18 Boss Women Reveal Their Most Bizarre Workplace Stories

Being a working woman is challenging enough, but being a boss woman is akin to walking a tightrope, or so many women leaders feel. From not being listened to, to being questioned over every decision by seniors and colleagues alike, it's not easy being a powerful woman. But when the times get tough, the tough get going, as these women bosses prove via their somewhat bizarre workplace experiences.

• I work in landscaping and my crew leader—a tough, hard-working woman—is frequently assumed to be the owner's wife! And I’ve been asked a few times if I’m the daughter. We’re not that small of a company… Unknown author / Reddit
• I’m the manager of a nice coffee place, and for a while, I was the only female that worked there, with all the coworkers being these late-20s to early-30s bearded guys that, for the most part, I was younger than. Most of the guys I have worked with have been really cool, but I showed up to train one new hire who assumed that I was married to the manager. He apologized profusely. SchrubSchrubSchrub / Reddit
• I’m a female Army Officer. Honestly, most of the guys who have worked for me have been great — in some cases terrible, but unrelated to my gender. The strangest cases have always been insecure wives who try to challenge me. It’s never the wives of great guys who have an issue with me. It’s always the wives of idiots who think I’m totally going to seduce them or something. They go to weird extremes to “mark their territory” over something I never wanted. Grawgar / Reddit
• I was a manager of a convenience store for a time, and to make matters worse, I was pregnant the entire time. My husband also worked at the convenience store and for the first few weeks I had the job as well as the month I was training. The entire time I was training, a bunch of people asked me what my husband thought of me getting a promotion and becoming his boss. Even after he left for his current job, people still asked me what he thought of me having the job. I was also quite shocked at the number of people who thought that me telling them to do their job meant I had become a “power-hungry so-and-so”. breentee / Reddit

• One of the people on my team tried to scold me for “showing him less respect than he deserves, as he is both older than me and male”. It was really funny to see his face when I high-fived the president of the bank and called him “dude”—which my team member had specifically objected to. Hawksinger / Reddit
• I once had a new hire who wouldn't take directions from a woman. By a complete fluke, the interview panel was all men so it hadn't come up. Our lab was 50/50 male/female, and he was supposed to be basically everyone's assistant as needed. On the first day, he wasn't wearing goggles, so I reminded him nicely to put on a pair, and he didn't respond in any way. My male coworker then repeated what I had said, and he put goggles on. This basically repeated for three days until I brought it up with my manager. She tried to bring it up with him, but he wouldn't talk to her, which went about as well as you would expect. HR was also a woman, so the CEO came in and fired him. nefariousmango / Reddit
• I've had a male subordinate who was doing poorly tell me he needed a new boss because I was “too much like his mom for him to respect.” He did not receive a new manager, nor did he keep his job. marxamod / Reddit
• My husband and I own and run a business together. In our articles of incorporation, we are 50/50 co-owners, and we work and make business decisions as a team. I don't remember exactly what we were doing, but we were at our bank setting up a new checking account or something. The woman behind the desk asked me what I did for the business, and I gave her a shortened version of my job duties. Before I even had a chance to wonder why she cared what I did for the business, she got to the same question for my husband. She didn't even ask him anything—I just watched her type “owner” into the text field. I told her that I was a 50/50 co-owner of the business. “Oh, it'll be fine,” she said. I made her go back and change what she put down for me. I am not going to be put down as “job duty” while my husband is put down as “owner”. Not only that, but I've put just as much blood, sweat, and tears into this business as he does. ShinyRatFace / Reddit

• A former boss of mine once answered the phone for a call from a B-to-B salesperson who asked to speak to the manager. She said, “This is she. What can I help you with?” I could hear the guy on the other end practically yell at her, “you’re obviously not the boss, you’re a woman!” Before he hung up. Hilaritytohorror / Reddit
• I used to be a supervisor for a small department. Sometimes, I covered the phones for the receptionist when she took lunch. People treated me very badly when I was covering that job. One time, a guy called and angrily asked to speak to a supervisor. I said, “I'm the supervisor of (that department).” He said, “NO, YOU'RE NOT! What is your title?” in a nasty tone of voice. I told him I was the supervisor of (the department). I was shocked that he called me a liar right to my face, so to speak. Unknown author / Reddit
• I have to be extra careful about my phrasing in emails. I have to throw in niceties, exclamation points, and even smiley emojis. Otherwise, I evidently come off as mean, condescending, and/or power-trippy. Like, I'm all for being polite, but what I'm talking about is above and beyond that. People of all genders react strangely to authoritative, direct communication from women. akath0110 / Reddit
• I had someone I worked with well, we joked around a lot, seemed we were decent “work friends.” Not close, but we never had a rift or problem. When I was promoted to manage the group, including him, he simply decided he wasn't going to recognize my presence. As in, he wouldn't look at me, wouldn't talk to me, refused to respond to emails, acted like I was literally not there. He apparently decided he didn't have to do what I told him if he couldn't see me. It was bizarre. I requested a meeting with HR about it. They set it up with him (since he didn't acknowledge my existence). He continued to not look at me or speak to me, only to the HR person. They laid out a plan for him to follow, which involved communication of some kind with me. He did not follow it. We were getting ready to fire him when another opportunity came up for him (voluntary separation), and he left. jupitaur9 / Reddit

• I am a Product Manager, and there are quite a few projects where I am the deciding voice/director on how we approach or integrate a product with our systems. I will give my advice, and it will get ignored, then another male colleague will mention the same thing, and it is SUCH A GREAT IDEA (this literally happens at least once a quarter even after I’ve been there for almost 10 years). For example, I had one project where I was literally the only expert at the company that knew how to structure the new system functionality and integrate it with all of our other systems.
  Gave my pitch since they were asking for my help and guidance, then crickets for months while they tried to figure out how to do it differently (because I obviously do not know what I’m talking about). I was even given the feedback after that meeting that I came off “as the loudest voice in the room”. I asked how so (from a neutral party) and the only thing that I was told was pretty much that I made them feel mentally inadequate (aka: stupid).
  They came back 9 months later absolutely scrambling since the client wanted this completed in 4 months, and asked for my help again. Fortunately for me, I had moved on to another role, so I just pointed them to our meeting notes from the year before and everything else I had prepared for them (that they didn’t bother looking at) and moved on with my life. Stuff like this happens ALL the time. Stop asking me for my help and guidance if you aren’t going to listen to it just because it is coming from a woman. dolie55 / Reddit
• I once let a high school intern sit in on a meeting with me and a vendor. I swear to you, this dude was directing his pitch to a 16-year-old kid rather than to me, the person who would decide if we used his business. DietCokeCanz / Reddit
• I work for a STEM company, and until recently (like, yesterday) worked in a technical management role. Interview candidates always assumed I was HR, even after being told who I was and what my function was. Male subordinates would be treated like my boss during interviews as well. Belfette / Reddit

• After college, my friend and I got jobs at the same company. After two years, I was promoted to team leader. Soon, I noticed strange things. My files would go missing, presentations would be deleted. I asked my friend to help me solve the mystery, and she told me that she would look into it. Later, another team member told me that it was my friend who was doing this, and sure enough, I caught her red-handed. Instead of apologizing, she blamed me for her behavior, saying I was being too “bossy” with her and was a bad friend. She even told me I shouldn't have taken the promotion. Needless to say, I got her transferred out of my team, and we aren't friends anymore.
• After a recent promotion, I can interview job applicants. But when it comes to disciplinary meetings, or terminations, I'm supposed to have a male manager with me for “my
  safety”. To top it off, I was politely ordered, in politically correct jargon, to wear skirts as trousers or slacks wouldn't be acceptable for the company's image. After being promoted to a managerial position. Cassandra_Canmore / Reddit
• Not exactly a position of power, but a similar story. Once, a colleague of ours was introducing me and my boyfriend, to one of his friends. He went around the table, saying what everyone did for a living. When he got to me, he just said, “And she’s just a really nice lady.” My furious boyfriend yelled, “Dude, you know she’s an engineer,” and he just completely ignored it and kept talking. It was really bizarre, like he was unwilling to admit I was successful or (dare I say?) the most successful person there. SlothenAround / Reddit
  

These boss women have no problems rising to the challenge and overcoming it all—just like these celebrities who decided to step away from the limelight and explore other careers.