How to Survive a Bad Boss

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Song "Sweetest Lemonade" hear @ URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYcHW1kuP-k A song about the bad boss, improving your position in life, and never settling

majorshadow of CA 12:01AM December 20, 2010

To hear, click on the following URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1X32fW_h30

Majorshadow of CA 5:12AM September 01, 2010

I work for a company where all the assistants, store, and district managers all work in fear of the regional vice president. He doesn't visit his locations and sends impersonal and sometimes threatening memos about policy revisions and additions. There is no one to go to about this because the company owner said he will not tolerate any complaints about his corporate-level execs. The turn-over of this company is outrageously fast and no one survives more than 1 year at best unless you're very quiet and never make a sound.
The reason I can write this is because I have no friends and the section of the environment I'm stationed in, everyone is suspicious of everyone and just waiting to report anyone for anything that goes wrong. I talk to no one at work unless it's strictly work-related, and I'm short and brief. Anyone who wants to go up the company ladder is put on a secret list and is held to a higher standard.
There are days I feel like a robot doing my job and forget I'm a human being. My days off are few and when I get to them I'm so tired I have no energy to look for another job. My senses are numb and I have no desire to be with a man or a woman. I work to survive. I'm only surviving.

Max of NH 8:31PM July 31, 2010

It's a sad truth that bad behavior by bosses is being normalized. This article and many comments seem to support this. Toughing it out and go find another job is a simplistic solution, in theory. But rarely do-able. This is why workers going on disability due to workplace stress is rising at an alarming rate.
Employees are suffering from anxiety or depression and prescribed harmful meds to help them survive at the workplace instead of focussing on the real problem: bad managers.
Managerial consultants are rationalizing manager's actions or inactions and increasingly shifting the blame onto the subordinate/employee. Upper management take on the attitude that they will rarely admit there is a problem because if they do, they have to try to fix it.

LIke it is of WA 2:10AM February 06, 2010

In my profession, I am really more of an "auditor" than anything else. I review the work done by the organization and then advise if their deliverables meet US legal requirements for due diligence. In many cases, they do not meet due diligence requirements, and this can be proven via historical artifacts. Unfortunately, the companies that hire me to audit their performance almost 100% of the time fire the person who brings bad news. I can go to jail for lying about the results of an audit - and can go to jail for falsifying audit results. Given this scenario, I tell the truth. My positions are often short-lived, and my reports have led to multi-million dollar fines against the companies I audit - because I am right and I did tell the truth and I can prove it. However, this often results in me havint to look for a new job every two months. What do you think?

BC of KS 10:24PM November 16, 2009

I worked for a bad boss. He who would fight with his wife or a client and then take it out on his staff, calling us "jizz stains," "incompetent," "unintelligent," etc. He would stomp around the office screaming and slamming doors. He tended to target one employee and take out all of his aggression on them, which would eventually lead to him firing them over something simple.
I was his direct assistant and one day I felt him completely switch his behavior towards me. I tried to figure out if I did anything wrong to make the change, but I couldn't see anything. I was always early, did all of my work without errors, didn't linger over lunch breaks and was always willing to work late (and on weekends). I went above and beyond my call of duty and thought I was doing a great job, until the day he targeted me. He started to pick apart everything I did, calling in on days when he was out just to criticize me. He would call my cell phone before work, on weekends and during the evenings. He would text me at all hours. He called me stupid multiple times, saying he thought the good school I went to for university meant I was supposed to be smart.
The toxic work enviornment started to weigh heavily on me. I could not sleep, would cry in the bathroom at work and, dreaded waking up in the morning. I would feel nervous 24/7 and lived in total fear of making even the smallest mistake. His attidude changed my attitude and I started to take my frustrations out on friends and my husband. I became a miserable person. I desperately tried to find a new job but wasn't having any luck. I didn't know what I was going to do but I knew I couldn't take it there anymore.
Six months ago I went on a lunch break and came back to him insisting that I was gone for over an hour. When I proved him wrong by showing him the sign in and out sheet, and had another coworker as a witness, he snapped and told me to leave. I was fired then & there. You know what? I wasn't upset at all but instead literally felt a heavy weight lift off of my chest as I rode the train home. I am still unemployed (though searching), and not working does make me nervous in this economy, but you know what? I feel like I have my life back. I know that I don't deserve to be treated like that ever again. I have decided to go to grad school and change careers. I finally figured out who I am.
There was some light at the end of the bad boss tunnel....but he's still the biggest jerk I have ever met (and that is an understatement).

L of NV 4:29AM November 16, 2009

I know a woman who *offered* to work for the bad bosses of her company, one bad boss at a time. It was a creative way to niche herself and build a solid career with the company. I'm sure she used much of the excellent advice offered in this article by Ms. Burns! She became the Queen of handling bad bosses and proved it could be done. She'd tame the bosses and then train her replacement in how to handle them. Then, they'd move her to the next bad boss...with a little raise thrown in. The company actually used an administrative assistant to provide day to day management training. It was a sneaky but successful approach. Great advice Ms. Burns.

GM in FL of FL 10:47AM November 12, 2009

But what if you are so nervous around your boss, for she is such a perfectionist...and your fear of failure is amplified by her actions,(micromanaging) what recommendations might be offered as far as coping skills? Coming to work, feeling paranoid or sick to the stomache, is not healthy, day in and day out. Looking for another job is not always the answer. Who's to say you won't wind up with a bad boss at the new company; one who may even worse than the one you work with now?

Dana of VA 11:45AM November 05, 2009

The best way to survive a bad boss is to not work with one in the first place. There are sites like www.ebosswatch.com that give you an inside look at what bosses are like before you start working with them.

Pat of IL 5:30PM November 04, 2009

If you get through your working life without a bad boss you are in a tiny minority and really lucky. So, read and listen. Some of these ideas are really hard to do but they sure beat the alternatives, so suck it up, and pay attention.

RSB of WA 4:26PM November 04, 2009