Internet Users Talk About Their Bosses Whose Middle Names are Greed and Arrogance

Relationships between employers and employees are traditionally considered complicated. For some unknown reason, employers sincerely believe that employees are: obligated to work 24/7 for a tiny salary, work overtime without extra pay, do tasks that are outside of their actual duties, and generally be thankful for having a great opportunity to be working at “such a serious and respectable company.”

Of course, many people don’t like this kind of thing and internet users prove it with their stories about bosses who don’t always behave appropriately. Here are some of the most outrageous ones according to Bright Side.

1.

I was asked to come to work over the weekend. I simply answered, “I can’t!” I was looked at with surprise and my boss repeated, “You are obligated to.” I replied that I am only obligated to work 5 days a week and 8 hours a day, and left my boss to ponder the situation. He couldn’t even answer. © timohius / pikabu

2.

When I turned 19 I had a really great opportunity come my way — I got a receptionist position at a law firm. The job was super cool.

When I was 21, I was promoted to a legal assistant. At first, it was great and everything was going perfectly... until my boss hired my replacement. She was a beautiful, blonde, Brazilian young woman, one year older than me, and for sure she was very sweet. But she was a horrible pick for the position. She had no experience with any job at all, had never held any kind of position, did not know how to properly read and write in English, and was constantly calling out of work from the beginning.

The problem came when my boss expected me to do my job and hers, since he knew she wasn’t qualified. When I confronted him about it, he would make excuses for her. That’s when I realized he considered her more than an employee.

So, when I told him I wasn’t going to do that anymore, he told me I needed to choose between staying and doing what he said, or leaving, and he needed an answer before the workday was over. I said okay, took my lunch break, came back, and told him I quit and that I was leaving that day. He was shocked at first, because he thought I would stay and wanted me to give him at least 2 weeks notice, but I said, “You told me you needed an answer by today implying you were ready for whatever my answer would be. Good luck, I’m gone today, I’m not giving 2 weeks.”

2 weeks later, the receptionist quit too after realizing she was not qualified enough for her position without my help. © Laura Breton / Quora

3.

I got the position of manager at a travel agency. After a while, they asked me to replace the accountant for 2 weeks (just handling some money and paperwork). Eventually, I got fired because I couldn’t cope with the duties of the accountant!!! © Elena Yakovenko / Facebook

4.

5.

Our company had an IT guy who would work for half a regular salary and his workday was supposed to finish at midday, but he mostly left at 11 a.m. The guy was a good specialist — everything was working like a Swiss clock. He would always come a little bit earlier to update the programs and troubleshoot. He always helped other employees with various tasks. After having done all of his work, he would roam around the office rooms and surf the internet until 11 a.m.

When a new director came, he decided that this IT guy did almost nothing, that there was not much he should be paid for, and so he reduced his salary again giving him 2 times less. The guy didn’t like it and he resigned.

At first, everything was fine but later things started to break. Eventually, the director had to call the “IT ambulance.” After hearing the price of their services, he was shocked because it was 2 salaries of the former IT guy. He used this service a couple of times and then decided to hire a new IT guy. But neither he, nor other guys he hired, had even approximately the same skills as the old one. Earlier that guy could finish all the work by 9 a.m., but now the company had 2 IT guys who worked all day long and the results still weren’t that good.

Finally, the boss decided to call the former IT guy back, but got the following reply, “Thanks for firing me, otherwise, I wouldn’t know how much I really cost and how much I could earn.” Our boss is still in search of a good IT specialist, he has hired our eighth one within the past 6 months... © al56.81 / pikabu

6.

My friend worked as a merchandiser, she would put the goods on supermarkets shelves neatly and according to their colors. She worked for 2 or 3 years, fulfilling her work perfectly. Her colleagues who were responsible for other districts had a different approach to their duties — they could skip a couple of working weeks or even a month.

When my friend had exams in college, she started to work like everyone — she would come to every shop once a month, instead of once a week. All because she didn’t have enough time. At this time, her boss went to check how things were going in shops and saw the mess. At the next meeting, he told her, “I can understand other employees’ mess but you...! I could expect that from anyone but you!” and fined her. © KrasaPolina / pikabu

7.

Once my boss called me and asked me to work for another person who had a different position because there were not many things to do. When another employee resigned, the boss asked me to work for him too. “Just wait a bit until we find a new person.”

I ended up working for 3 people within one month — I wasn’t able to fulfill all the duties and told my boss about it and even the boss of my boss. At the end of the month, I learned from my boss that I am “the idiot who can’t do anything” and they cut my bonus. © AleksBoev / pikabu

8.

9.

I started to work as a barista in a coffee shop. The salary included fixed pay and bonuses. The more I sold, the more I made. Initially, I was making a little bit more than $125 for a 12-hour shift.

Gradually, the coffee shop started to have more visitors and the owner’s profit grew by 3 times. At that point, I was getting about $250 for a shift. But if earlier I didn’t have a very hectic schedule, now I had to prepare 400 cups of coffee per day and do the bakery as well. At the end of the day, I couldn’t feel my body and my legs were so sore I could hardly walk. My feet were not able to rest overnight and I had bad foot cramps...

One fine day, my boss comes and says he is going to reduce both my fixed pay and bonuses because I was making too much money. It meant less money for a shift than 2 years ago, but the number of clients to be served was more. I resigned the same day. There is another guy working instead of me now and he gets $100 per shift. There could be a wise conclusion here, but the coffee shop still works and the owner has already opened 4 more coffee shops. © Viandniak / pikabu

10.

I was working in a hospital as a receptionist. While there were no new patients and no paperwork, I would simply chill. Once the head nurse came and said:
Her: Why are you chilling here?
Me: There are no visitors now and all the paperwork has been done.
Her: Then go and help Nurse Jane, she can’t deal with the workload she has. (This nurse would stop to drink tea 3 times an hour, so, of course she wasn’t able to finish all of her necessary work).
Me: I can’t because then there will be a long line and I’ll be snowed under with work.
Her: You don’t want to work and you’re being rude to me, I’ll go tell the head physician about it.
Me: Ok, go ahead!
She left and slammed the door. © Mixonec / pikabu

11.

After having moved abroad, I started to work at a bakery where I was supposed to transfer buns from one tray to another. After the boss came and saw how I was doing it, at the end of the workday, I was asked to not come to work anymore. They said I had small hands and instead of the 4 buns I should be able to take, I was only able to take 2 at once. I wasn’t that disappointed. © Tatyana Ratnovski / Facebook

12.

I just called the company that invited me for a job interview and they said, “You’ll have to stay late at work.” I think that when your 9 hour workday turns onto an 11 or 12 hour workday, without extra pay, it is OK to sometimes be late for work in the morning. That’s why I always check with the employer when something like this comes up, and so I ask them back:
Me: This means I can be late if I have an objective reason like a traffic jam, right?
Them: No, being late is not OK. A traffic jam is not an objective reason, we fire people for this.
Me: So this means you don’t mind overworking people, but you are totally against them being a little bit late?
Them: I’m sorry, this is not the right position for you. © Anders138 / pikabu

13.

14.

A while ago, I was in an active search for work and went to a lot of job interviews. Here is one of them.

It was at a big company, the salary was a bit higher than the average, there were no bonuses, and a bunch of requirements. I arrived a little bit earlier than the appointed time and found a long line, like in a state hospital. I filled in the application form and had one more interview with a crotchety boss. I was feeling very uncomfortable. However, after the interview, the boss said that my credentials were not bad but, of course, they were not perfect and that they would call me back.

I wasn’t disappointed and left the office, actually feeling happy that I wouldn’t have to communicate with these people regularly at work. Several days passed and they actually called me back. A male voice started the conversation:
Him: Hi, we had a job interview with you the other day. I have an interesting offer for you. Come work with us for a day or 2 and let’s see what you can do. When would you like to come in?
Me: Okay, I can come tomorrow. I will bring my documents so we can formalize everything.
Him: Wait, you need to work first. This will be a probation day. Bring the docs later, after the probation period.
Me: How much am I gonna be paid for the probation day?
Him: Nothing. In our company, you need to first show what you can do.
Me: Well, I believe that a person should be compensated for any work they do.
Him: You know what! We are a serious company, but you keep talking about money. We are clearly not a good match for each other. Don’t call us back!
And he hung up. © weisekopf / pikabu

Bonus: Bosses can be good too.

Once my boss told me he didn’t want to work with me anymore. I answered, “OK, if you don’t want to work with me, feel free to fire me.” He forgot about our little fight and continued laughing for a long time. Since that moment, we have now been working together for 10 years! © Gulara Pirieva / Facebook

Have you ever had to deal with these kinds of bosses? What moments have you experienced at work that seemed the most outrageous to you?

Preview photo credit timohius / pikabu