Learn how to deal with a horrifying boss.

horrible bosses cartoonThis is a guest post by David Deke. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

It all started back in high school, looking for extra money, for concert tickets, bikes, skateboards and other miscellaneous stuff. I was about 14 years old, at the time, and had an opportunity to help a friend of my parents, work in the construction field, building houses.

Now I thought I was going to use the high pressured air guns, power saws, and heavy equipment, to put up some walls and a roof, but instead, was told to haul a pallet of wood, 500 yards across a hot concrete slab, in the middle of August. It was brutal! I ended up being a laborer and a gopher. Have you ever been there?

I had the worst boss in the world.

He even told me, “Son, I’m going to be the worst boss you are ever going to have, but, every boss from now on will be a piece of cake.” He was hard core. Always, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, bulling everyone around. And believe it or not, he really was the worst boss I ever had.

There are two ways to lead:

1) Lead By Example And Confidence In Your Staff

2) Lead By An Iron Fist And Having No Confidence In Self Or Staff.

Most bosses today lead by the latter.

They are always under pressure to perform, to produce, and to command others to do something. It is a disaster when a boss cannot control themselves, in front of other staff members. It’s embarrassing and not professional.

Thousands of managers and supervisors, do not feel confident themselves, therefore, when pressure and stressful situations start to happen, you will see signs a strain and voice modification will increase.

Does The Boss “Dangle” Your Job In Your Face?

In the past five years, since the recession began, I have seen numerous bosses throw their weight around, because they feel they can. They have abused their authority, by coming down harder on their employees. You or someone you know, may have a boss that acts like a bully or holds your job like some kind of “favor” they are doing for you.

Have you heard any of these statements over the past six months:

“Do it because I’m the boss!”

“Do you want to work here tomorrow?”

“I’m the boss, that’s why!”

“Too bad!”

“No, you can’t have Sunday off!”

Anytime a boss has to threaten you when you are doing your job, your boss has self-esteem issues they need to work out. Most times, they do not even see how bad they treat others, because of their own denial.

One of the main reasons, I became an entrepreneur was to get away from people that had authority and only abused it. Someone who was at the right place at the right time. Of course, being a small business owner you still have to “answer” to someone, however you hold the cards on the people you want to do business with.

If you find yourself in this “battered” relationship, with your boss, here are some things you can do, to get you through another day.

1) Set a personal goal – By This Date: _______2012, I Will Have Accomplished XYZ!

2) Communicate with your friends about your frustrations

3) Think “outside the box” – how can you use your talents to make extra money on the side so you do not need to work for your bully boss?

4) Find a solid e-course to learn how to make money from home

5) Start your own business and take the plunge

In A Catch-22 Situation

Depending how bad your boss is and your situation, it is always good to report bad behavior to upper management so something gets done. There must be documentation and verification, of the behavior.

You may find yourself in “hotter” water as before, if nothing happens to your boss. Your boss can threaten you even more and you may not have any backing to pursue any actions. Unless your boss is sexually harassing you, you cannot press charges for yelling at you and making you feel worthless. You have to look at the big picture and weigh all your options before presenting your case, in front of their boss.

Final Thoughts

You are a human being and should be treated like one. If your boss is a bully, and making you feel like an idiot, it is not your fault! They probably acted like that, on the playground and took little kids toys, away from them.

Next time your boss is cussing you out, just smile and nod, knowing they are the ones acting like a fool and do what Bill Murray did in the movie, “What About Bob?”, he would just hang-up and disconnect from the conversation.

About the Author

david deke portraitDavid Deke, a cancer survivor, business entrepreneur, creator, host, writer, and marketer, has started seven small businesses, and has over 25 years of marketing and business experience. His online series include: GetAClueMarketingShow.com, The “Take Action Series”, “Basic Cable TV Installer Training” and more. He continues to teach others how to break out of the mundane, work routine, into a more fulfilling lifestyle.

This article is part of the Over $6000 in Prizes: It’s The 6th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest, which was made possible thanks in large part to our sponsors:

WebHostingBuzz WebHostingBuzz is a reliable web hosting company with the servers hosted at multiple US and Europe locations and over 30,000 happy customers worldwide.
JibberJobber Organize your job search with JibberJobber, the top career and personal relationship manager online.

If you want David Deke to win, share this article with your friends.

If you liked this article, you'll also enjoy How to Smell a Bad Boss in Just One Interview.

Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email and follow me on Twitter for more tips on how to dodge bad warlord bosses.

Jacob Share

Job Search Expert, Professional Blogger, Creative Thinker, Community Builder with a sense of humor. I like to help people.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Kate

    This advice applies to everyone who is being bullied every where.

  2. Joan

    Thanks David. There’s a lot of mean bosses and jobs are as unpredictable and without guarantee as the share market these days! Job insecurity is prevalent and extreme and it causes bullying, rude behaviours and back stabbing. Employees talk down their colleagues and act with evil strategy, which leads to a total lack of true teamwork and it’s ineffective in terms of work goals. Unfortunately bosses will love who they love for whatever reason and their star employees outlast all other employees in that workplace and are promoted despite behaving like this.

Leave a Reply