Recently I wrote a Reddit post of screenshots from bad bosses to their employees. Well, it turned out the BuzzFeed Community had stories of their own to share — and they, unfortunately, confirmed that some people just don't deserve to be in charge in the workplace.
So here are some of the worst bosses people have ever dealt with:
Note: Some stories were taken from this Reddit thread.
Note: This post contains topics of verbal abuse. Please proceed with caution.
1. "I started a job at a café and unfortunately three weeks in, I got a really bad cold and informed my boss — I messaged my coworkers, asking if they could cover for me. I really didn't feel comfortable working while I was coughing and sneezing constantly (I got my shift covered at the last minute). Then two weeks later, my partner's 76-year-old mum got extremely sick and ended up in the hospital unexpectedly (she made it, and she's going strong today). I called my boss and told him the news around 9 p.m. while sobbing, and he had the nerve to say when he goes home he's off the clock and doesn't want to be bothered. I told him I was sorry my phone had died, and I didn't have anyone else's phone number — I got his off of the café's Facebook. He called me a few days later and told me I should be in a position where I need to be less emotional and get through work — we are a team."
"Fuck you, Mark — I hope you business goes down in flames."
2. "My boss attempted to reprimand me through a hateful email about being unprofessional, and threatened to extend my yearly-probationary period a month before it'd expire. I had to miss work when my two young daughters were sick and being tested for COVID (it was the height of the pandemic). I work for a prison and was literally NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO WORK per our COVID policies until they had negative test results. I pointed this out to him, and he immediately apologized and backtracked. Asshole."
3. "For months I had informed my supervisor of my grandfather's health conditions, so news of him passing away shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. I asked for the next few days off to help with arrangements and to be with my family. My supervisor said: 'Why? They're not burying him tomorrow.' I responded (uncharacteristically calm): 'It doesn't matter if he's buried tomorrow or not — my family needs me.' Thankfully I'm no longer at that job. I do regret not reporting my supervisor, but I have a feeling it wouldn't have done any good."
4. "My boss was an attorney who knew I was underpaid but acted friendly towards me. Whenever I interviewed somewhere else and they called for references, he lied about me being impatient and said I had a temper when dealing with others. Luckily, I had given my next interviewer written copies of annual performance reviews that he had written praising me. I didn't learn about the lies until a year after leaving my job and my boss. The interviewer told me she found someone else in my references who had said that '[my boss] was an asshole.'"
5. "I was an assistant to a spoiled person. Her dad wanted her to take over the business (he was an insurance agent), and she wanted to 'save kids from cancer.' So, my job was to call people to remind them of their monthly payments, and in passing, try to convince them to donate to the cause. I could do it — I've had worse jobs. But, she would sit next to me all day, 'observing' how I worked, telling me off for not saying exactly what she wanted me to say, but not telling me what she wanted me to say. She would drone on about her rich friends while I was trying to make the calls, would get mad if I interrupted her to make a call, and at the end of the day she'd tell me off for making so few calls. Also, her idea to 'save kids from cancer' was to paint the wall of the hospital full of 'Disney' characters (it was painted with Bugs Bunny and friends, and according to her, 'Disney' would heal the kids faster)."
"When I quit, I just blurted everything out. She was so mad that she got up, pushed my chair out of the office and into the lobby, got in the way so I wouldn't grab my purse until I told her I would call the police. Then she threw the purse at me and didn't let me get my office stuff, like my mug, notebook, pens, and even the stapler I had bought because she didn't provide me with any office supplies."
6. "Once I worked as a hairdresser at Celly's in Brighton, and the owner wasn't a hairdresser (more of an entrepreneur). Anyway, we were in the car driving between salons (he owned three) and I told him I was gay — his response was that he'd allow it. I was thinking: 'WTF — you'll ALLOW it???' First of all, I'm a HAIRDRESSER — of course I'm gay. Secondly, you'll allow it, like you have any fucking choice?"
7. "I worked nine years for a real winner. She used to sing my praises in the morning, then keep me two hours after work to tear me down until I was in tears — over and over again. She would ask me to call her by her first name, then yell at me for not using her proper title and surname. She was the epitome of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (and she was an actual doctor!). I fell behind on my filing, so she dictated a threatening letter to me, made me type it, and then sign it."
8. "I worked for a lighting/electrical company as an account manager several years ago. My main job function was to take service calls from our clients and dispatch technicians to fix the problem. The president was a cheap, immoral bastard, and that trickled down to the rest of us. Due to inept corporate mismanagement, one of our branch offices was forced to shut down. My boss, who was manipulative and controlling, informed me and everyone in my position that we were then required to be on-call after hours with a company cell phone and a binder of subcontractors on a rotating weekly basis. When I objected, she said: 'It's part of your job' (despite the fact that no such stipulation existed in my offer letter)."
"I was woken up at two or three in the morning several times to call half a dozen contractors to dispatch an electrician or a lighting technician on an emergency service call. I absolutely hate myself for even tolerating that shit.
It turned out the president was using money from a side company he owned to pay the debts from our company, which I'm pretty sure was illegal. I'm amazed they're still in business."
9. "I worked in a kitchen at a retirement home. I was the morning cook and became good friends with the night cook before he got promoted to head chef. I even attended his wedding with my partner, and overall had a good time. Shortly after he got promoted, he started to get more and more lazy — I'd have to stay later in the day to make sure all the orders were put away. He'd sit outside and smoke for an hour at a time (I put up with it for a few months). When I told him that my partner was pregnant and my son was due in July, all he said was: 'Oh, man, that better not fuck up my birthday weekend.' Fast forward to when my partner went into labor at 4:30 a.m. — I called my boss and told him I wouldn't make it to work, seeing as my son was being born. He called me back at 5:30 a.m. asking if my son was born yet, and when I told him no, he asked if I could come in for a few hours while we waited."
10. "I worked for a veterinary hospital for three years, and it didn't matter how sick someone was — you had to go in. If someone called out sick, the rest of the employees would just bad-mouth them. I worked Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and we were open just for emergencies. I was the only receptionist on Sundays, and I had to go in once with severe vertigo because I knew I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't show up. I was never late, and I never took a sick day. I also was the only one who covered for others when they couldn't work. One day [my bosses] called me into the office to tell me they were taking my eight-hour Monday shift and giving it to a receptionist who had been there a long time because 'she needs the extra money.' I quit on the spot — they were so nasty and mean for no reason at all."
11. "When I worked overnight (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.), I was regularly expected to attend 9 a.m. meetings (that's FOUR hours after my shift ended). They sometimes lasted more than two hours. But, I was still expected to be back in that night on time. My managers could never understand why I hated going to those meetings. I told them it was like them (who worked a standard 9–5) coming in at midnight for a meeting. They still didn't get it...working 'off' hours BLOWS."
12. "One boss decided to change my job description and duties 100% with no training. He did this to try and make me quit so they could deny unemployment. That one made me cry every day before work — it was brutal. Another boss of mine fired three of us for refusing to do an improper entry so he could get his bonus for the quarter."
13. "I had a store manager who didn't talk to you, but talked at you. He once asked me why the store wasn't right the night before, and I reminded him I was off duty — he told me to shut up. Then, he proceeded to tell me for 20 minutes about how even when I'm off, it's my responsibility to make sure everything is done. He lost his job a few days later when every non-manager walked out and told the district manager we wouldn't return to work until he was gone."
14. "My current boss [is awful]. He micromanages, but worse, he micromanages us into doing stupid stuff. Like, he'll come look over your shoulder and ask you how your task is going, and you'll say: 'Well, I can do it this way, which is more efficient, cheaper, faster to implement, and easier to read.' Then he'll say: 'No — do it the less-efficient, slower, messier way that gives baby seals cancer.' I exaggerate a bit, but he always chooses the worse of two options. If you don't give him a second option, he makes up his own (and it's worse than whatever you could think of)."
15. And: "Oh, there have been so many, but I'm going to go with the jerk who started selling Amway from his office. He was pressuring all of his staff to buy stuff, and implied that people buying from him and/or joined him on the pyramid would benefit from it (they'd get raises, extra vacation, etc.). He also tried to get the company to start purchasing through his side business. I reported him, and when HR asked him if it was true, he said: 'Sure is! Do you want in?' Bam — escorted out the door."
Note: Some stories have been edited for length and/or clarity.