In my time 2 particular bosses stand out:
Boss A, hated me and me him. Mainly because I undermined him at any opportunity because he simply didn’t understand what the company did. He came from a job where he sold stationary and was now in charge of a software company. He once tried to tell me that the head offices for one of my customers (one that spent in excess of 100K a year with the company) was not where I said it was but was in Bolton. He thought this because that’s where he used to sell them stationary. You should have seen his face when I grabbed the FD who had been on a meeting with me only a month earlier and asked him “where are BAE based again?” and he replied “Farnborough, we went there last month”. Boss A sank into his chair and then tried to tell me that another customer of mine didn’t make software despite being the largest producer of mobile phone billing software in the world, to which I simply called them up from his desk phone and asked the receptionist what they do and she quickly confirmed “we’re a software house” and hung up on me for asking such a stupid question. He lasted under a year.

Boss B (who incidentally replaced Boss A) was worse. He used to be the MD of Dell but knew nothing about software, in fact in his 12 month tenure never actually learned what software we made. He didn’t even learn the names of the products never mind the functions. He gave me a motivational speech once which consisted of “I want you to imagine you are getting on a plane, that plane then flies south passing over thousands of buildings, in each of those buildings is a company and within in each company there are workers and every worker has a desk and on each desk there is a computer, and on each computer there is software. Think about that” and turned away happy that he’d motivated me enough to forget the huge racial slur he’d an hour earlier spouted in front of the entire sales force that I’d gone in to his office to complain about.

And believe me this is the abridged version.
( The only Dave is pushing things forward, Thu 6 Sep 2012, 14:34, 6 replies)

"The MD of Dell"? Not Michael, surely?
(deadpidge, Thu 6 Sep 2012, 21:36, closed)

MD of Dell UK.

( The only Dave is pushing things forward, Thu 6 Sep 2012, 22:27, closed)

it doens't matter how right you are
bosses don't like being called out in public. You may be able to hold your head high as you leave the office but they're going to be able to fire you.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Thu 6 Sep 2012, 22:08, closed)

They did!

( The only Dave is pushing things forward, Thu 6 Sep 2012, 22:26, closed)

Set up your own company.
I'd work for you. Until you fire me.
(judgetheobscure used to sweep in butchers' shops., Fri 7 Sep 2012, 12:28, closed)

Can I be your boss?
I'm always way out of my depth. So out of my depth in fact that I may well be over qualified. Forget I asked.
(Ovon Bort Wondering why he chose this username, since 1999, Fri 7 Sep 2012, 19:30, closed)