We’re all familiar with the bad boss trope.
They turn up late, leave early, put unrealistic expectations on their staff and create an atmosphere of fear and anxiety.
However, what can be funny on film and TV – like The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly, or Bob Kelso from Scrubs – quickly loses its humour in real life.
We asked 12 women for their worst story about a bad boss or manager – and goodness – you can’t make these stories up.
Psychopath-expert, David Gillespie, on how to tell if your boss is a psychopath. Post continues below.
Emilie
“At my first job our CEO/founder was very Trump-like. And one day he gathered all the women in the office (who were all young women fresh out of uni) and showed us a whiteboard on which he’d listed bullet points on how we should all wear makeup, heels and skirts so we would look ‘more professional’ and it ‘would only make us look even more beautiful’. He had actually written ‘even more beautiful’ on the whiteboard. And that was literally the only topic of the meeting.”
Anna
“I had a boss who was so distracting that she started at 10am to give everyone two hours in the office to get things done before she came in. Those two hours were heaven, but as soon as she came in the vibe and mood of everyone would change. I used to come into the office at 6am to have longer in the office without her.
Top Comments
Nightmare micro managing boss at a small company of 5 people - all female. She would get her husband (who wasn’t staff and was a huge ex-body builder) to sit in the office when she went out so that we wouldn’t talk to one another.
When I resigned giving two weeks notice she stopped paying me until I left immediately. I lodged a complaint with fair work but was told that we would have to enter into “voluntary mediation” and I had no desire to ever lay eyes on her again so I swallowed the loss instead.
In the end - all 5 members of staff resigned in the same week.
I was hired for my experience, however my immediate boss was extremely threatened by it. She was a lot older and far less experienced - so I get it - but I gave her no reason to be. I was just happy to be in a big collaborative team. She literally made me sit at my desk for FIVE weeks, to study the company styleguide, while she would go off gossiping with other staff members. I can't believe it took me 5 weeks to go her boss about it, but I didn't want to stir trouble. About 9 months later her role was made redundant and to this day she blames me for it, when I had no freakin' idea it was even happening! She was completely blinded by her own insecurities and shortcomings.