Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCGP
I know all of us have a story about a manager or a supervisor that we can't stand. Let it all out here so you don't explode during work and murder everyone in a fit of rage.
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Back when I was starting out my career I worked for one of the weirdest individuals I've ever called a boss.
Physically, he was a freak. 6'8'', 175 pounds, and he wore the same leather jacket, dirty undershirt, and wrangler jeans combo every day. He was old, and his hair was balding, white, and always unkept. He had a very low, almost baritone voice. When I first walked into the companies building, I saw that half the office was empty, and sort of messy, like a building might look during a move. I later found out that this boss laid off 80 people a month before I came, and the mess was from people taking their stuff and being escorted immediately out of the building.
This guy had no idea how to run a company. His "business" was in its 12th year and hadn't turned a profit in at least 4. I heard his house was mortgaged 2x over, and when we would get food on certain days provided by the company, they would use alternating credit cards to prevent the limit on either from being exceeded, this company was on its last legs. He hired friends into top positions within the company who were obviously not qualified. His brother was the lead IT guy, but it was basically a "for-show" position because he knew nothing, and instead had this little asian guy do everything, he was an intern.
He also spent most of the day smoking cigs, Lucky Strikes. One time I went downstairs to the outdoor patio area of the building and sat down to take some rest from work. He was out there smoking. I thought I'd ask him for a cig, and he casually pulled one from his leather jacket, and handed it to me (his hand was near my head because he was so tall). I took one puff of the cig, and I almost barfed right there. The cig had this nasty taste to it when you took a puff, it was a combination of a normal cig, onions, and feet. I tried to take a few more puffs but I just couldn't stomach it. So when he turned around, I flicked the nasty cig into the gravel and went back to work.
One day, this guy decided we'd work overtime unpaid. That was the beginning of my deteriorating relationship with him. I was young and stupid, and went along with the plan. For a 4 month period (June - August), basically an entire Summer, I worked non-stop with only TWO days off (4th of July, and a sick day I had to take because I woke up with blood coming out of my ear).
Our project was doomed from the beginning and by the time September rolled around, I told one of the higher ups I wasn't going to work weekends anymore because of concerns for my health. He said he would tell the boss this, and I said whatever. The next day a company wide e-mail gets sent out that basically said, "If you don't notify your direct supervisor in advance of not being able to work weekends, you'll get a write up." Two weeks later, I "forgot" to notify my supervisor that I wasn't going to come in on the weekend (more like I didn't give a crap).
The next Monday, I get called into HR, and the lead HR person (a 250 pound Texan woman who walked with a limp) told me to come in and take a seat. She said the boss decided that I was going to get let go that day in a morning meeting with the managers. They said I was getting let go for not working well with the team, and being disruptive to the working environment. They handed me an envelope with $1,200, which was my vacation time compensation and told me I couldn't go back to my desk to get my stuff, I had to have a friend at work get it. At the time, I was so tired from the months of overtime, I kind of just smirked, and said, "Okay, see you guys later."
I went home, drank a lot, and called some friends who might have some leads for a new job. That most important thing I did that night was make the decision that I'd do whatever it would take to never work for someone else again, and all my actions from that day have lead to where I am now. It took a while, but I met the right people, made the right friends, and prayed a lot.
4 months after I was "terminated", that boss shutdown the company and everyone was let go. The building to this day is still vacant, it's been years. I wouldn't murder the guy, or hurt him. I'd actually thank him, he gave me a glimpse into everything a company could do wrong, and I learned a lot from it.