Everyone at some point has worked for a terrible company or a toxic boss. I had the pleasure of working for both at the same time. I think a pre-requisite for management in that company was a small brain and an over active libido.
My manager was a 19-year-old girl who was hired for her looks. She was blond and giggled a lot. I was hired for my previous experience. As it turned out, I was the only one in the whole department who knew what I was doing. I would do my manager’s job, and basically run the whole show. She would then take all the credit.
Her boss was an egomaniacal jerk. Six of us were crammed into a little office. He had a plush office right next door. The thermostat was in our office. He would get furious at the heating system, and would then run into our office and start swearing and beating on the little plastic box that covered the thermostat. The customers on our phones would always ask what was going on.
Meanwhile, he would sexually harass my young manager. He would offer to buy her clothes and give her money. Of course, he wanted a little “something” in return. I might add that he was married.
He would encourage all the managers to sleep with clients. He said this was good for business.
When it came time for my performance review, they told me they couldn’t give me a promotion from a Representative to a Specialist because I was already a Specialist. Apparently, they hired me as a Specialist, but never told me. They also wouldn’t give me a raise, because they said I was already making more than my 19 year old manager.
Then the final blow came. They won a new account, but promised the client the world without ever asking the people who actually did the work if it was possible. I was a member of a four-person team. My manager was always out on business, so I had to do her job, my co-workers where slackers and were never at work. Basically, I had to run the entire department myself. I got an ulcer and literally had a breakdown one day at work.
When we lost the client, I was told that it was my entire fault. I should have “tried” harder. When I offered to give my two-week notice, they back peddled and said that it wouldn’t be necessary. I stood up, walked to my desk, penned the notice, and slammed it down on his desk. I have never regretted leaving that horrible company. What is your worst experiance? I would love to hear. Leave a comment and share with us all. It will make us ALL feel better.
This is a picture of our son "helping his dad". He is already showing an aptitude for computers and hard work! Hopefully, he never gets a toxic boss.
3 comments:
i've had my shares of toxic bosses and toxic companies but yours takes the cake! i have my problems with the academic environment in which i work now and my previous office was no picnic sometimes, but wow! yours wins hands down :)
-A
Azure and I both worked at Burger King when we were in high school. One of the first days I worked there, the manager made me clean all the baseboards in the store. I had to get on my hands and knees and crawl under tables and equipment. Scrapping old slimy grease off the baseboards was so much fun. At least he was nice about it.
at least you know that when you sign up for a restaurant job that cleaning up is part of the gig!
after reading your blog the other day some work traumas that i had tried to block out came back.
one of my recent bad work experiences was at Barnes & Noble. the job itself was not so bad -- nice people and good discounts on books & CDs. i knew i'd probably have to vacuum and dust, but i didn't know that clerks at a bookstore had to do bathrooms! that was the job of closing employees every other night when the cleaning crew that was contracted out by the store wasn't scheduled to be there.
and then there was one time when they had me work the children's book section (i never knew why they stuck me there sometimes. i know nothing about children's books). while i was on break someone let their kids run loose back there. they left piles of stuff and a kid peed on the floor! i put a yellow slippery when wet cone down but tried to avoid the area for the rest of the night. it's PEE! and i made minimum wage, what did they expect?
-A
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