Horrible Boss?

What I learned from my years in management ... was that I did not like being in management.

What I learned from my years of working for a large corporation ... was that I didn't like it.

Thankfully when the airline had a 'reduction in force' my years of seniority were just low enough to get me out. (I had the option of relocating, but the company was doing me a favor ... I'd been wanting to quit).

I took my severance package and took a month long vacation at home.

Now I have my dream job.

My coworker is my husband.

Our boss is miles away and we never see him. (Heh! This boss we actually like.)

I grew up in a manufacturing environment, and loved it for years. Spent just about my entire adult life in management, and loved that also.

I like to travel, and spent year or so once driving a tractor trailer from Nashville to LA and back. I liked it, but not as much as I did running an assembly department.

You know what they say, Joelle, different strokes for different folks.

I agree, Don!

My sister can barely drive her car. She would not do well in my job. She would probably be dangerous.

But she does an awesome job running the hotel she manages. She loves her job. I would hate trying to do her job.

And I guess that is the thing. Find what you love to do ... and do that.

Perhaps the worst bosses are ones who hate what they are doing?

Or those who are insecure, and feel powerless, and use their employees to compensate.

Ann

Very true, Ann.

The worst bosses are those that can't live without a rule book, don't know how to make a spot decision, and then blame everyone except themselves when things go wrong.

There are times when people who have not had a lot of experience suddenly find themselves in a position that they preceive to be powerful, and simply don't have a clue what to do. Most overcompensate by using what little power they have to try and punish someone, when what they really should do is wait a bit, watch what happens, and try to learn from each new experience.

More new supervisors fail because of this than for any other reason. Now and then one makes it through the system and becomes one of those totally hated "bosses" that you guys have been talking about here.

Once again, being a good "boss" is not all that hard. All you have to do is ask yourself how you'd really like for your boss to treat you, and then treat those who work for you that way. You'll find that the job gets done, and at the end of the day you can go home knowing that you accomplished something. By the way, that's also what your employees need to feel when they go home.

Also , some bosses to watch out for are those who have never worked for anyone else.

They can be quite contrary due to lack of insight.

I've never cared where a good idea came from, and I've never failed to give credit where it was due. If I told an employee that I needed to get 200 widgets placed into 200 widget holders by the end of the day, I never cared how they did it, so long as is got done. If one of them had a better idea or a better way than mine, then that's how we did it. Too many would be "bosses" want to tell them exactly how to pick up each widget, how to move it, and how to place it inside the widget holder. That's because they want to think they are controlling every action of their employees. These are the same guys, by the way, who will blame the employee if the job isn't done right, even though it was done exactly as they'd specified.

I have always figured that if the widget was placed inside the widget holder properly, then it didn't make any difference how they did it. I never micro managed, never saw the need for it, and never missed a production number or a deadline.

By the way, I've never believed in "make work" either. If our goal was 200 widgets in the holders by quitting time, and they got them done 30 minutes early, then we did a bit of cleaning up and stood around till it was time to go home. If you never stop asking for more, pretty soon you'll find that they won't be quite finished by quitting time, and then you'll have to try and figure out what to do about that. What you do is let them accomplish what you told them to accomplish, and then tell them how good they did, and give them a break. Isn't that what you'd like for your boss to do for you?

You were an ideal boss.

Alice, my dear, those are very kind words, but I doubt there's any such thing. But I can truthfully say that I worked hard at being the best I could. I've fired people and then have then shake my hand and tell me it wasn't my fault when I took them to the door.

The Golden Rule works, regardless of what some may think. If you've ever seen someone get chewed out really bad in front of their co-workers, and felt really bad for them, then you know how much you never wanted that to happen to you. I always took it off the floor.

I've fired my nephew and my wife's sister, and when you do something like that, you always get a bit of a reputation. As in, "Well, hell, if he'll fire his wife's sister, then Harpe ain't playing." And I never was playing, I was working. Sometimes things got personal, and sometimes I got mad, but I always tried to be professional, and that means you let folks keep their dignity. That way you might lose an employee, but they'll know it was because they were wrong.

I have had jobs where the person who owned the company stole checks from the back of the check book and wrote them for thousands of dollars that were not in the bank. Of course, the electric bill bounced, as did all of the vendor checks.

That man was a moron. He did not pay the IRS and finally they auctioned his stuff off on the court house steps. He thought he was somebody. Still does. He weighs 750 pounds and was arrested by the vice squads for soliciting a prostitute (who was undercover for real) and took it as a compliment.

Since then, I have worked for my own self. I work hard every day, but I am the best boss I have ever had.

Love,
Betty

Betty, I would work for you in a heartbeat, no doubt about it!

Those who work for themselves work hardest.

Oye! I won't go into my worst experience, but I will say that even though I work a lot harder and more hours, it's great not to be under anyone's thumb now that I'm self employed.

There is nothing that can make you more humble than working for your own self. You become all the people all the time in the beginning.
Right now, I am the planner, the marketer, the planter, the sprayer, the trimmer, the thinner, the picker (big job that) the preserver, the storage person, the cleaner, the worrying person, the delivery, the retailer, the wholesaler, the PR person, the reception, the website manager, advertising manager, sign maker and poster, and the goat feed manager. The bookkeeper, the accountant, and finally the person I really am, me.

The way I see it, you have to have stuff to do. I have stuff to do. It keeps me going.

Love,
Betty

And when I owned a business I was also plumber. Everyone figured that since I had six kids I knew how to unplug the necessary plumbing. I did.

Carol

Are you speaking of the toilets?

Every business and home should have the American standard right height non-clogging toilet.

This one inovation would save countless lives and minds.

It would have been very nice to have toilets like that. We should have put them in our house.

Carol

Dear Alice,
Those kind of toilets are called "Outhouses." When they clog up, you just dig another hole and move it over.

Love,
Betty

Betty,

Wrong! I have three of them-wish I had had them when the kids were home.

They make life so much easier.

I just love the intellectual discussions we have here!!

But this is important. Believe me, I found that out in the last year. One time I was in a public bathroom looking desperate because the handicapped stall was locked for some reason and no one was in there, and I knew I couldn't use the other stalls. A woman came in and asked what was wrong, and when I told her she said, "No problem, I'll just crawl under the door and unlock it."

I think so much of that woman. I have always felt she probably had some prior experience with problems such as mine obviously was.

Carol

I absolutley love rushing into the ladies room only to find the handicap one occupied.

As I wait, iI wonder about which disability the occupant has--it is invarialy claustrophoibia.as an overweight lady almost always emerges.

Believe me, Alice, I know what you are talking about.

I will forever be grateful to all those who fought for assessability in public places. They enabled people to go out in the world.

Carol