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veronica_richIn solidarity of a friend who is putting up with a hellish boss and job situation (if she still has the job, that is), I'll ask you guys: What's the worst job you ever had and what made it bad? What's the worst boss you ever had? Were they two different situations? (It IS possible to have a shitty job but a good boss, or at least as good as the situation allows.)
My worst job was the only one I've ever quit without having something else lined up to replace it (I don't advise doing this except in extreme cases). I left one newspaper for another and the second turned out to be so far below the previous in quality and give-a-damn by the higher-ups that I had to quit after 14 months. Our publisher spent all his time trying to find someone to blame for his poor business decisions, and tried to change my job from doing news to a shitty business shopper (i.e., a paper filled with free-publicity stories on local businesses instead of focusing on actual news that wasn't sucking up to someone). Of course, if he hadn't been snorting down his body weight in cocaine and fucking one of the sales reps, he might've had time and focus to actually do his job well. I mean, what dumbass rewards the other sales reps for going out and getting more ads by reducing their commissions? He had the nerve to be surprised when they started quitting. DUHHRRRRRR.
I guess that would also be my worst boss. I had a runner-up who also turned out to be one of my best bosses - after I got him trained. I was an office and personal assistant, and he was a decent guy, but he had a horrible temper and would FUCKING YELL sometimes even when something wasn't my fault. Through a series of actions consisting of yelling back, talking calmly back, telling him off, and being gone on vacation a few times to prove how lost he was without my services - not to mention getting fired three times and refusing to leave (he'd show up eventually and apologize each time) - I finally got him trained. If he started raising his voice at me at that point, all I had to do was give him a certain look (I think it's one I borrowed from Mom) and he'd back off. I haven't worked for him in years and I still get phone calls every so often of him telling me stuff going on in his life and work.
(On an unrelated topic, I sure wish the old troublemakers in POTC fandom would kindly concentrate on the new stuff coming out. When I click on a public journal entry somewhere that's linked elsewhere because it has a new poster or still photos, or plot points, I don't consider that "in fandom" - it's looking at spoilers and media. Yet I still have to put up with this one particular asshole who thinks everybody needs to know how much she dislikes Will Turner and Orlando Bloom's other characters. This sort of impedes my enjoyment of anything movie-related when I have to see it in the first comment in an entry. It's a new movie, new characters, new story - Bloom isn't even IN this movie. Shut the fuck up. LOL.)
My worst job was the only one I've ever quit without having something else lined up to replace it (I don't advise doing this except in extreme cases). I left one newspaper for another and the second turned out to be so far below the previous in quality and give-a-damn by the higher-ups that I had to quit after 14 months. Our publisher spent all his time trying to find someone to blame for his poor business decisions, and tried to change my job from doing news to a shitty business shopper (i.e., a paper filled with free-publicity stories on local businesses instead of focusing on actual news that wasn't sucking up to someone). Of course, if he hadn't been snorting down his body weight in cocaine and fucking one of the sales reps, he might've had time and focus to actually do his job well. I mean, what dumbass rewards the other sales reps for going out and getting more ads by reducing their commissions? He had the nerve to be surprised when they started quitting. DUHHRRRRRR.
I guess that would also be my worst boss. I had a runner-up who also turned out to be one of my best bosses - after I got him trained. I was an office and personal assistant, and he was a decent guy, but he had a horrible temper and would FUCKING YELL sometimes even when something wasn't my fault. Through a series of actions consisting of yelling back, talking calmly back, telling him off, and being gone on vacation a few times to prove how lost he was without my services - not to mention getting fired three times and refusing to leave (he'd show up eventually and apologize each time) - I finally got him trained. If he started raising his voice at me at that point, all I had to do was give him a certain look (I think it's one I borrowed from Mom) and he'd back off. I haven't worked for him in years and I still get phone calls every so often of him telling me stuff going on in his life and work.
(On an unrelated topic, I sure wish the old troublemakers in POTC fandom would kindly concentrate on the new stuff coming out. When I click on a public journal entry somewhere that's linked elsewhere because it has a new poster or still photos, or plot points, I don't consider that "in fandom" - it's looking at spoilers and media. Yet I still have to put up with this one particular asshole who thinks everybody needs to know how much she dislikes Will Turner and Orlando Bloom's other characters. This sort of impedes my enjoyment of anything movie-related when I have to see it in the first comment in an entry. It's a new movie, new characters, new story - Bloom isn't even IN this movie. Shut the fuck up. LOL.)
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Date: 2011-03-16 07:10 am (UTC)I worked in a camera store in the mid 80's. My first job in college. The owner was a piece of work. He loved to curse, and scream and throw metal processing boxes when he lost his temper, which was frequently.
His son grabbed my breasts, and I slapped him. He got the message. Back then sexual harrassment was just not addressed like now, or I would have owned that store on that reason alone.
The owners idiot wife. I worked for them for three years, why I don't know. I quit to take care of my terminally ill mother and she called daily wanting to talk to my mother, because I was fabricating her having cancer, and she wanted me back to work immediately. Remember this was not a leave. I quit. I told my mom I quit because I hated the place, no lie. The main reason was I needed to take care of her. When my mom finally died, they had the nerve to call and ask me to come back. The words I said, were not "Happy Birthday" that was for sure. The owners wife was mad that I stood up to her. I later learned they told people I stole from them so they fired me. Well, hell has it's own level and payback is a you know what.
The owner had a stroke and couldn't speak, and be understood, and became wheelchair bound. What a hell for someone who likes to rage and throw things. The son lost the business. The idiot wife turns out was a raging alcoholic who burned half their house down due to a cigarette she failed to put out while drunk.
My number two job paled to that one when I became a receptionist in a convent. Yes, nuns. On a whole they were wonderful. They just had one director who was a sister who loved to scream at me. She would change her mind on a project, and neglect to tell me. She gave me the worst job review ever. The funny thing is when her term was up after 5 years, they couldn't find my review. Did a miracle happen or did someone see what an unreasonable person she was being? She was an attorney and a nun. Talk about conflict of interest.
My most recent @ss of a boss was when I was doing accounts receivables for a food company. The CFO didn't even know how the accounting was done, but she could sure run a report, and screech about a customer not paying $6.95. It almost got to the point where I wanted to give her the money just to get her to STFU. I forgot ... it was her company and she had Beemer payments to make. :P They also had a really bad habit of using words, like "Jesus Christ and Godd... it", and cursing as if it was such appropriate language for the workplace. I'm all for free speech, but this was just vile and all day long. I know we all curse from time to time. I do too, but I try not to when at work. I had to work there a year for benefits and was terminated just before my anniversary date.
This lead me through a few temp jobs to my dream job. I adore my boss now. She gives us the tools and training, and embraces independent thinking. No micro management, just tons of training, encouragement, and kudos for a job well done.
I was really gun shy for awhile, but I feel I've found a home that fosters such good work ethics with management as well as our teams.
Ok, do I get a prize for the worst boss ever? LOL