Do You Like Your Boss?

[EeveeElectro]

My manager is great. She does quite a lot for me and she's always fair, she's such a hard worker too. She's silly and we have a right laugh, we gossip and joke all the time.
She's pretty good to me, she gave me time off in December despite we're not allowed it and made sure I can leave early next Saturday because I'm going somewhere at 6.
She always buys us Easter eggs and loads of drinks when we go out drinking too. When it's just the two of us I always talk to her about my problems and personal issues (we both worked with one of the guys who has been giving me trouble recently so she can give good advice about that).

My assistant manager is okay sometimes but mainly a *****. She seems to have something against me and I get the blame even on my days off. She's a two faced liar and fucks up quite often. I get on her for works sake but she does my head in :/

My area manager is nice enough but ignorant. She doesn't quite understand how badly understaffed we are and keeps fobbing us off and refusing to give us more staff.

My last manager (I used to live in a different city) was the biggest *****. Her favourite trick was training me wrong then having a go at me for doing it wrong or having a go at me for not knowing everything within the first few weeks I was there. She was horrific. I've grown so much more confident since moving and if I saw her again, she'd get a piece of my mind.

 

[lechat]

i have five different bosses which run the gambit of being too nice and letting people get away with everything and leaving me to clean up after them to being too strict and expecting 20 hours work in a 12 hour day to being absolute morons with no clue of how the business works.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Over the years I've had a few bosses, who have run the gamut from incredibly awesome to total bags of feces.

At my current day job, I really like the shift lead, though he can be hard to take sometimes, particularly when he has to take certain steroids for his asthma. He freely admits that the steroids affect his mind and emotions, but he has to take them to breathe so we tolerate it. He & I got in to an awesome nerd conversation about old science fiction authors last week, so that was a big plus.
Our position manager is wonderful, she worked out a fantastic schedule for me w/o me even asking for it and we always have loads to talk about when she's out at the spot where I'm stationed. She's also worked my position, so she understands the difficulties that exist in a job that most people write off as being really easy. (She's rather cute too, which is a bonus....)
Our department manager is pretty cool, but I don't see him that often. I don't always agree with some of the decisions he makes and I wish I had more opportunity to talk about things with him before he makes some of the decisions. He's also not very open to criticism of past decisions, even when the clearly are having a negative effect.
And our division manager... she's a nice enough person, and is fine to talk to, but I really don't think she understands some of the difficulties we encounter in the hands-on part of the operations, and she doesn't really respect or understand what those of us who work my particular job have to do/put up with on a continual basis. I do think that she's beginning to get some understanding of these issues, mostly due to the efforts of my position manager.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

No, they're clueless. I'm nothing flash, just a kitchenhand at a nursing home, but my boss generally has nothing to do with me/us, which is fine, but also actively drew out the process of my requesting a shift extension to reflect the time that I actually work, and basically does what nurses/other staff tell him needs to be done without figuring out what it is. A prime example of this was I was told not to work last weekend and instead come in on one weekday to receive 'training', as my duties had changed. I'm at Uni and normally don't have time during the week, but in this case I did, so that's what happened. I get there, wondering what the training is, and my coworker for that shift doesn't know anything about it. The person I was meant to be observing is absent as of halfway through the day. I go to my boss's office and ask what is going on, and he doesn't know what the training is either. Apparently someone complained about me at a meeting, which are attended only by those whose shifts are convenient to its timing (and thus those people do all the bitching), relating to the side of the tray I put the cup and saucer on, which is a complaint that has never been put to me at any point and could have been rectified with a text message or spoken sentence, and suggested I undergo...'training'.

The person who had been asked to cover for the person who complained about me who I was meant to be observing was told on very short notice and thus irate, and gave a rant to the effect of "He has been doing the exact same thing for about 2 years, he knows the shift. I'm going home, he can work". So I did the shift. My coworker had no complaints or observations to share with me. At the end of my shift, I told my boss that he would be wise not to take everything said to him at face value and that I was not pleased, and that the only reason he doesn't hear dozens of complaints about every other staff member is that only a few attend meetings and there are no other avenues of communication.

Fucking ridiculous.

 

[Yopaz]

I don't really have much contact with my boss, but I like her. She provides me work, I provide her with someone to do said work and she likes the fact that I am quite flexible. She also likes that I am able to show up on short notice.

I work as a substitute teacher for a variety of schools in the area. My relationship with my boss can be boiled down to either she calling me in the morning asking if I can show up at a school in 2 hours or she may text me if the need for response isn't too urgent. If she wants to discuss details (such as days she knows I'll be busy) she calls. If she's got something far down the road she sends an email.

So every interaction goes down the road "Do you want money?" "Yes/no" "Great!/Too bad, we'll try again another time". So you'll never hear me complaining about either my job or my boss.

 

[Trunkage]

I don't like my boss

There is currently a person at work is gone onto compo because of stress from bullying for the boss. I don't know whether its worth getting compo, but the bullying is definitely there. She tends to yells and screams.

Maybe this is tempered by the previous comment, but I don't think she is in any way competent. She is a control freak but doesn't realise that she doesn't have control, tries to be super organised which ends up in a mess and lacks marketing sense to help make her business success (and hates advice from anyone else) and thus takes it out on us. She says that the national workplace regulatory bodies is "useless" and "don't know what they are talking about" and then wonders why the department is around all the time to make sure the are doing an adequate job (and continually gets in trouble from them).

The centre is negative in every respect.

 

[Lilani]

I like him well enough for the time being, but I don't feel like I want to work under him for a long period of time. My position is technically temporary until they find somebody with more experience, and my boss has just a few personality flaws which not only bug me but also many of my coworkers (I've even heard one older fellow on the team call him the "rudest man on earth.") He has a habit of being condescending: sometimes accidentally, sometimes not, and honestly I can't tell which is worse. He'll do this thing where when he's deep into a conversation with somebody he'll say "Are you following me?" He's said this to teams of MIT graduates, explaining things which are very basic knowledge to them. He's also a workaholic, the kind of guy who finds pride in how few vacation days he's taken over the course of the year. Which is fine for him, but while he doesn't claim to expect the same kind of dedication from others and if they find happiness not working that hard then that is perfectly fine, he still gives off this vibe that suggests he really rather does look down upon people who always clock out on time unless they for whatever reason absolutely cannot. Like yeah, I understand we're supposed to be dedicated to the company and our jobs and all, but if I don't have something that needs to be done by first thing in the morning I'm gonna go at closing time.

He also has very little respect for other people's time, by frequently being late for meetings and then holding people in meetings well passed when the meeting was supposed to end. And he has a bad habit of letting his mood drastically affect his approachability. We all understand that sometimes you have bad and stressful days, but whenever he's feeling bad or stressed he tends to make YOU feel bad for bothering him about something when he's in that mood. He's our boss and has to give approval on tons of stuff so frequently we have to bother him, but when he's in a state where the very act of seeking approval on something seems to make him angry, it makes what should be a banal and routine task into something that feels very dramatic and personal. And nobody likes that kind of drama, especially me, which again is why I don't want him to be my boss for years on end. He is truly affable when he's in a good mood and he generally has good intentions, but he's just got a bad habit of being a lot more condescending and stand-offish than he should be in a professional environment.

Needless to say, everybody's just a bit more loose whenever he's not around.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

So far so good although this is just week 1. It's by week 8 you know for sure how to think about your boss if they're borderline, week 2 if they're awful (I give a one week grace period).

She's been very understanding about me wanting to film and work with the schedule so I can still fill shifts and still do what I came to Vancouver to do. So she's doing pretty good in my books. Bonus marks for outright saying the employee manual I had to read was bullshit but that she was obligated by the company to make me do it.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I'm working in a micro games studio set up by my best friend...

It's safe to say that I get on well with my Boss.

 

[Frothy Gibblets]

I've got on well with all my bosses, hell my boss from two jobs ago I still go drinking with sometimes. I think the key is to be reliable, put 100% into whatever job you do, but not be a kiss ass. It's also possible I've just had decent managers but I've had 3 jobs in the last 8 years (I only ever leave if something comes up that pays more money, never been fired or otherwise lost a job) and have had several managers in that time and I've gotten on well with all of them, even those in different departments.

As I said before though, I'm not one of these guys who just cuddles up to those above me, I've had full on shouting matches with some managers regarding the point of view of the workforce but it's never caused any lasting problems. Perhaps it's a blue collar employment thing? I can imagine in an office those sort of things don't fly well. All my managers have also been male, not sure if that has any baring on things.

 

[Artina89]

It all depends really. Certain days we get on like a house on fire, and she is a good and fair boss, on other days she can be quite unreasonable. It really depends on her mood, which isn't ideal, but she is still a 1000x better than my previous boss, who wasn't a very nice person in general.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

My last manager (I used to live in a different city) was the biggest *****. Her favourite trick was training me wrong then having a go at me for doing it wrong or having a go at me for not knowing everything within the first few weeks I was there. She was horrific. I've grown so much more confident since moving and if I saw her again, she'd get a piece of my mind.

I don't know whether my friend will be relieved or annoyed to consider the impact of a lasting hatred towards a person, past the separation of the two of you.

They have definitely dipped in confidence and self-belief in their time with them though.

I don't really have much contact with my boss, but I like her. She provides me work, I provide her with someone to do said work and she likes the fact that I am quite flexible. She also likes that I am able to show up on short notice.

I work as a substitute teacher for a variety of schools in the area. My relationship with my boss can be boiled down to either she calling me in the morning asking if I can show up at a school in 2 hours or she may text me if the need for response isn't too urgent. If she wants to discuss details (such as days she knows I'll be busy) she calls. If she's got something far down the road she sends an email.

So every interaction goes down the road "Do you want money?" "Yes/no" "Great!/Too bad, we'll try again another time". So you'll never hear me complaining about either my job or my boss.

It's strange how rare these 'adult' style relationships with bosses really are in the workplace.

I have criticised on multiple occasion the perceived necessity of 'dancing around the issue' and 'playing the game' in the workplace, I just said: Why doesn't everyone just grow up?!?

Workplace politics..

So far so good although this is just week 1. It's by week 8 you know for sure how to think about your boss if they're borderline, week 2 if they're awful (I give a one week grace period).

She's been very understanding about me wanting to film and work with the schedule so I can still fill shifts and still do what I came to Vancouver to do. So she's doing pretty good in my books. Bonus marks for outright saying the employee manual I had to read was bullshit but that she was obligated by the company to make me do it.

I didn't know there was an 8 week test rule.

I'm pretty sure all my bosses have passed, although one only lasted for about 4 weeks, so not sure if that counts.

Pretty sure my friend's boss is of the week 2 failure variety.

 

[devotedsniper]

I work for a small web development house which has lately been going into custom software also, being a fairly small company we all work in the same office and there's no real sort of separation other than where the desks are (front end devs sit on one set, backend like me sit on another and designers/boss/accountant sit on another).

As for my boss and general work environment it's a very family/friend oriented environment, we all speak our mind and have a good laugh while working and as for my boss he's more a friend than a boss really, the only sort of commanding authority style thing that happens is he briefs me on work and pays my wage.

Can't complain really I generally speak my mind, swear and have a fairly sarcastic attitude to life but he gets that and generally likes it. It seems to work anyway, he trusts me at the least he's asked me to make software that will overwrite all our clients databases passwords in the event of something like firing someone.

Work is great I can work from home when needed and hours are flexible when I need them to be. Oh theres also the after works drinks at the end of the month which is always nice.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I don't really have a boss so much as I have a number of people above me. That's what I get for working for Target...the person directly over me (ie; the person who is directly my boss) is alright. We get along well and she'll let me know when/if I mess up. She hasn't written me up behind my back like others in her position are said to do which is also a plus. She's got a rough sort of edge but she's fine to work with. Her boss, the store manager, doesn't really interact with me and doesn't seem to have power over me unless I really screw up in front of him so he's mostly a non-entity. HIS boss, the district manager, might as well be a non-entity to me since she is almost never in the same store as I am...I assume she lives in a pod, in a ship somewhere orbiting the planet.