My old boss..
Let's call her Diane.

She was my nemesis for a number of reasons, mainly because she did her best to drive me mental, and tried to fuck up my career, but also because she was convinced that her constant attempts to undermine absolutely everyone were perfectly reasonable behaviour.

Some examples...

- She completely ignored my advice and started a totally pointless argument with another Department, which blew up into an almighty barney which needed to be resolved by senior management, who decided that she was in the wrong and needed to drop it. She then blamed me (to our boss) because I hadn't been convincing enough to make her listen to my advice NOT to do it... she was entirely serious

- She delayed me getting promoted. When I challenged her on this, she said she thought I was ready, but she wanted to wait as she didn't want people to think she was an easy touch. This set me back a year in terms of pay and promotion.

- When we had to do an appraisal for the graduate in the team, we had a chat and agreed on a couple of areas of criticism. She then did the appraisal on her own and basically told the girl that I was the one who'd said all the negative stuff, and she was the one who'd said the positive stuff. This resulted in a week or two of the cold shoulder until I found out what had happened and explained...

- When a client said they didn't get on with HER in their annual feedback, she responded by telling ME that I needed to make more of an effort to ensure they understood how good SHE was... from then on, every time I came back from a meeting with them, she would check to make sure I had made positive comments about her during the meeting.

- When going over a presentation before a big meeting, me and her boss both reckoned she was wrong about some research she was quoting. She disagreed, so we went and checked, and she was wrong. She said our understanding of it must be wrong. So we actually went and tracked down the guy who'd done the original research (who luckily worked for our company). He also told her she was wrong. She then claimed that his research must be wrong, and even though she was supposed to be quoting his work, the way she was using it was better anyhow.. despite everyone saying it was wrong

- She got into an argument with a client in a meeting and ended up telling him that he was ignorant and didn't understand. He was understandably a bit put out and complained. She defended herself by saying that it was said in the heat of the moment, and she was under a lot of pressure because the meeting hadn't gone well, which was my fault because the presentation wasn't very good. Therefore, yet again, it was basically my fault...

- She was so intransigent, she once made her own boss cry at his desk. He was a well-balanced, fairly bloke-ish, middle aged man. He just broke down because he couldn't take any more of her arguments. Ashamed as I am to say it, I also ended up crying in the toilet on one occasion as I just couldn't believe how difficult she was. I think that's the only time someone else has made me cry since I was about 10.

I was later asked to work with her again. I said I'd rather boil my own head. Several others apparently said pretty much the same thing when asked, and she got passed over for promotion as a result. She left and went to another job elsewhere, with a promotion, on a massive salary. Sometimes you don't need skills, just a brass neck... the worst thing about it is I'm still really nice to her in person, as she's so frightening that I'm convinced she could make my life hell even from a different company.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 15:03, 11 replies)

Must be something about bosses called Diane.
I had one who was pretty much the same, only without the malice. Completely incapable of doing a good job, and blissfully ignorant of the fact that she was a fuckwit. Handing my notice in was possibly the most satisfying moment of my career.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 29 Apr 2010, 15:10, closed)

Mine was called Sharon
She was the Regional Financial Controller and I was FC of one of 'her' hotels.
She bullied everyone and lied blatantly. When I looked to complain I found that the people above her were too scared of her to do anything.
So I left and got a better job elsewhere. Cow.
(misspiggy In danger of having to get a job, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 15:44, closed)

How strange
Same here, another Diane but with extra malice and more hissy fits. She got me sacked (sorry, 'my employment terminated') after I told her what I thought of her.
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 18:47, closed)

But was she hot

(NuffMuff fucks shrubbery, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 16:01, closed)

Not really
I think even if she was, I would have found it difficult to see her in any sort of sexual way. She was just... some sort of evil being.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 16:08, closed)

Well then she sounds like a proper cunt

(NuffMuff fucks shrubbery, Thu 29 Apr 2010, 16:12, closed)

Was she Scottish and dark haired?
I think I know her, and her name isn't Diane.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 30 Apr 2010, 14:39, closed)

Nope. Neither.
Nor was she called Diane. I'm not going touse her REAL name...
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Fri 30 Apr 2010, 17:31, closed)

Sadly,
the amount of people in positions of power just because they've managed to bully or lie their way through the tiers of management is frighteningly large.
( Evil Bastardo, Fri 30 Apr 2010, 17:21, closed)

was going to reply something similar to this
but I see you've beaten me to it. But can I add, not necessarily bully their way to the top, but having had their mate as their line manager can be how it works.

Mine wasn't my direct boss per se, but the boss in the department I worked in, so getting along with her was kinda conducive to intradisciplinary working. I managed 15 months (12 of those involved many tears, messed up appetite - stress related, messed up sleeping, constantly questioning myself, my reasoning and my life choices!) sounds a bit funny/wet now, but I lived it.
All because this cow could not deal with HER stress and transferred it to everyone else. And because her mate was her boss, she never got pulled up over it. Its WHO you know.
The role I was in tended to get scapegoated (cos we had a professional obligation to go against the grain should our assessments suggest otherwise to what the Great Doctors had decreed) so run-ins were on a daily basis. Straightforward processes were turned into a great song and dance, and what should have been manageable was made extremely longwinded because we were 'asking too much' (ie a rehab focus as opposed to patch 'em up and give 'em a raised toilet seat, she'll be right)
Most people in my role seemed to manage 6 months before they left/transferred (so my 15months - quite an achievement/act of stubbornness if I do say so myself).
I figured that in the 2 years preceding my employment there, the team I worked in had gone through 6 of us. And will continue to do so.
The worst was watching a new member of staff turn from the bubbly outgoing fun person she was when she arrived, within months, to some angry stressed-out shell who was started on antidepressants and who used to burst into tears when she walked in the office.

I vowed I was going to fight the bitch, and her manager/mate, and started building up a case of evidence. I then had 3 weeks holiday, felt like a different person (being away from the bullshit work situ), snapped a week after I got back and figured it wasn't worth the effect on my mental health so left.
I was told by someone very senior and longstanding that other people had attempted to address this situation and basically lost, the employers had "very good lawyers"

End result, no happy ending, I'm burnt out, the thought of returning to that career still fills me with dread nearly 3 years on, my 'employment' now is cleaning houses, admin work and bumwiping. The girl who walked into my job afterwards lasted 6 months, burnt out and left.
The bitches continue to work there.

Calling it a Health Service is a fucking joke
(maggotriddendirtbox fast, feral and sharp as a tack since, Sat 1 May 2010, 2:43, closed)

intransigent..
I had to look that up on dictionary.com
So have a click for re-educating a stranger.

intransigent: someone who's refusing to agree, or compromise..

Putting it simply, a cunt.
(danniekavanagh did nothing constructive on, Sun 2 May 2010, 17:32, closed)