16 Bosses Whose Quirks Are Hard to Forget

We want our bosses to be understanding, helpful and to pay us decent money. But more often than not, you have to work with a person who has a lot of quirks. And sometimes they do such things that you want to laugh and cry at the same time.

• I used to work for a private company. And they had a tradition: on Fridays they cleaned the office themselves. I was supposed to clean not only my office, but also the director’s office and the lobby. After a couple of weeks, I refused to clean the lobby.
  And then a marketing manager joined the company, who, after finding out about cleaning, brought the director a calculation of the cost of her own labor time and an approximate calculation of the cost of other employees’ labor and the price of several cleaning companies. It didn’t work, but she refused to wash the floors.
  Then the management came up with the idea of filling up a daily report. And it had to be filled out at the end of the working day, and the form was placed on the general server, so 2 people couldn’t access it simultaneously. In short, the marketing manager and I left. I haven’t worked in that weird companies anymore. © Alina V / Dzen
• In March, I felt that prices had risen, and my salary was not enough. I’ve been working for this company for 4 years, and my salary hasn’t changed all this time. I call the director and say the following, “Hello. I have been working for you for 4 years, and the money I received in the beginning and the money now is different money. Please raise my salary at least a little.”
  In response, I heard, “At the end of March, we’ll discuss the budget with the management, we’ll discuss your pay rise as well.” And voilà, on June 1, I got a pay cut! Now I’m looking for a new job. © BuildingLoki31 / Pikabu
• The boss suddenly decided to discipline the staff. If you’re late even for a minute, you’re fined. He was standing happily at the door and wrote down everyone’s time in his notebook. The accountant was the last to come.
  How she was indignant! She remembered everything, working nights to prepare reports and working without a day off.
  And in the evening, the boss went out and came to work at lunchtime the following day. The close-knit team greeted him happily at the entrance. This was how the experiment ended. © Vadim Kushnaryov / Dzen
• I was working at a hotel, and being an employee at the hotel, we were allowed to order food from the kitchen as long as we did so between a certain time frame. I ordered a burger about 5 minutes past the time frame. What a mistake that was.
  When I went down to pick it up, the head chef asked if it was for me, when I said yes, he picked up the burger and took a bite out of it, set it down on a plate and handed it to me. He did this with all the cooks and servers looking at me, some of them snickering. One of the most embarrassing work moments for me. © Unknown author / Reddit

• A company of about 60 employees. In the middle of his holiday, an employee comes in and informs the management that his contract ends tomorrow, and he will not sign a new one — he has already found a new place to work. This is the third person to leave within a few months. The bosses began to suspect that something was wrong and decided to find the root of the problem:
  — Serge, you must have had more than one interview, right?
  — Yes, I was in 4 places, and all of them were ready to hire me.
  — But what did they all motivate you with? Maybe there are some secrets?
  — Money, they all offered me a salary at least one and a half times higher than here.
  — Let alone the money, what do they really do to attract workers? What kind of motivation do they offer their employees? Surely there is some secret. © Andruss / Pikabu
• My boss was a power hungry monster. She hated the idea that staff have a second on shift without doing something, even if there is literally nothing to do.
  One day, after we had spent 2 hours cleaning the shelf (the last job), she came down and told us to clean it again. Even though we protested that we had just done it, she said we shouldn’t get paid if we weren’t doing anything. I had to re-clean a perfectly clean shelf. © DungPuncher / Reddit
• Once my boss told the team that we didn’t go anywhere together, although we did meet up outside of work, but without her. As a result, she chose an expensive, fancy place and didn’t show up. © Mad Squirrel / Dzen
• Our former director liked to call us after working hours or on weekends. My coworker and I went to the swimming pool after work. We finished swimming, got dressed, I looked at the phone, and there were 16 missed calls and 2 messages. My coworker said, “Well, call him. Maybe it’s something urgent.”
  I call back. And the boss says, “Where are you?” Me: “I just came out of the pool, we’re warming up the car and going home! Anything you need?” He’s like, “No, nothing. How are you?” © Irina_Lysia / Dzen

• Our boss demanded that we should leave our phones to the security at the entrance so we don’t get distracted from work. Then she flew around on a jet broom wondering why we weren’t answering in the corporate chat room.
  When she was told that the phones were at the security, she said, “I don’t care, you are obliged to respond to my messages instantly, and how you do it, I don’t care. You are obliged to leave your phones and respond to my messages immediately!” © Voyager / Dzen
• Due to illness, I often have to leave work to go to the doctor or to take tests. Naturally, these hours are deducted from my salary. Once, the owner of the company comes to me and says:
  — When will we see you at work on weekends? You’ve got to make up for the absence.
  — No. You’re deducting the hours I’m “absent.” Why do I have to work weekends?
  — What do you mean why? You’ve done a lot of absences, but I didn’t deduct anything. Your manager said you need money.
  — Then why am I short in my wages?
  We both wondered. © Unknown author / Pikabu
• My girlfriend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in January. Her maternity leave was up in April, so we were tasked with figuring out what to do in terms of work schedules and babysitting.
  I asked my bosses if it was possible for me to work from home 2 days out of the week. I was a copywriter; as long as I had a computer, I could work. They said no, and offered no other alternative, under the reasoning that letting me work from home would set a bad precedent for the rest of the company.
  The graphic designer on our team worked from home full-time. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the employees in sales had recently moved across the country to Wisconsin and was allowed to work remotely from there. I only asked for 2 days a week. Needless to say, it was a huge slap in the face. I quit and ended up with a job that pays $10K more. © ArrenPawk / Reddit
• There was an unspoken rule. If the regional director was scheduled to arrive, the entire management team would stay late at work, by default. She could come just to have dinner with our boss. He would set the table, and the rest had to smile and create a warm, friendly atmosphere.
  I remember very well that this lady respected fresh bread very much. And if it was suddenly not there at 9-10 p.m., then the mood of “Her Majesty” would be very bad. © Nataly / Dzen

• My former boss used to start her working day at 2-3 p.m. And her most working activity would start at around 7 p.m. when the staff had to go home. This is when meetings, planning sessions, counselling sessions began.
  But she paid extra for these long hours, though. I worked there for 6.5 years, and that was only because the team was marvelous, and the work was interesting. We were friends against her! © Makarova Irina / Dzen
• Every night, my boss started giving out tasks and instructions for tomorrow at 11 p.m. She knew that I lived alone. This lasted 6 months, until one day my brother answered my phone. He explained to her in colors what time it was, where she should go and what to do there.
  Honestly, I thought I was gonna get fired. But no. She didn’t even mention the call, but she stopped calling all her subordinates, not just me. I worked there for 12 years after that and left on my own. © Irina Gry / Dzen
• Told me I would never get the promotion I was working very hard towards because I had a visible tattoo. I’ve had the promoted role for over a year. He doesn’t work here anymore. © I_Went_Okay / Reddit
• Worked as a ship’s doctor. The captain disliked me for something and decided to demonstrate his authority. He called me to the bridge once, and ordered, “You are a doctor, so you should approach all crew members every day and ask them how their health is, if they need anything.” To my objection that when necessary, the guys themselves come to me, he started shouting, “I am the captain! I give you orders!”
  The next morning, at 7 o’clock, I was already knocking on the door of the captain’s cabin. Finally, some sleepy mooing came from the cabin, which could be interpreted as permission to enter. So I went in. I asked him how the captain was feeling and if he needed anything. He mumbled into his pillow that he didn’t need anything, and I closed the door behind me.
  When I knocked on the third day, there was a very unhappy roar from the cabin. After that, the idiotic order was cancelled. Though the captain didn’t tell me about it himself, but sent a messenger to the cabin. © Murad Volkov / Dzen

And here’s another bunch of stories about terrible bosses.