I don’t have a boss, my clients are my “bosses,” but I have had them in the past.
As such, a story in my local paper this morning, Bosses From Hell caught my attention.
I have heard my share of bad boss stories, and though my immediate bosses have always been supportive of me and my growth as a professional, there have been other bosses (above mine) that were truly from hell. Could these stories beat mine?
It seems I am not alone. WORKING AMERICA, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is running a My Bad Boss Contest. Over 2,500 people have shared their “bad boss” stories for a chance top win a free vacation from the boss! They are down to the top five stories and they will choose a winner on Wednesday. So, go and read the top five stories and be duly horrified by how insensitive some bosses can be.
One boss made his employee pay for everything, including the flowers they sent for his father's funeral; another boss made an employee work on Fridays, even though her mother was dying; yet another told an employee, “people commit suicide every day,” when she was upset by a patient's suicide.
I can empathize, even though I can’t relate my actual story here. Sorry, blame it on the lawyers.
And I would be remiss to end without a note about the public relations campaign for My Bad Boss. Kudos to Working America for using a pretty simple idea to drive home the message that bosses need to treat their employees like humans. So far the news coverage seems to be supportive of the campaign in both the blogosphere and the mainstream media.
It doesn’t hurt that the competition was pegged loosely around the summer breakout blockbuster film, The Devil Wears Prada. (See trailers).
Illustration by dufbil
