		LOG IN

Home > Bosses From Hell

Newsflash! Sexist Man Hater With IQ of Grapefruit Promoted to Director at Major Twin Cities Corporation

Posted on 03/13/2006 by BitterExMinnesotan
Viewed: 677 times

God I love this site!

For about four years, I've had the need to pour out my anger about this situation. Here comes the explosion.

I'm a native New Yorker who relocated to the Twin Cities in 2000 to accept a position at a major employer, a famous legal publishing company. At the time, it seemed like a great opportunity. Great pay, great experiences, etc. Great manager. I thought.

I actually had three of them in the span of two years. The first one, the one who hired me, had a quirky little talent that I learned about soon after I came on board. She had a knack for leading big name projects into the ground and getting others blamed for messing them up. She had a nick-name, the "Bull-Dozer" (it was a play on her name). This woman was genteically unable to take responsibility for her foul ups. She was the "anti-manager". Productive and effective managers are able to make themselves shine by making sure that their employees do. It's pretty simple. This woman thought differently. She was focused like a laser beam on making a name for herself by actually making her employees look bad.

Turns out I was wrong. If you wanted to move ahead at this company, you needed to do two things. Have an affair with the CEO or start fires and pretend you're the fireman. It worked like this. She would give out a project. Example: We need a class designed that teaches new hires about the company. I would design it. She would review it. She would say. "This is great!" A VP would see it and not like it. She would say, "This is unnaccetable. Who signed off on this?" Well, you did. In either case, she had now set herself up as the person who would come in and save the day.

Of course, all of this was sanctioned by the VP of our department. She made her way up in the company the other way, by laying down. It was a well-known secret that she was having an with the president of the company. And actually, it explained a lot. Attending meetings that she was present at (well, "present" was sort of an exaggeration in her case) made this fact very apparent. This woman could never answer a question. That was because she didn't know anything that was job-related (other than laying down, I suppose). So whenever someone asked a question she would always say something like, "Hmmm, I have my feelings onn what to do, BUT, what do YOU think?"

So, my manager's plans all worked out great for her. After less than a year on the job, she was promoted to director of the department. Most of us were happy. Some were not. Sad to say, but some of my colleauges actually resected her talents and began to model themselves after this person. Stupid me, having self respect and a soul, just couldn't rewire my hard drive to become a self-righteous backstabber.

Anyway, I got a new manager. She was great. She was the classic manager. She worked with her folks to make sure they had the tools they needed to succeed, coached them and offered timely feedback, and in general, "ran the block" for her employees. If we were doing something wrong, she let US know about it. If we were doing things right, she let OTHERS know about it. My performance reviews attested to the fact that her style of management was working extraordinarily well. Again, pretty simple. But of course, this radical way of managing just could not be tolerated. She was ostricized by supporters of the "bull dozer" and was forced to leave the department.

It was then that we got the manager that drove me to finally resign. And boy, was she a peach. Not nearly as intelligent as one, but a peach nonetheless.

When the search went on to choose a new manager, we were allowed to participate in the interview process. We interviewed four candidates. Obviously, you probably know where I'm going with this. The one we all (save one of us) absolutley despised was the one the bulldozer hired. The story was that didn't want to bring in another person who had the same style as the one who just left. In other words, she wanted a person whom she would be able to effectively control. Remember, she's the bulldozer.

So they brought in Ms. Peach. For a short while, she was nice to work with. She didn't know much about the field in which she was hired to manage, but she seemed eager to learn. She even sat down and talked to each one of us to see what our innterests were and what type of projects we wanted to focus on. Little did I know at the time what the purposes of these conversations were.

She was actually using these conversations as a way to weed people out that the bulldozer no longer wanted around. My colleague was her first target. He was a he. This is an important fact. He was (and is) a great classroom facilitator. He wanted to do more of the same. She gave him a project designing a training web site. He never did this before. She gave him no support. She gave him no resources. She never reviewed any of his work. He failed. She fired him.

So, the time came for me to get my first performance review. She began by saying, "Do you happen to have any problems with a woman being your boss?" That struck me as a strange way to open up a performance discussion, but I went along. "Um, no.", I said, rather perplexed. "My last manager was a woman, and she was the best manager I've ever had."

"Well I'm not Jill", she said, angrily. She seemed to be getting defensive. She went on to say things like, "if you can't handle working for a woman, you might want to consider getting counseling."

I was like, "EXCUSE ME???" I had no idea at the time what she was doing. If I was a little wiser, I would have stopped the conversation at that point and gotten an attorney. I was just in total shock.

Well, shortly after this, I began to see what her plan was. In my opinion, she was uncomfortable working with men. Like my previous colleague, she now gave me a project that I was setup to fail on. Unfortunately for her, I actually ran the project quite efficiently, getting a lot of positive praise from clients. But in the end, it was my own love for my wife that got me into trouble. I had planned a trip to Hawaii for my ten year wedding anniversary. A vendor I was working with was scheduled to come in to give a presentation the week I was to be out. I talked to Ms. Peach and she was supposed to handle things when I was out. She was unable to do this. Or, unwilling. Or, more than, likley, wanted things to blow up while I was out.

When the vendor came in to present, no one was there to greet them. When someone did finally find them, they were taken to the wronng room. They couldn't hook up their laptops to present their stuff. The whole meeting was a mess. And when I got back from my trip with my wife, I was told that the reason that the meeting fell apart was because I wasn't there. Uh yeah. That's why you were supposed to handle it Ms. Peach. I was told that I should start looking for another job. That perhaps, this was no longer "a good fit."

And so I did. I looked for a new position back in New York. It didn't matter that my wife was six months pregnant at the time and really was in no condition to move. That didn't matter to Ms. Peach.

Anyway, here's a summary of what happened in the months and years to come...

I moved back to New York.

My son was born three months later.

He was stillborn.

The doctor tried to put a positive spin on it, like it was just one of those "tragic things" in life. But I know. If I wasn't forced to move my family across the country, my son would still be alive.

I divorced my wife.

Things are better now. I remarried. The job I took in New York is with a great corporation. I love the people and have had great managers. I do a lot of speaking at industry conferences and have gotten a promotion while only here for three years.

This is a great website. Thanks for listening.

comments (12) |

post to digg |

post to del.icio.us | e-mail this story

e-mail it

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Remind you of something?

JobSchmobber Community Comments

SouthernProgrammer (03/13/2006)
That's really really tragic. I can't imagine the anger you must have over this.

just me (03/13/2006)
Hi there. I'm really sorry for the things that happened to you. I am glad you were able to get some distance in between it all and that you are doing well for yourself now! I am also sorry to hear of your son's death. I am sure that it felt very good to get all this off your chest. I hope you can breathe easier from here on out! p.s. I love this freakin site too!

(6)

Editorial Assistant(7)

Can't take it anymore(4)

Company memo that Belfort Instruments needs to write but never will(7)

now I know why people shoot up their workplaces.(4)

March 10, 2006(11)

Huh?(1)
Blog Comments:

The SAW Effect(4)

Another Advertiser Who Does Not Want Us to Think(11)

An Uncomfortable Truth?(15)

Mr. Bad Habits(4)

The Fear Factor(4)

The Internet? I Can Stop Anytime I Want!(3)

What You're Talkin' About: The Most Recent Comments

Story Comments:

I need some advice.

Marketplace

	MilesEdge® Card APR: 0% Annual Fee: $19 0% introductory rate; bonus points.
	Subaru® Platinum MasterCard® from Chase APR: 14.24% Annual Fee: $0 High 3% rebate earned; no annual fee; 0% introductory rate.
	Bank of America World MasterCard® with WorldPoints™ APR: 7.90% Annual Fee: $0 Very low fixed APR for purchases and balance transfers for those who qualify; 0% introductory offer; access to reward program; no annual fee.