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Is Your Boss An Idiot?
Dracos writes "CNN Money is running an article entitled "Is Your Boss An Idiot?" Advice on how to cope with a PHB is prefaced with humorous, though suspiciously anecdotal, examples of how to identify one."
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So, Yes my boss is an idiot
What a fool! Always late for meetings, never gives any supportive commentary, the pay sucks, the hours are long, and _HE_ gets all the glory for the crap I have to do all day long! What a bozo!
Waiddasec. I work for myself.
Is there a doctor in the house?
Event Management Solutions : http://www.stonekeep.com/
Why? It's the Peter Principle...
In companies, people get promoted on merit, status and capabilities, going further up in the company until... they reach a position that they're incompetent or ineffective in. Why? Because they will get promoted no further and it's incredibly hard to demote people without causing harm to the way the company structure works.
In theory you could increase productivity in a company by demoting everybody by one position. That way everybody is operating at the edge of their abilities, not way beyond them.
Well, they give all managers lobotomies. How else would they be able to stand going to meetings for 7 hours a day.
Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?
Of all the annoying bosses I've had, the 'technical' bosses were the worst... Early in my career, I had a boss who would want to try and 'fugure out' my code. He would stay all night and call me at 4:00 am because my code was 'broken' and I had to fix it be the open of business THAT DAY... would turn out he had changed the code to see what it would do, broke it, deployed it to check if it was broke, and then couldn't remember what he had changed! Source control saved me many many hours of work during that stretch...
Most people, and therefore employees, are also idiots.
There was an office manager where I worked who had absolutely no idea. He just happened to be the brother-in-law of one of the Directors of the organisation (an ISP).
Other than having a propensity to open up every infected email he received (the best one was when he sent "I Love You" to all the employees), he did some other things that were pretty stupid. My favourite, however was when one of our bigger clients needed to talk to him about something. We looked all round the office, and couldn't find him, so we suggested to the client that they called him. The boss answered the phone, and they had a conversation about whatever it was that was required, though there was a really bad echo on the line. The disucssion was, however, suddenly punctuated by quite a loud "plop!", as if something was dropped into a bowl of water. It then dawned on the client why nobody could find him when we went looking.
He was on the crapper!
This guy had answered his mobile phone to one of our largest clients, while sitting on the john! The client had called the manager in front of us, and we wondered why he at first went bright red and then broke down in laughter.
He didn't tell us what had happened until later.
-- james
Anyway, compared to a lot of these comments, I feel quite lucky. My boss (her name is Kari), is very nice. She's not too nosy, trusts me to do my job correctly, and takes enough time off for her family that she doesn't mind when I take a "sick day" here or there. Others I've heard, aren't so lucky. I have a Worst Case Scenario Handbook for work (quite humorous), and it lists three different types of bosses in there. The Micromanager, The Workaholic, and The Buddy.
The Micromanager - I think everyone has had one, a boss that wants to be into absolutely everything you do, and is basically breathing down your neck 24/7. The advice the book gives is to flood this boss with information. Copy them on every e-mail, no matter how miniscule the subject matter.
The Workaholic - I've never had this type of boss, but this certainly seems like sound advice: put vacation pamphlets on their desk, tell them about your family, show them pictures of your kids, etc. This type of boss has lost touch with the real world, they say. Unless you bring him back to some degree, or show him you're not the same, and that you have a family (or computers) that need your love and attention, this boss will demand the same performance from you.
The Buddy - I've been accused of being this way in other positions. I like to get to know the people I work with, and I'm constantly giving them too much information about my personal life. I'm a bit nosy too, so I ask a lot about things that they did over the weekend. I'm a people-person, I can't help it! ;) The book recommends that you either avoid this boss at all costs or you "make up" a hobby that you can safely tell them about without divulging any information that is of any consequence.
+5, Female
I'm a slashdot reader too, so I sent them an email complaining of the lack of a CowboyNeal option.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - You can't live with 'em. And you can't shoot 'em. "
Apparently they missed their own headlines a few days ago:
"Salvador Tapia returned to the Windy City Core Supply warehouse where he had been fired six months ago and killed six of his former co-workers, police said Wednesday."
Apparently, if you can't live with 'em, you can shoot 'em.
- Kate
"DNA is life. The rest is just translation."
All those who work in the White House say: Amen!
Carpe Diem: Seize The Day!