The worst boss in America

One of the winners (losers?) was a tyrant who threw away the disability paperwork for a man who had cancer and wouldn’t allow him to take his personal vacation time. The other was a boss who had employees vacate a smoke-filled workroom floor by seniority, ensuring that their was someone to answer the phone until the very end.

Other stories include a lawyer who called into his secretary giving instructions while he took care of bathroom business and brushing his teeth.

One man says the office was kept so cold that the ink in his pen stopped flowing – and the boss suggested a pencil.

Every time another supervisor wanted to get the attention of his workers, he would throw a tool at them.

Another manager refused a day off to a woman whose husband had a brain tumor unless she provided a note from a doctor.

A waitress complained about a customer stalking her both in and out of the diner. The boss laughed it off – and even later hired him as a busboy and assigned him to her section.

Another boss offered to buy everyone in the office lunch – and instead pulled up to Costco and allowed them to ‘dine’ on the free samples.

A pizzeria manager ordered a pregnant waitress to complete her shift after she had gone into labor. She stayed and waited on customers and even made pizzas between contractions.

There are hundreds of other stories that would make your hair stand on end.

The web is blossoming with supervisor angst. One site even allows you to post a warning about your boss – ebosswatch.com encourages feedback where you anonymously complete a survey about your boss – and then post it for the world to see.

Why the rush to point fingers at bosses? It seems that nearly everyone has a bad management experience. There is a national disgust for managers and many businesses go searching in vain for people to step up into the ranks. Is it real, or have our expectations increased? Are we pampered and resent being told what to do?

Some of us are blessed with a great boss who understands, who gives freedom, and who is quick with praise. But the reality is that this could change at a moment’s notice. And I also realize that not everyone shares in this same blessing.

So, what is our response? How does a Christian, who wants to make a difference in the world, react to a bad boss? How would Jesus react to a tyrant?