SusanofO
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Joined: 12/19/2005
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I vote for ultimately seeking other employment (after a few months of tranquilizers first, maybe. What can I say? I'm a wee bit of a martyr, and hold out the impossible hope things will somehow magically improve, if the situation is awful. But only if the problem is one I can realistically view as a short-term one.) But in the long-run, life really is too short to waste in really miserable situations, if it can be avoided, IMO.
I've had bosses I've loved and a few that weren't so great. I've had some really rewarding jobs. I've rarely had any problems with co-workers (I've been lucky that way) but I did have a "boss from Hell."
I had a female boss once that actually rarely showed up at work. She didn't even know who some of our top clients were, plus, she had the attention span of a gnat. She'd stroll into the office about 10 or 11a.m. (if at all) - sometimes she phoned to say she'd just be at "her (country) club that day", instead (seriously).
Meanwhile, my department (who was immediately resposible to her) were just toiling away, doing all of the work she didn't do - and without any guidance whatsoever (not that hers would have mattered much, since she had the IQ of a fruit-fly).
When she did appear at work, she made sure she let everyone at work know about how she'd had this seriously "derprived childhood", but that since she'd married her millionaire stock-broker husband, things were now looking rosy. Translation: I don't need this job, really, and don't care how I behave or treat anyone. This went on for months and months.
The administration at this company was so bad, they were all either out playing golf, or just not minding the store. Nobody at the top even realized she was ever AWOL. No kidding.
One night, I was going home, and it was way past the time everyone else had gone (it was about 7pm), and she was there (surprisingly). She told me I'd have to stay a bit later, because some project "urgently needed attention".
Something inside me just snapped. I turned around and said to her: "Then you do it. I'm leaving. I and my entire department have been dealing with your lack of reponse and general laziness for months. I don't think it's too much to ask you to at least show up for work. If you don't want this job, why don't you just quit? Are you afraid your husband wouldn't think you're a modern woman, if you didn't pretend to have a career? Because you're just pretending to have one, you know. And everyone else who has a brain here, knows it, too. Also - I quit!"
So. I am not the person to ask, maybe. But - it is the only time in my entire working life I've ever just completely lost my temper at work. She was just terrible, as a boss (and also as a person) - but I really should have gone to Personnel and complained about her before I quit. I'd just lost faith it would matter at all, the administration was so almost non-existent at that company.
After I left, almost my entire department did, too (nobody wanted to work with this woman, or be accountable to such an idiot). I felt a little guilty about leaving, or at least not handling it better. But my sanity was really at stake, at that point, I felt.
I found another job within a month, at a better salary, so all was not lost.
I can deal with a challenging co-worker. I am a hard worker, and pretty easy-going, and get along fine w/most everyone.
But (IMO) a really bad boss can make someone's life miserable. If the situation is really really bad, then it's not a crime to look for other employment. It's not a character flaw, or a reflection on you. If you've got a terrible situation, you might need to leave.
On the other hand, everyone has a challenging day here and there - and it could be "just one of those days" (or even weeks). in which case, I just try to come home and chill. Relax. Take a hot bath. Listen to some music or tv.
But if it starts being "just one of those months", it might be time to check out other options? Good luck and hang in (if it's worth it).
- Susan
< Message edited by SusanofO -- 2/23/2007 8:42:58 PM >
_____________________________
"Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all". - Emily Dickinson
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Bosses and co-workers from HELL! - 
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