Do you have any supervisor horror stories? Stories of bad relationships with a sup, not being treated fairly or having a sup turn on you?

The new (married) manager of the company gave me two weeks pay instead of notice, because he wanted to hire his girlfriend to be the bookkeeper. He asked me to spend one day showing her the books, and then gave me my final check. While I was still there, I overheard her calling and making reservations for two at a motel. Maybe I was just reading something into it, but I doubt it.

A “hatchet man” was hired as the boss at my place of work instead of the logical successor because budget cuts determined the bottom line. Most of the higher-grade employees heard the word and left for various good reasons [they all happened to be women] but I could not afford to.

I was the subject of every legal ploy and every psychological ploy that was known. Some of these processes and ploys I found quite clearly spelled out on internet sites. It was dirty and I fought. I even had to hire a lawyer. I won a reprieve for a year and then it began again. I continued to fight and received early retirement with a buyout.

This cost me drastically on a pension and was not what I really wanted [I had loved my job] but was the best option available. Someone else who had been treated to the same harassment was spared it and allowed to retire naturally because of my example, and the person who should have been head of my department eventually won that title while the hatchet man was kicked upstairs to a position where he could do no further damage but continues to receive a salary.

Life’s injustices abound.

Doesn’t everyone?

I had a wonderful Middle Eastern supervisor who held me personally responsible for Israel’s actions towards Palestinians simply because of my religion.

He had a thing about frequently assigning me tasks 5–10 minutes before the end of the word day, despite knowing that I was taking night college classes immediately after work. It was as if he was deliberately unaware of the time of day (or just spiteful).

He also had a habit of assigning “busybody” tasks because he didn’t like to see me or my coworker sitting around after all tasks had been completed. He arbitrarily thought of new tasks for us to do, but always acted annoyed that we didn’t already know we should be doing them. He installed cameras in my office on the pretense of trying to discourage theft (my office had automatic locks and no one ever visited my office). He constantly called and asked for emails on the progress of important and trivial tasks alike.

He took all credit for good work and blamed his workers for mistakes. When I sent a mass email to all company employees with my name at the bottom, he freaked out and resent it with his own name at the bottom (and censured me for my action, even though it was part of the job description). Once, when a major error occurred with one of our databases, I was in the CEO’s office and he was put on speakerphone; he didn’t know I was in the room and promptly laid all the blame on me.

His most disgusting habit was reaching directly into my plate to try something, like a french fry or a piece of chicken, without asking. My coworker fell victim to this once and he immediately picked up his plate and dropped it into the garbage right in front of him. Another time, I threw a half-eaten salad into the garbage and my supervisor asked who had thrown it away. He then retrieved it from the garbage and ate it.

I once asked him for vacation time at least a month in advance and he denied my request, claiming it would be an “installation” week. I acquiesced and, lo and behold, no installations happened for weeks before of after the date I had picked for my vacation. I later learned from HR that he had felt slighted that I was telling him when I wanted to go on vacation. He felt he should have been assigning me vacation time when he wanted me to go. I suppose he felt the same about personal and sick days: he always gave me an interrogation when I wanted to use the days that were freely given to me.

Most of his problems seemed to stem from cultural differences and major insecurities. He felt slighted by normal things and was always trying to show that he was the boss. I got him in the end, though the details are a little bit too sensitive to discuss online.

On other questions I have detailed some of the issues around “The Worst Boss In The World”. Let’s shorten it by just saying he raped a co-worker, gave another co-worker a heart attack ON PURPOSE, and tried to get me fired several different ways.
Why, yes, he still works for my company…

I had a male superior in the Navy threaten me with no promotions, bad duty schedules etc, if I didn’t let him have sex with me. He went on for better than a week, trying to convince me to try it, pushing me into it. I said no, I don’t know how many times. I didn’t turn him in to his superiors, knowing they wouldn’t do anything. I DID, however, go to a gay friend of mine who was the eyes and ears of the ship and tell him. He promptly spread the word, and that superior of mine quickly asked to be transferred to another vessel.

Actually, the barber and supply chief on the same ship did the same thing, except threatening that I would not get any supplies I needed. He even threatened to throw me overboard late at night on a Friday night so I wouldn’t be missed for days. He was a huge guy, nicknamed “Fridge”. I was sure he probably coul have done it. I did the same thing to him, as I did with the other guy. He left fast!

I always wondered why so many people were attracted to me like that. They were supposedly straight guys, big and tough, married to women, and then they pop up and start propositioning me. I guess I did look about 15, and had that jail bait look a little bit. I got asked a lot of odd things. I actually had to complete strangers in San Diego try to get me to do things with them in public restrooms! Maybe I just put out vibes and didn’t or don’t know it. Hmmm.

When I was a teenager, I had a boss who was constantly trying to get me in the sack. He was in his 40s, married with children. He pretty much literally chased me around my desk. Ugh.

How in the hell do such awful people retain positions of importance, when good, hardworking people get canned for no reason???

@Dutchess_III My bad boss owned the company.

Well, that sucks! But seriously….have you noticed that it seems like it’s almost always the meanest, rudest people who seem to be the ones to rise to power? Not always, but sometimes, and it’s like….if I acted that way I’d be canned. How do they get away with it?