Is it common to feel "scared" of your boss?

I had a boss who felt that it was best to rule by intimidation, rudeness and sarcasm. She didn’t care for ideas other than her own. She wasn’t very bright and would constatnly forget that she’d told you to do something a new way, and when she “caught” you doing it the new way, would write you up for not following established procedure. She was just dumb.

Can a boss me nice but intimidating at the same time? When I first met him he seemed and still seems nice and heart warming but very stern I guess. I just constantly feel like I’m not like my supervisor and it’s an unfair comparison.

Sometimes I even get questioned for something I’m doing or what I don’t do and I look bad when my supervisor never taught me about it. She’s not a bad mentor but we are human and we make mistakes.

I just hate how I feel scared all the time around him that I’ll be in trouble.

How long have you worked there?

Only 3 months

Do you typically have a problem or fear of authority figures? Do you work well under pressure? Have you had a good relationship with a boss or someone higher up the chain then you? Do you feel like you not only have to prove yourself to them but to you,low self esteem, feeling defensive

Barring those situations it could be you are in an extended adjustment period. Maybe things aren’t an exact fit or your company isn’t used to a high turn over or just the opposite has a high turnover and thus don’t bother to train and make the new people welcome because they are tired of having to do so.

If a job makes you uncomfortable and you’ve tried a lot of problem solving techniques you should start looking to move on. Life is too short to feel like the people you spend an inordinate amount of time with are judging you.

The other thing you could do is read a few books on business and management, working in teams… Whatever you feel will help.

My supervisor is “higher” up than me but not exactly senior management. I ask for feedback on my performance but most times she just says I’m doing fine.

He’s just a perfectionist so she said she’s perfected what he wants and it’ll take time. He’s difficult to please and will pull every single detail out of you so be ready.

I think it’s harder on me because we have a huge turnover with social workers and mentally ill patients. To be honest no one wants to work for low pay with a patient that treats you like crap. So it stresses the managers out and I guess puts stress on me to recruit with little resources we have. But my supervisor says it’s been that way for years and we just spin our wheels, singing the same tune because of low pay. Non profit can’t compete with big dogs.

I’m just sick of managers not doing their job and I get the blame sometimes. But I can’t ask them questions because it’s “questioning” authority or checking up on them. Im giving this place 7–12 months lol

I didn’t read the previous answers because of time but right now I’ll just throw down my opinion.

If you suggest things, put the suggestions in email form to two people – the big boss and your supervisor, so more than one person knows that the suggestion came from you, should the idea get taken up in the future. That way, there’s a time and date stamp on it showing that the suggestion came from you.

As far as the big boss goes, try to stay out of his way and just lay low for now.

To me, new on the job means put your head down, avoid gossip and lay low till you really get to know the organization, the players and the structure. You don’t yet know who is trustworthy and who is not.