Bosses You Wish They Don’t Exist

Most of us spend one-third of our time a day at work. Deducting the average eight-hour sleeping time, we spend at least half of our waking time at work. Majority of our working time are spent with customers, business partners, colleagues, and the topic of the day: The Boss.

How many of you are swallowing unreasonable and unbearable bosses behaviour to get a pay check?Many self-help and motivation books will tell you to fire your extreme boss: Nobody deserves mental torture and humiliation from a place you spend most of your time at.

The bosses could be stressed with sales figures, deadlines, customers’ demands, but all that do not give anyone an excuse to continually vent their frustrations on human. What then, are the three types of horrendous bosses you wish they don’t exist?

The Belligerent

You are in a meeting presenting a marketing plan—that you have spent two weeks of sweat—to the management.  Everybody nods at what you said and you are confident of your proposal. Mark, a senior executive in the company who was late for the meeting, steps in and you could feel the ground trembling. Suddenly, your heart begins to pound faster and you could hear your voice going lower. You have an unstoppable reason not to continue your speech: Mark is confrontational, pointed, aggressive, and the ultimate pusher. Everyone knows nothing is pleasing to Mark’s ears and every sentence you said will receive a grenade.  Does this sound familiar?

The Belligerents “attack” when they want to get things done; it’s their way of asserting the authority through aggression. Watch your emotions when dealing with The Belligerent: Do not attempt to counterattack, defend, or shut down.

The Belligerents do not attack at those they respect. Thus, when they throw a grenade, let it blast fully, and acknowledge receipt with an assertive response.

The Inept

You were two minutes late for work today and Peter is waiting for you at your workstation, with a stare. He “strolls” the office daily for latecomers in the morning and early boomers in the evening, but Peter takes three-hour “business” lunch every day, and claims for all of them.  

The Inepts are incompetent in their work and are thus uptight with their subordinates’ performances. Their primary role is to secure and keep their job!

You were in the Pantry when Peter’s boss called. Unfamiliar with a project status, Peter walks to you at the Pantry: You have to prompt him the answers questioned by the boss.

Mistaken that the tele-conversation has ended, you turn your back to Peter and continue making your coffee. Suddenly, you feel something on your right shoulder and realises that Peter has thrown a table cloth at you! Speechless, you walk away and did not help him with the last answer.

The Bedevilment

It’s ten in the evening and you are still in the office. Your male boss presented himself with an excuse to pick up some documents and insisted to drive you home. With another excuse to discuss a project, you reluctantly end up at a lounge drinking with him.

The Bedevilments are high-profiled male executives who abuse their authority on female colleagues and forbid other male colleagues to get close to their “target”.

Soon, rumours spread that you are seducing your boss!

You wish all these are fictions, but they are not. If you have encountered any of the above examples, update your resume.