Since its Volunteer work, I would suggest to take it easy and try to mention old man (with respect — which they are craving for) some better ideas. If it does’nt works dont worry about it. Its not your whole life.

Of course I began to doubt myself and my abilities, since that is what people with any sort of conscious would do. Thankfully I have a little under a decade of military experience, during which time I fell under the finest leadership this country, maybe world, has to offer. Therefor, I can say confidently that my current boss would crumble beneath the benevolence of true leadership.

The leaders that have left a lasting impression on me and I wish to emulate, were cool under pressure almost to the point you would wonder if they preferred the chaos. They respect everyone, treat them accordingly and they never assume to know everything. They never micromanaged but never failed to give clear/concise guidance. Most of all, they always yielded to common sense solutions. KISS-Keep it simple, stupid.

In keeping with tradition of this blog and also to vent my own frustrations I have to talk about the bipolar pyschopath I work for now. Oh, how things change.

This particular individual is difficult to classify in any one of three categories above. This is because he has to be characterized by a more deep-seeded issue. This is the “threatened boss”. This was touched on early by a different guest but I wouldn’t say he is threatened by me in particular but more by his own inabilities.

Follow me, here.
Since the moment this man stepped onto the floor of our department he has never asked a question about anything, how things work, who does what or what we needed help on. He literally knew everything about everything and was and still is not afraid to tell about his extensive experience in the field. If you added up all the years of experience he has in different fields, he has been working for about 120 years. He will throw a trantum about the most insignificant problems and ignore or fail to make a decision on serious ones. Even better, I make the decisions since he won’t or he will literally ask me to do it and he be sure to take the credit for the success or throw me under the bus as quick as soon as he feels the least bit of heat from his boss.

So what to do now? I am firm believer that there is more to life than a job and more to a job than a paycheck, however, I do like my job and the company and I am also not about to put the burden of unemployment onto my family.

My plan is, I guess, to wait patiently for this boss to leave and cross my fingers for his job or a better mananger to take his place. I will be looking for other employment in the mean time and trying to work on my own patience for this poor excuse for a leader. I will continue to stand up for my people and my personal beliefs, but in a more controlled and tactful fassion.

Thank you for all your entries, they were needed and I hope for the best for all of you. Hopefully the knowledge that you will never become like any of these bosses about will bring you some comfort in your trials. Good luck.

I have the best co-workers who appreciate the work i do……because…i do something new every day…i try to improve their ways of working every day….
i try to give the best support i can every time it is required…..and i go out of my way to help them…..

in rarely rare cases…my boss appreciates me….but most of the time it is just….”i already know this” / “i know how to do it.” / “i wanted you people to figure it out.” / “it could have been even better.”….but in all the cases….my boss does not have the slightest idea what it is…!!!!

any suggestions on how i can tackle this issue….?

Initially we pulled along some how. At some point, I realized that he likes attractive people only. I have a woman who is aging and repulsive works for me. She is sincere, honest and hardworking but in some very tough cases is prone to mistakes. My boss would accept nothing less than rating her as a poor performer which I did not accept. The disagreement did not resolve. I held on to my ground even at the cost of my own review.

My boss gradually stopped involving me even in my own area of work. When I would ask him questions, he would blame it on me saying that I should have known if I had good relationship with my clients. He would in most cases not invite me for meetings and thereby not let me know the important facts. Later he would ridicule me by saying how little I knew some times with a cunning smile. He would say that my communication was poor and that was the reason why I could not gain the trust of my clients.

I think that this man some how thought that I was either stupid or by not agreeing to some of his decisions, he thought that I was openly confronting him or I am not sure what was in his mind, clearly some very vindictive traits. If I would share any of my issues , he would quickly open a file that he had created, to log an incident or prepare a case against me. All our meetings would end up with a bitter taste in mouth.

I was ready for the worst review and I was not surprised what I got but most of the statements were lies or were grossly exaggerated. But I knew things were going to change. These type of people do not last long. I was seeing some indications. When I joined the organization he had more than 200 people reporting to him. Over the years the number kept shrinking to less than 30 people. There were many dissidents and unhappy people out of his clutches and they were all supportive of me. Finally one day his boss called us and said that he was given marching order. His big office was gone. He was actually given 3 months to transition. With his exit my life changed. My job expanded. I started getting calls from every where and was being much well received and respected. I only pray that I would never have to deal with a boss having such a compulsive disorder.