The Search for the World's worst boss

Mar 04 2008 by Print This Article

It's easy to forget that the United States is far from having a monopoly on evil bosses. So to conduct a proper search for the world's worst boss, one really needs to spend time looking further afield. One serious contender for the title comes from New Zealand.

In this particular story, the manager fired one of his employees over the phone while the man was lying in bed recovering from open-heart surgery.

According to the article, "the employee, Murray Gardiner had a double by-pass in January after a week of chest pains but as he recuperated at Ellesmere Hospital in Lincoln, near Christchurch, his boss Patch Rubber Company director Julian Proctor visited to tell him he had been sacked from his job of 11 years."

His manager attempted to justify it by saying that the operation had not been fully successful. As such, it seemed unlikely that Gardiner would be able to return to his job anytime soon. According to the supervisor, this meant he had to find someone else to do the job. He then refused to change his mind even when it was later revealed that Gardiner would be fit to return to work in three months.

The search continues, however. While this certainly qualifies for the title of "World's Worst Boss" one fears there may be even more vile and inconsiderate instances out there.

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Older Comments

Sounds similar to another Christchurch based general manager for a leading software and services company (former GM now) who ambushed a former colleague, who was well liked and recieved, who was due to have another child and who was a high performer, by making them redundant 8 weeks out from Christmas, without real notice and consultation, with the knoweldge that the market for that persons skills would be limited over the Christmas and New Year periods.

What is it it with Christchurch managers?

The irony is that this former manager is now preaching.

Anon

oh my god where do I begin. My boss does not follow legitimate procedures, he lies, he bullies, he shouts, he swears, he undermines, and does not know how to talk to a human being! when hes in a 'good mood', were tipping on eggshells. The atmosphere is black when hes around, and 12 people have walked out this year alone, and yet, he refuses to ackowledge its his fault! He has friends come and sit in his office and would demand the 'receptionist' (and everything else) make him teas and coffees (she has now walked out) Then he would call constantly undermine EVERYTHING she did.

I know its not a personal attack, as he does it to everyone, but there is not one thing we do right. I am the only person in my department (customer services) dealing with hundreds of complaints, and yet, he still questions everything I do.

I am 20 years old, and did not even apply for customer services! Yes I probably should of looked elsewhere when told I would be dealing with customer services, but it took me soo long to find a job and I needed the money.

I have worked 14 hours straight before (8:30am-10:30pm) and I never even hear a thank you or well done.

All our director cares about is his money, and that really is it.

Again, I know I should just walk out, but I live on my own, so you can imagine its not easy to do so.

Oh and I forgot to mention the numer of times he has called his employees and 'valuable' customers 'tossers', 'bitches', and so on.

I have never met such a hideous human being, and continue to search for a new job on a daily basis

I need to vent my frustration, so felt this was the best place to do so!

anonymous

I previously worked for Farmers Insurance (9 years). I first worked as a Claims Rep and did very well. Voted Adjuster of the Year, received spot bonuses due to exceptional work etc... I wasn't perfect but, I held my own.

I transferred to the SIU (Special Investigations Unit) where I worked as a special investigator (investigating questionable claims). My manager was a corrupt, pathetic clown with absolutely no ethics whatsoever. This guy would stand in meetings and tell all of his investigators that he plays favorities with us. He would brag about the huge raises he would give his golden children (huge morale builder, let me tell you).

It became evident that he would fabricate and alter monthly numbers (goals) in order to give the lions share of budgeted raise money to his golden children. We had an annual requirement to find a referral for our Major Operations Unit. I found a good referral, researched to ensure it was a legitimate referral and forwarded it to him.

He, in turn, gave it to one of his golden children. The end result was, he found me to be deficient on my annual review and the golden child was given credit for my work. This effected my annual raise (as mentioned above). This guy set people up for failure on a consistent basis.

In the same meeting I mentioned above (where he made his announcement of favoritism), he also announced that he terminated one of the investigators on the team. She had been diagnosed with cancer and asked him not to discuss it with any team members.

Of course, being the absolute scumbag moron that he is, he made announcement about it in a previous meeting (So much for HIPPA laws). Anyway, he announced that he terminated her. He then proceeded to tell the entire team: '(Insert Name Here) is going to be hurting for money now that I fired her, she won't even be able to afford her chemo. treatments'. He then began to laugh. Many of us sat there looking at each other in disbelief. We walked out of the meeting for lunch and said 'Was that supposed to be funny?'. That corrupt, unethical moron asshole got personal pleasure out of a person that was suffering from cancer.

Most everybody that worked for him hated his guts. Even some of his golden children. Of course, they would never say this in open discussions as if he ever found out, he would make their life a living hell and make sure they lost their job as well. He had new hires spend a total of 3 hours with him on the first day and walk out at lunch time advising him they refused to work for him. This happened on numerous occasions.

I would never wish negative things upon a person however, I truly hope this low-life, piece of shit eventually gets what he deserves. Maybe he'll get cancer. Then we should all stand in front of him and laugh in his face. It's a sad thing to say or think but, he truly deserves some of his own medicine. If there is such a thing as Karma, I hope it hits him ten-fold.

He does have investigators that lick his asshole. These investigators are treated with kid gloves. They get raises like you wouldn't believe. They receive credit for work they never even conducted. Of course, they get promoted to Management positions. Needless to say, they're trained by him so, they have the same asshole mindset. H/R was told about these circumstances but, they encouraged and condone this type of behavior. So, it's a no win situation. They wouldn't even think of addressing the issues at hand. That's how the company works. It's all based on corruption and unethical behavior. Needless to say, if ever offerred a job with the asshole of the insurance industry, turn it down and run!!!

Greg

My boss is horrible. He treats me like a slave. He makes me work long hours. (60-100 hours a week- salary paid). When I complained that I didn't think it was fair that other workers are salary paid and they work less hours he gave me even more hours to work. He is the worlds biggest a**hole. He thinks that no one can say anything to him.Do you know the song your a mean one Mr Grinch? That is his song, he looks, smells and acts like the Grinch. He also treats his wife like she is a slave. He never does any manual labor, he is worthless. He gets upset so easily over any little thing. He holds his head oh I can't think, oh, oh, oh. And so on. He thinks he is so smart and he is just an idiot.

Hate my boss

The worst boss I had was at 7-11 back in the 80's. He would call you up cursing and swearing at the staff.

The worst part was once the store was held up, they got away with some cash, my boss tried to insist that I re emburse the company for the money that was stolen, claiming it was my responsibility to make sure the money was secure at all times.

I told him to go to hell, refusing and threatening to go to the media about it. He backed off.

Thankfully he was later fired for treating people like crap!

don frazer Calgary, Alberta

My boss sucks. He just started using email abut two years ago and about a year before that he started using a computer. We have web-based email so everytime he wants to read his email he needs to login. I've told him a billion times he can just leave that window open. He never does. When he wants to read his email he prints it. Never mind that it's on the monitor in front of his face. Then he accuses me of wasting paper. One look at his desk reveals a few stacks of printed email about a foot high. Go figure. He can't copy and paste on the computer. He retypes long lines of text. I show him how to copy and paste a few hundred times a year and he still doesn't get it. He gets mad at me for asking how he wants things done. I ask because he's damn picky and he gets angry when I don't ask. 'If you don't know, ask!' he says. What the hell?! Damned if I do and damned if I don't. He tells me to let him know if I need something. I tell him I need such and such....I wait....and wait...then he gets upset that I didn't tell him. Grr. Oh, if I ask him a question to clarify something he tells me what he wants followed up with the question 'Now, tell me what I just said.' I just need to regurgitate what he just said and then he's happy. Oh, here's the rub...if I ask him the same question all hell breaks loose. Seems like my boss can't take his own medicine. I mean, I just want to make sure he understands what I just said. Probably doesn't matter since I need to repeat myself to him billions of times a year for simple stupid things like refilling his printer with paper or to tell him to scroll down in a webpage to see the bottom. Ahh....I love my job.

George Hell

I by far have the worst boss! I have been a waitress at a pancake house for the past seven years. Over the past few years, the owner, who is one of the best people I have ever met, is retiering and handing the business over to his son. His son is the most egotistical tyrant I have had the missfortune to meet. He makes it a point to degrade and humilate everyone. He is certifiable! He has thrown hot water at me, whiped his bloody cut on me. Offer me 3 punches to hit me once. He takes a half hour break a day out of my check that I dont get. He now takes shifts away from me to give to the cute younger girls he hires. Funny thing is, as horrible as he is, it is forcing me to make positive changes in my life. I am going back to school. There will be one day when I will be moving on, and I will make a good change in my life, as for him he will always be an ass!

sandy morton grove IL