The winner of the Bad Boss Contest will receive a weeklong condo vacation certificate good in the United States, Mexico, Canada or many other locations - plus $1,000 toward airfare.
Weekly winners get one of these prizes -
* A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses: Dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-Stabbers and Other Managers from Hell, by Gini Graham Scott.
* "Take This Job and Shove It" CD, by Johnny Paycheck.
* The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit: An A to Z Lexicon of Empty, Enraging, and Just Plain Stupid Office Talk, by Lois Beckwith.
* "Nine to Five" DVD, signed by Jane Fonda.
This is one of the top rated stories. Here's a quote from the story -
"The boss I currently work for spends his day eating long meals, sleeping on his couch, calling friends and family on the phone, or watching TV. He then will occasionally call me into his office and, while lying on his couch and half asleep, lecture me that I'm not work hard enough."
Dang, that boss gig sounds like good work. I'm sorry but a fair number of these stories are a little too whiney for me. I like stories like this more if there is an element of humor in them rather than a "poor me" spin.
My recommendation - Stay in school, work hard, be the boss....OR.....if you don't like your work or don't like the people you work with or your boss - Quit.
There's actually some stories in there that start with something like - "I worked for a boss for 15 years..."
Certainly there are some terrible bosses, but there are also people who aren't happy unless they can feel like the "boss" or "bosses" are somehow getting one over on them, not working hard enough, incompetent, not the real experts (that's why they hired you...duh)..etc.
Certainly incompetence, dishonesty, cruelty, discrimination etc. are cause for action. But you have to ask yourself if it's perception or reality - without hard proof - it's probably best to not worry so much about what we "imagine" other people (like the boss), are doing and concentrate on improving our selves from the inside out.
I do my best to never do anything that doesn't make me happy, and if I have to do something that makes me unhappy try to get it over with as quickly as possible. That's not denial or a delusion, it's a matter of keeping in mind what ultimately makes you happy, which isn't always fun. For example it may make you happy to provide a roof over your kid's heads, food and clothing, but it isn't fun to go to work every day - and the type of work you do and the people you work for might not be "fun". But you can be happy. If the work you are doing doesn't allow you to be happy - even with your bigger picture goals in mind...then move on.
I'd say the bad boss stories are a great incentive to not get stuck without options. Develop your skills, be entrepreneurial, get an education, and give yourself the ability to tell that bad boss goodbye (or go to hell, go _____ yourself, take this job and shove it or whatever is appropriate).
