c/bosses-from-hell

My manager started tracking our bathroom breaks in a spreadsheet

About two months ago, our team of eight got a new supervisor at the office in Tulsa. She implemented a rule where we had to log every time we left our desks for a restroom visit, noting the exact time we left and returned. The mood shifted from relaxed to tense almost overnight, with people rushing and feeling watched. It feels like a huge overstep and has made the whole place feel like a prison. Has anyone else had a boss try to monitor something this personal?

My boss's office went from a disaster zone to a showroom in 48 hours.

For two years, his desk was a mountain of old coffee cups and unopened mail. Then a big client from Chicago scheduled a surprise visit. He hired a cleaning crew and bought a $2,000 fake plant. Do bosses only care about appearances when money is on the line?

Showerthought: My boss's 'urgent' emails are never urgent after 5 PM

My manager at the painting company would send these panicked emails marked 'ASAP' at like 6:30 PM. I'd stress all night. Last month, I started waiting until 8 AM the next morning to even open them. Turns out, 9 times out of 10, the 'crisis' had already fixed itself or wasn't real. Has anyone else found their boss's emergencies are mostly just drama after hours?

My boss promised a simple permit fix that took 8 months to sort out

He told me to 'just handle it' on a roofing job in Portland, saying the city would approve it in a week. The paperwork was a mess from the start, missing three different stamps and a site plan. I spent over 60 hours on the phone and at the permit office across 8 MONTHS, while he kept billing the client for delays. He blamed me for 'not being pushy enough' with the city, but the holdup was his own incorrect drawings. Has anyone else had a boss create a problem and then make it your full time job to fix?

My boss in Milwaukee told me my weekly reports were 'useless noise' and to only email him when something was actually broken, which honestly cut my stress in half.

Has anyone else had a manager who basically wanted you to stop giving them updates?

My boss asked for a 'quick' update on our patient charting system. That was 14 months ago.

Just realized my boss's 'urgent' emails are a control tactic, not about actual work.

My therapist in Denver pointed out that the 2am messages are always about minor updates, never true crises. Has anyone else's manager used constant 'urgency' to keep you on edge?

Why does nobody talk about how long a boss can drag out a simple project?

My manager asked me to make a basic report on our team's monthly sales, which should have taken maybe two hours. It ended up taking three full days because he kept changing the format, the data points he wanted, and the colors of the charts, sending new emails each time. Has anyone else had a boss who turns a quick task into a week-long mess?

My boss kept moving my deadlines up by a day without telling me

It got so bad I started putting a fake due date in our shared project tracker, one day later than the real one. When he'd inevitably move it up, it would land on the actual deadline I needed. I did this for a project in Q3 and it saved my sanity. Anyone else have a boss who pulls this kind of stuff?

My manager gave me a choice: work unpaid overtime or miss a family wedding.

It was my sister's wedding in Chicago last month, and my boss said I could either stay late to finish a report or use my last vacation day. I used the day, and he gave me a terrible review for 'poor planning'. Has anyone else had a boss hold personal time against them like that?

My boss in Austin told me my reports were 'unreadable data dumps' and now I start every one with a three-bullet summary.

Has anyone else had a manager give you feedback that actually made you better at your job, even if it was delivered harshly?

My boss insisted we all buy this $200 'productivity' course he swore by.

It was just a repackaged time management PDF you can find for free. Anyone else had a manager push useless paid training on the team?