30 Workers who could not get along with their bad bosses: 'He said... "That's the worst idea I ever saw"'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 12, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

You don't have to get along with your boss, but it certainly helps those 40+ hours of work pass by faster! 

Throughout your career, you'll have bosses who are great, some who are your friends, some who are just okay, and some who are memorably terrible. Some of your managers will push your buttons so much that you just know you'll recount stories of your time there someday. You'll tell your friends about the worst day of work you ever had, and that boss will be the main character. 

Even when your boss is your BFF, that doesn't actually mean they're good at their job. They might be super fun to hang out with and to talk about current events or TV shows. But then when you get down to business, that manager is totally out of the loop, and leaves you with piles and piles of work that require you to do overtime. Or maybe they're so deep into your personal life that you feel awkward trying to leave early or take time off, knowing they'll be prying into your life to know what's going on. It's a tough balance to maintain!

After you read these stories of woefully bad bosses, check out some employees who got fired: 'I told them they had better put the "Help Wanted" sign in the window.'

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  • 01
    '[Boss was] watching the security cameras from home... and calling us whenever he didn't like what we were doing'
    via Mike Hindle For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    "Why was your worst boss your worst boss?"

    UneekYoosername She micromanaged while not knowing what she was doing. So you were left with a choice of following her instructions and getting in trouble for not fixing the problem, or doing it the right way and getting in trouble for not following instructions.
    via u/UneekYoosername
  • 03
    PM_ME_UR_SEC... It was for an internship, and I've told this story once or twice on reddit I think. Basically she some how managed to both micromanage (poorly) and also give little to no direction. What she would want me to do one any given project could change on a dime and when things didn't go her way it was always my
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 04
    fault. What's more is she had me doing much more than what was agreed and signed upon in the internship contract by me, her, and my adviser at my university. One time she sat me down and just told me everything I was doing wrong. Work stuff, not work stuff, for f s sake she even yelled at me cause I was wearing the wrong color socks with
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 05
    my suit (I'd never worn a suit outside of a wedding or funeral before). That night was so bad and I was so miserable that I went home and cried in my pillow as a 21 year old man. The was the first time my university did an internship with this particular organization, and they like to make sure their students aren't getting totally shafted. I guess I could have
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 06
    swallowed my pride and told the university earlier but I was honestly expecting something like "Just put up with it", so i was quite surprised when they caught on to my misery and requested an extra meeting with my supervisor. They asked her what all she had me doing, and essentially once the meeting. concluded my university adviser said "Yeah, we're
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 07
    going to cancel our partnership with your organization and give him. the full credit for the internship. You'll have to figure out how to finish your projects on your own." This was about 2 months into the 3 month internship. They just told me I had to finish out my hours and write my report & deliverables. My adviser told me "There are always good
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 08
    and bad learning experiences, and I'm sorry this was a bad one but hopefully you still learned from it". Getting the news that I didn't have to go back to that mismanaged hellhole was the best day of my life. It was like all this pressure was taken off my chest and I could finally breath and relax and not have to try to fall
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 09
    asleep through an anxiety attack. If you're reading this, f you, Lynda.
    via u/PM_ME_UR_SECRETS
  • 10

    A change in management can shift the whole vibe of a work space

    LoCal_GwJ I was a manager at an AMC movie theatre. I was a member of normal film crew for like 4 years and loved it. GM at this time was a guy named Bob that was pretty old fashioned but meant super well and generally cared about us all. I became Supervisor after that time. and graduating college and after I became a manager, corporate moved our GM to
    via u/LoCal_GwJ
  • 11
    a smaller location and placed a new GM that came from a more densely populated area. Within a couple days she's already going on about how she wants to clear out all the staff and hire all new ones. It
    via u/LoCal_GwJ
  • 12
    was like she's never had power before and was getting high off of it. Made my job a living nightmare because I'm now in this leadership group that isn't supporting its employees (despite myself supporting them) and I had to fire people I've worked with on the same level for no real reason. Sucked and I walked out after a while.
    via u/LoCal_GwJ
  • 13
    sapphobear He totally manipulated me into thinking I was sh at my job and that everyone else thought so too. It alienated me from the other staff and prevented me from asking for help and support. He claimed all my successes and blamed his failures on me.
    via u/sapphobear
  • 14
    mi... He was micro-managing, ego-maniacal, unyeilding, literally demanded your personal life from you to advance your career, preached that subconscious bias was good policy, thought salary work should be done of a schedule timed to the minute, and attempted to literally turn management into a cult.
    via u/mike_d85
  • 15
    I honestly believe that job gave me PTSD. I had panic attacks on job interviews because I thought they would find out I was interviewing. They had policies in place that if you were found to be job hunting you were to relegated to the lowest tasks they could find. When I turned in my notice I went from managing a team of 7 people making photocopies and filing in about a 4 days. I was told
    via u/mike_d85
  • 16
    outright that if I ever refused a transfer to another city I'd be assumed to be a "bad investment" and removed from consideration for any promotions, raises, or lateral transfers.
    via u/mike_d85
  • 17
    intensely_human He could not conceive of the value of automated tests. We had an enormous excel spreadsheet which was a QA checklist for the entire app. Every Friday was release day, and everyone in our small startup (everyone, not just tech team. CEO, sales people, everyone) had to spend the entire day taking a section of that
    via u/intensely_human
  • 18
    spreadsheet and slowly acting out each button click. When I was negotiating for the job, I got the agreement that I could spend 33% of my time writing automated tests. This was never honored. He'd say it was crunch time so not now. It was crunch time continuously for four months.
    via u/intensely_human
  • 19
    The company had a culture. of lying. The CEO told me they'd start me at $X salary, and then as soon as their round of funding came in I'd be at $1.5X. The funding came, I asked about full salary, was told I'd have to wait longer, and I quit. The CTO was fired shortly after I quit.
    via u/intensely_human
  • 20
    Cheezburger Image 10492861952
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 21
    MpVpRb He gave extremely vague instructions, then went on the road for a month I tried my best to deliver what I thought he wanted When he returned, he said stuff like .. that's the worst idea I ever saw, I told you clearly what I wanted
    via u/MpVpRb
  • 22
    I was paid VERY well, and put up with it for 6 years before finally walking away I can deliver great results under two scenarios.. Tell me precisely what you want, I'll make it Give me vague instructions and freedom to make my own decisions
    via u/MpVpRb
  • 23
    DarthContinent • Played around on his tablet during presentation intended for our team. . Fixed blame for situations that in their own way were ripe for failure. • Told jokes at others' expense.
    via u/DarthContinent
  • 24
    not_Bionic_Barry He fired me for a mistake his wife made and then blamed on me. I had proof, solid evidence showing I did nothing wrong which I presented to him. He understood I wasn't the one who made the mistake and fired me for it anyway.
    via u/not_Bionic_Barry
  • 25
    He also hired his college aged son and his girlfriend to work a couple of hours a week during their summer break, for which of course they were both compensated with full
    via u/not_Bionic_Barry
  • 26
    company health insurance and company matched 401k. A luxury every other employee had to work 40 hours a week for 6 months before receiving. Gotta love small "family businesses".
    via u/not_Bionic_Barry
  • 27
    [deleted] From a military setting: He didn't totally understand what his job was and didn't have the humility to ask for help. He wasn't a bad guy or anything, he was just terrible at his job and his ego didn't permit him to budge on anything. Those of us who had done the job for a while knew how things were supposed to
    via u/[deleted]
  • 28
    happen and would try to point him in the right direction, but we were "junior" to him, and therefore were categorically unable to give him pointers. Our shop did a lot of the administrative work that supported our unit's operations, and there's a clear cut way many of our forms/directives/policies worked. We (the office) wasted a shit load of time doing things the wrong way
    via u/[deleted]
  • 29
    because his way was not the correct way, and nothing moved through him unless it was done his way. In other situations, someone in his position would look up the reference or otherwise learn the correct way to do things- he was above that. That would be admitting defeat or incompetence, which was in itself incompetent. He didn't know what to do, wouldn't ask for help, and couldn't be
    via u/[deleted]
  • 30
    bothered to learn the right thing to do. He was the worst boss because he was incompetent, stubborn, and by not wanting to look ignorant or weak in front of his department, came off as incredibly ignorant and weak. What made it worse was that he wasn't malicious or rude. He was a super polite guy who insisted on doing things his way. It
    via u/[deleted]
  • 31
    would have been TREMENDOUSLY easier to blow him off if he wasn't such a seemingly good dude. I would have rather have had him be a jerk because it would have been easier to deal with. Terrible boss, decent human being. He's out of the military now and I'd probably grab a beer with him, all things considered.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 32
    WKbdthXSn5hMc... He was not as technically gifted as he thought he was and proposed a lot of bad ideas that we were stuck spending months on. He was a kiss-ass to his manager and he only liked you when you kissed up to him.
    via u/WKbdthXSn5hMc7Ht0
  • 33

    It's the worst!

    thenightcrew88 Two words:..Unpaid...Overtime.
    via u/thenightcrew88
  • 34
    RingGiver Does watching the security cameras from home like it was Netflix and calling us whenever he didn't like what we were doing count as micromanagement?
    via u/RingGiver
  • 35
    thejaypalmershow She wanted everybody to like her. Extremely manipulative and vindictive. When you first meet her. She is very relative, soft, and kind. Then, when you disagree with something. Or make her angry she'd turn on you. There was no going back to her nice side either.
    via u/thejaypalmershow
  • 36
    Djwallin He made the "simple" mistake of mixing me and someone 7 years older up and had me working 40+ hours a week at 16.
    via u/Djwallin
  • 37
    lucianbelew Intense charm, full-blast temper on and off like a light switch, periodic gaslighting, constantly changing my working conditions and evaluation standards without ever acknowledging that anything had changed. 3- 5x/week, I would spend 30
    via u/lucianbelew
  • 38
    minutes in the bathroom at home, throwing up, crying, terrified to look myself in the mirror and try and tell myself I could do it, I was gonna get it right today, before I could go in to work.
    via u/lucianbelew
  • 39
    Zealousideallncome Micromanaging to levels I didn't think was possible. Constantly shooting down my ideas then using my ideas as his own. In meetings I would go over my projects and he would openly criticize my choices. in front of the office. To combat this I befriended someone he respected as my advocate and whenever I
    via u/Zealousideallncome
  • 40
    was getting reamed just look at him and let him explain. It worked every time. Then, after two years of abuse I asked for a raise since everyone else had left and been replaced and he shot that down really fast. After that he bragged to me about his new solar panels and remodeled kitchen.
    via u/Zealousideallncome
  • 41
    GoBTF Work was his entire life, and KPI results were all that mattered, no matter what that required to be achieved. In his case, that was forcing staff to work 70+ hour weeks and other questionable staff policies meaning massive staff turnover. I will never forget
    via u/GoBTF
  • 42
    the abuse we got when his area went from 1st in the company to 2nd, out of 300 areas. We were suddenly the worst people in the world.
    via u/GoBTF
  • 43
    Oudeis16 He had a crush on me and didn't know how to deal with it so just made literally every interaction with him awkward and confrontational, constantly punishing me to prove to himself he wasn't showing favortism, or possibly due to blaming me for his own unrequited feelings. Then finally trumped up a charge to fire me after 10 years.
    via u/Oudeis16
  • 44
    (To anyone asking why I stayed for 10 years: the short answer is it's complicated, but in general, he was distant enough that I only had to deal with him once a month or so, and for about six years in the middle he transferred to a different
    via u/Oudeis16
  • 45
    department and I was blissfully free. By the time I got fired I had actively been seeking a different job ever since his return. It was at the worst of the job crisis and there was simply nothing to be had.)
    via u/Oudeis16
  • 46
    [deleted] I worked at a volunteer construction site and the leader of the program: Had never so much as lifted a hammer, calling it men's. work... to my all-female crew Would sit in her A/C car, eating McD's, watching us work.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 47
    She literally would stomp her foot when she was upset. Like a child. After a particularly hot and long day (my crew was the last done, so we were last for dinner call), cut me in line saying her blood sugar was low and took all the taco toppings, save lettuce. I explained to her that I (15yo at the time) had not eaten, as well as three other girls.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 48
    She snorted and said that we were fine, there was lettuce Tried to take credit for my crew's largest project (a mobility staircase and patio), citing that she had been the one leading the charge. The woman who we built it for laughed and said all she did was eat fast food and watch a bunch of teenage girls do it for her
    via u/[deleted]
  • 49
    arcadesteveuk Company I no longer work for had a lady who was part of their graduate programme. She was very intelligent in a bookish way. Had no idea how to deal with real people. People who aren't in their 20s and lived a sheltered middle class life. She quickly reached her peak in the hierarchy but the company had invested in her
    via u/arcadesteveuk
  • 50
    and she was genuinely a nice lady so she constantly got 'sideways promoted' to create the perception of career progression. She went from Shift Leader to Shift Manager for example. Same job, different title.
    via u/arcadesteveuk
  • 51
    She hated conflict so she would often just agree with the last person she spoke to on a matter, which meant our instructions were constantly changing. But she was hard to hate because she was so nice as a person, just completely ineffective as a manager.
    via u/arcadesteveuk
  • 52
    Dead_Art "So I need to buy new shoes for this job?" "That's correct." "Will a pair of black converse all stars be alright?"
    via u/D***_Art
  • 53
    "Absolutely." 3 Months Later "You're fired because of your shoes."
    via u/D***_Art
  • 54
    [deleted] Made promises to clients without consulting the developers first. Uh, no, our team of TWO people cannot easily replicate things built by dozens or hundreds of developers over the course of years in a couple months. Please call them back and tell them we can't do that.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 55
    [deleted] The old timey boiler in our building broke. I messaged him about it and he sent me a DIY video on fixing old timey boilers.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 56
    xmagusx Walked me because he didn't like paternity leave and I was about to use it. Not overly concerned though, as it meant that the company had to pay a sizable severance which included pay equivalent to the leave I was due anyway, plus I landed a much better job in short order.
    via u/xmagusx
  • 57
    daggerLAWLess I ran a summer day camp and she fired me because I "wasn't fulfilling my duties." I had a broken foot/ankle after getting sideswiped by a car on my bike. The only thing I couldn't really do was clean the gym floors, but I had people to do that anyways.
    via u/daggerLAWLess
  • 58
    Thatoneweirdfuck He is a dumbass who does not know how to run a business. Reminded me of Michael Scott if Michael Scott wasn't good at his job.
    via u/Thatoneweirdfuck
  • 59
    [deleted] I've had 2 of them. One was a micromanager and he had a temper. If you screwed up, RIP. The other was also a micromanager but she was never available when we needed her help. She would hover while we worked and then disappear whenever a customer was upset and wanted to talk to her.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 60
    eldritchkraken She set impossible time constraints for tasks and got upset at me when I asked for help.
    via u/eldritchkraken
  • 61
    KingBasilisk96 Got accepted as an intern in a zoo. Many times, instead of taking care of the animals/cleaning their exhibits, my boss told me to spend my entire day in the dark hallways back in the zoo cleaning spiderwebs.
    via u/KingBasilisk96
  • 62
    Felt like there was no point in this at all, except torturing me. To this very day I don't think anyone ever touched that place again. (They used to keep animals here, but it's way too outdated).
    via u/KingBasilisk96

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