Boss Horror Stories

In an LA Times story, the following bad boss stores were recounted from the My Bad Boss contest sponsored by the AFL-CIO:

Last year's winning entry was "Dr. X," a dentist who took $100 out of each employee's paycheck for every canceled appointment.

The contestants, all anonymous, tell many horror stories.

One of the hundreds posted is about a lawyer who called the office every morning to give instructions as he brushed his teeth and conducted other business in his bathroom; another is about a manager who refused to let an employee whose husband had a brain tumor take a day off unless she provided a note from a doctor.

The contestant "Momtimesfour" recounts the day her boss offered to buy everyone in the office lunch and took them to a discount warehouse, where he instructed them to dine on free samples in the grocery section.

"Melanie" from Alabama, a cancer patient who lost her hair as a result of chemotherapy, says she overheard her boss making fun of how she looked with a bald pate. And a pregnant pizzeria worker says her manager ordered her to complete her shift after she had gone into labor. "I stayed and waited on customers," she says, "and made pizzas between contractions."

The story goes on to say that several states have proposed legislation to protect workers against tough bosses. I think this legislation is silly. We, as leaders, don't need the government telling us how to lead, we simply need to look in the Bible. For more information about this and to learn from a real tyrant, please check out Bleedership, Biblical First Aid for Leaders.