The worst boss you ever had.
Discussion
Mad, French, chain-smoking woman, rolled into the office 45 minutes after everyone else, had a 10 minute fag break every hour without fail. By the end of the day it was like sitting next to an ashtray and would make me gag. Would leave important sign-off work sitting around until 5 minutes before the deadline even though she had nothing else to do, so clients were calling asking where their £n-hundred million pounds is.
She also used to make weird noises with her mouth when on the phone - imagine a sharp intake of breath through your teeth with lots of saliva being swooshed around - really disgusting to listen to all day long, and I can only imagine what it sounded like to people at the other end of the phone.
Totally obnoxious.
She also used to make weird noises with her mouth when on the phone - imagine a sharp intake of breath through your teeth with lots of saliva being swooshed around - really disgusting to listen to all day long, and I can only imagine what it sounded like to people at the other end of the phone.
Totally obnoxious.
Pigeon said:
hidetheelephants said:
Schadenfreude is an unattractive trait, but this is a pleasing confirmation of an opinion...
Then you had better reconsider your opinion. I have met her myself and have corresponded with a lot of other people who have also met her, and the opinions you quote are the only two of their kind from the entire sample and are diametrically opposed to everyone else's.She doesn't have a good reputation in the industry (again, experience), and was unpleasant when I met her. Definitely designs above her station, which is a shame for a slightly-above-average-looking girl with massive norks.
I don't wish to fall out with you, and have chosen not to attack you personally (as you did to me on the previous page), but I think you're being a smidge blinded by spin and cleavage in Lucy's case.
In my early twenties I worked for a man who was a militant predatory homosexual. It was the early nineties - recession time - and he knew that I needed the job. I went to the greatest lengths to let him know I wasn't interested, even arranging for my then girlfriend to meet him a few times. When he finally got the message he went out of his way to make my life a complete misery, behaving outrageously. In the end he got me sacked by going to the MD and claiming that I had made homophobic remarks about him. I sincerely hope he has died of AIDS.
Justayellowbadge said:
What grounds could they possibly have used?
This is not a coffee related question, for the resident punsters.
It was mid nineties and at the time people weren't so bothered about emplyee rights (or maybe they were, we were just indoctrinated into thinking that was how things work) so no reasons would ever have been given. Basically 'fThis is not a coffee related question, for the resident punsters.
k off' would have been the reason.There were literally daily stories about his behaviour. Quite funny on one hand, but horrific on another.
CraigW said:
the habitat frame bit made me laugh
"The most
expensive work, Marc Chagall's La Piste
du Cirque, was sold for £530,000.
Christie's began to question the authenticity
of the bids, the court heard, when
Ms Hyams talked about placing one of the
paintings in a frame she had seen in the
high street chain, Habitat"
CraigW said:
the habitat frame bit made me laugh
Some of his other little stunts wouldn't. He set fire to his Rover SD1 Twin plenum Vitesse 'cos he fancied a new Range Rover. Not long after that he set fire to the whole lab.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1504059&...
One previous boss was a real workaholic and thought that his staff should all be the same. He'd do things like sending emails at 11pm so everyone knew he was working, arranging team meetings at 5pm to squeeze an extra hour at work out of people and checking up on people. Once I worked from home for a morning because I had a plumber coming round, then went into the office in the afternoon. He called me at precisely 4.55 to ask me to 'urgently' produce some reports and the next day I was going through his diary to find a suitable time to arrange a meeting with him and someone else, and at 4.55 there was a note which said 'Check XXXX (me) at work'. I tackled him about it and after blustering that I was 'trusted' to see his diary and shouldn't snoop (like he never did), he said he only wrote it to remind himself to ask if I'd submitted a holiday form.
The same guy also wanted to have doctors visit his staff at home if they were sick to check they were really ill, and if you were working from home he'd making a point of calling you on your landline to check you were there, then claim he'd 'accidentally' dialled it instead of our blackberries.
Another guy I used to work for refused to use email so he'd make me print out his emails, then he'd write a reply on the bottom and I'd have to type and send it. He also usually threw the pieces of paper across the office towards my desk rather than actually handing them to me.
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
The same guy also wanted to have doctors visit his staff at home if they were sick to check they were really ill, and if you were working from home he'd making a point of calling you on your landline to check you were there, then claim he'd 'accidentally' dialled it instead of our blackberries.
Another guy I used to work for refused to use email so he'd make me print out his emails, then he'd write a reply on the bottom and I'd have to type and send it. He also usually threw the pieces of paper across the office towards my desk rather than actually handing them to me.
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
Silver said:
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
that's seriously not coolamirzed said:
Silver said:
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
that's seriously not coolThe nasty b
d who employed me (see a couple of pages back) would NOT employ woman. I think he was afraid of them.I am also very slow and worked out what T&A are.
Fish981 said:
BrabusMog said:
Luckily I never ended up getting to work with him as he was arrested for fraud the day after I handed my notice to my then current employer. Still, bloody terrible!
Are you referring to Hyams? Wherewere you going to work withhimEdited by Ollie_M on Tuesday 15th September 13:34
amirzed said:
Silver said:
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
that's seriously not cool
dudleybloke said:
amirzed said:
Silver said:
Also had a narrow escape a few years back - I went for an interview and the MD was a horrible scumbag who told me he wanted an assistant with T&A to show off to clients, asked me if I was a 'redhead all over' and asked how often I had sex. Foul, foul man.
that's seriously not coolI left the course I was doing at uni to change and so had nothing to do for half a year and thought I might as well get a job to make a bit of cash. So I worked at a petrol station with this fat old hag of a manager. I wondered why the employee turnover was so great; it worked out at approx. one person leaving and another joining each month.
She was the most rude, abusive bh that has ever held the title manager. I was contracted 24h, as I had another part time job with a 14h contract.
When I started working there I was told that it would be three 8 hour shifts etc, but eventually ended up working 40h a week including two night shifts- working 10pm to 6am and then again at 2pm to 10pm.
She knew my hours at my other job and still made the rota so that I had to work 4pm to 10pm at one job, and then get to that job for 10pm to work until 6am, and be back there again at 2pm. When I asked why she'd done this even though I told her my other hours (which were the same shifts each week) she said, and I quote; "Well we give you more hours than there so make them move the shifts around instead."
One week I was asked to work 40h and then she rang me up to cover another two 8 hour shifts, I said I can't work more than 48hours a week and she replied "Actually, that's an average over time so you have to."
The icing on the cake was something she said one day in passing, trying to make it sound like a joke; "Don't bother making a complaint about me, they've tried to do me for bullying twice already and never caught me!".
I quit and found out about 6 months later than she'd been fired- eventually she couldn't palm off all the night shifts to the youngsters working there (and as part of the insurance contract is that there has to be someone on site at all times- the minimum wage of someone aged 18 is much cheaper than a security guard), and had to do a night shift herself- she got her husband in and they both sat in the back office without opening the petrol station. She got fired for gross misconduct. Hopefully she can never find another job, although it'll be a shame that my taxes pay her.
She was the most rude, abusive b
h that has ever held the title manager. I was contracted 24h, as I had another part time job with a 14h contract.When I started working there I was told that it would be three 8 hour shifts etc, but eventually ended up working 40h a week including two night shifts- working 10pm to 6am and then again at 2pm to 10pm.
She knew my hours at my other job and still made the rota so that I had to work 4pm to 10pm at one job, and then get to that job for 10pm to work until 6am, and be back there again at 2pm. When I asked why she'd done this even though I told her my other hours (which were the same shifts each week) she said, and I quote; "Well we give you more hours than there so make them move the shifts around instead."
One week I was asked to work 40h and then she rang me up to cover another two 8 hour shifts, I said I can't work more than 48hours a week and she replied "Actually, that's an average over time so you have to."
The icing on the cake was something she said one day in passing, trying to make it sound like a joke; "Don't bother making a complaint about me, they've tried to do me for bullying twice already and never caught me!".
I quit and found out about 6 months later than she'd been fired- eventually she couldn't palm off all the night shifts to the youngsters working there (and as part of the insurance contract is that there has to be someone on site at all times- the minimum wage of someone aged 18 is much cheaper than a security guard), and had to do a night shift herself- she got her husband in and they both sat in the back office without opening the petrol station. She got fired for gross misconduct. Hopefully she can never find another job, although it'll be a shame that my taxes pay her.
My worst boss is still quite painful to talk about. He had it in for me from the start, and I still don't know why, although the reason 'jealousy' has been suggested to me a number of times by others. Constantly told me I was crap, constantly picking on me and constantly trying to catch me out.
In terms of Pygmalion leadership it was a textbook case - I started working for him at a fairly low point in my life anyway, and his constant assertions as to my lack of ability had me believing in no time that I was useless which drove me even lower. Despite this, I managed to always stay one step ahead of him and he didn't manage to catch me out for a good couple of years.
He finally got me, and got me moved on, over something I still have no recollection of doing, so I am forced to wonder - did I do it absent mindedly in my poor state of mind, or did he set me up? It's stranger still when one considers that he knew exactly where to look and hadn't looked in any other areas
In hindsight I would have played the situation a lot differently, but I was in a bad place so I just kept taking it. I was, in any event, grateful to be moved on as it got me away from him and I've had a great time since.
I've heard it said that 'Honest men know that revenge does not taste sweet', but I've also heard that it's best served cold, and one day I will get the bd.
In terms of Pygmalion leadership it was a textbook case - I started working for him at a fairly low point in my life anyway, and his constant assertions as to my lack of ability had me believing in no time that I was useless which drove me even lower. Despite this, I managed to always stay one step ahead of him and he didn't manage to catch me out for a good couple of years.
He finally got me, and got me moved on, over something I still have no recollection of doing, so I am forced to wonder - did I do it absent mindedly in my poor state of mind, or did he set me up? It's stranger still when one considers that he knew exactly where to look and hadn't looked in any other areas
In hindsight I would have played the situation a lot differently, but I was in a bad place so I just kept taking it. I was, in any event, grateful to be moved on as it got me away from him and I've had a great time since.
I've heard it said that 'Honest men know that revenge does not taste sweet', but I've also heard that it's best served cold, and one day I will get the b
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