blowing a fuse about it and shouting and ranting about it. When I produced the email I had sent him 6 months ago after he denied I had sent it, he went quiet very quickly.

He was the worst person I have ever worked for and if I walked into a company for a job interview and found him working there, I would politely terminate the interview and walk out. He really was that bad.

Eventually he got fired, it was a happy day in the office that day.

My current boss is great. He listens, he trusts me and he makes me feel like he values my opinion and input. He is respectful and gets my respect in return. His take is on things is that, I should come to him and tell him, that x or y is broken and heres what I have done to fix it. Or if money needs spending I write a business case and a plan on how long its going to take to put right and how much its going to cost.

He gives me freedom to think, be creative and use my skills. Cant ask for more.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Got it in one Fizz, you've just described my boss 100% accurately there. He's a spineless, lying sack of s*** who somehow manages to kiss just the right amount of a*** and takes just enough credit for the work our team does under his 'leadership' so that he still comes out smelling of roses, the c***! :evil:


Aaaaand breathe... :lol:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

My last manager was a great believer in Seagull Management...

Fly in,
Flap around,
$hit on everything,
F*ck off,
Disappear for days on end.

And repeat.


Thank god I'm self employed now.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

That made me laugh out loud for a prolonged period - cheers woz! :thumbsup:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

its only the self employed and those that are bosses / managers themselves who are n/a re this one...oh and the dole rs ..ahem...anyway - bigger question is...what to do about it? Everyone here dislikes him, many of us cant stand him....so we could present a united front...or join together in a strategy, but what should it be ? :confused:

Only thing i can think of is anonymous notes left lying about so the CEO gets a sense of the feeling amongst the staff ( ie X is a cant & we all hate him etc)...course, seeing as he is head of fundraising, it all hangs on whether he manages to raise the funds ...the CEO dont really care about the rest....:-s:rolleyes:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

What size is your company?
It wouldn't surprise me if it hasn't gone unnoticed...

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

its quite small - 12 full time staff....i spose even our CEO couldnt miss the fact he's a super anal nerd ...but if she cares either way i doubt...she only cares if he raises the dough we need ....:rolleyes:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

We had a great sense of community in my old office. People were relaxed, we'd go on chips/ice cream/cake runs sometimes, football/rugby on the TV on the weekends.

New guy now insists all men be shirt and tie (women, naturally, never have to wear a tie) except on weekends and nights when it's acceptable to wear a polo shirt or similar. But never trainers, never jeans, never t-shirts or football strips.

We're also not allowed to eat at the desks, though the boundaries of this are being gradually pushed back. The supposed incentive to go to the breakout (I HATE THAT TERM) area was that there was a TV. Except it's ALWAYS on Sky Sports News, and there's always some tossers sitting by the TV (often managers) having a loud conversation, or indeed on their mobiles!

He came in at 5am one day under false pretences, to catch people in the act. One guy was smoking by the front entrance (we're on private land, no public can see us) because it's protected from the rain. NO, go smoke in the designated area and get soaked, you naughty man. Someone else had their feet up. Two people were asleep (fair enough, they deserve it). And a few people weren't wearing the correct clothes!

But it's this attitude, this throwing around of one's weight that has spoiled coming to work for many of us. The weekend cooked dinner/curry/chips has all but stopped because having to eat away from the desk means you're away from your phone too long. I don't get on with ties - they give me a stiff neck and sore spots on my neck. I also fail to understand why we (not public facing) have to wear all this stupid office clothing while the equally non-public-facing signallers across the hall from us get away with untucked shirts, no ties, comfortable pants, comfortable shoes.

There's just something about this sort of manager. In Swindon, someone got told off for removing his tie before he left the building! I'm expecting to be told off for coming in wearing my bike gear eventually. There's NOWHERE to change.

GRRR. Angry now.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

theres an obvious generic type youve got there angel - the little Hitler...:cool::mad:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

My boss....well, he keeps suggesting ways to make illegal drugs instead of doing the research we discussed back in september :lol:

They are good though, my supervisors - as long as I am getting on with the work and making progress, they dont mind what I do

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

fingers up bum?

:king:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

I'm waiting for darylB's contribution to the thread;)

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

In my experience united front only works if you are all united, even then you can guarantee that people wont stick by the rest of you and your united front will erode away till you i.e. the spokeperson looks like a complete tw*t and your boss will then blame you for and I quote "being a sh*t stiring difficult awkward to work with employee" because thats what I got told when I spoke up for the people in my team who were just as fed up as I was. Of course when it came to the crunch they never spoke up and backed me up and I looked like a complete idiot. Never again never ever again will I do that. 3 months later they all moaned again about the same manager and asked me if I would speak up, needless to say I told them to feck off and do their own dirty work.

My advice is wait it out, keep your gob shut and dont cause trouble. Play said manager at their own game and do what they ask when they ask, if they are completely incompetant then eventually they will slip into a vat of their own sh*te and get fired. ( see my post above ) It can take a while though....

Some people are unfortunately just bullies, quite often these bullies take the form of managers...

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

agreed Fizz - that little bit of power just fries ordinary peoples brains until the adolf in them comes out...so often the case....

but what youa re saying about them being incompetent is not the case with us...this guy is so on the ball its scary, he doesnt miss a thing, he's just so anal you can well imagine him making mental notes that you were 4mins 35secs on Wed, and 2mins 45secs late on thurs....etc ....bleedin nitemare , especially when you are used to a relaxed atmosphere where people are treated like adults.....

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Never browsed the forum at work have you? :-s

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Ha, it's well known here that I'm partly deaf. But I'm not that deaf. Some think I'm blind too:rolleyes:

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Very true. While one of my managers in a previous job wasn't a bully, he WAS A **** who turned a productive office around into one with a backlog of work so huge it took the rest of the year to clear it. He outright lied to us about our duties claiming we had in fact been lied to by the previous manager.

And yes, in the end, he was only pulled from the vat of his own doings so they could get better purchase on his backside to kick him out the door :smt026

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Interesting thread.I regard this issue as the true "British Disease".
Unlike some who historically have blamed lazy workers or unions I think poor quality managers have destoyed this country by a combination of incompetance,arrogance and hypocricy.Certainly where I work managers represent the triumph of ambition over ability where cronyism,sychophancy and corruption are the qualities required and the organisation is in permanent crisis as a result.Yet none of them gets called to account for it.They just blame the people below and bully them accordingly.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Add to your list complacency, ignorance and narcissism. It's all self-perpetuating. Unions are no longer the issue, and I think that the claims against them have been blown out of proportion. The issue now is big business, where this sort of behaviour is rife. The government should have let HBoS go to the wall, no business is too big to fail. Perhaps some of the people who made the crass decisions they did at your and my expense would have been forced to explain themselves in disqualification proceedings.

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

Erm, I never not had a bad boss since being at my current company (13 years) and have had a few, some of the people I work with i don't see eye to eye with but as bosses go both my manager and my managers manager are great, hard working but fair. One of the main reasons why although changing roles at least six times I've not left the company :-)

Re: The Bad Boss - generics
 

I've worked for my current boss for six months and I've never met him! We're not allowed to travel unless we can bill it to a customer so I'm never likely to. Which means we only ever have short phone calls so he does not know what I can do or help him with. Plus, as a programme manager, he has no idea what to do with an accountant as our professions are different, leading to over-management and a lack of trust.

Thank goodness I leave the company at the end of the month!

He's not even close to the worst one though. The stupid cow who never set me any objectives one year then claimed I got no pay rise because I under achieved really took that honour. The only saving grace was the introduction at the same time of the "360 degree review" where I got to tell her boss exactly how rubbish she was, in graphic detail. She left very shortly afterwards! Mwahahaha...!!!!