A reader from Indiana writes…

There are about 10 of us working under a narcissistic boss. She is also a pathological liar (although this seems to be another of the symptoms of narcissism). The most blatant lie is when she brought in a commercial cheesecake in the original packaging and claimed she made it, and she wasn’t kidding. She said the packaging was something that she had lying around.
The biggist problem is that she is an elected official (Finance Director). At this point she is just appointed as her predecessor retired mid-term. She was able to fool many people including the mayor. About half of us met with the mayor in the fall. At that point he admitted that he also knew she wasn’t right, but we had 2 options-look for another job or find someone to run against her in Nov.(2007) and he said he had someone in mind, our boss’s former assistant, who has since transferred to another department. due to the stress she has put on him. We do know that the mayor is helping us (behind the scenes) in seeing to it that she isn’t elected in Nov., but we don’t know how we can make it till then. The city could get rid of her, but they don’t want egg on their face or admit they made a mistake. She is a bully, a blatant liar and puts so much of her work on us that we can’t complete our work, then threatens to write us up if we are behind on our own work. None of the other Finance Directors have expected us to do their work (which she takes credit for). Looking for another job, isn’t an option. Some of us are in our 50′s, some have been there for a long time and within a few years to retirement. Several of us are on anti-depressants, although that doesn’t help the stress. We all have a hard time falling asleep on Sunday evening, feel sick to or have knots in our stomachs thinking about going back on Monday. We are about 90% sure that she is going to lose the election, but how to deal with her till then, and what is going to happen when she loses in Nov. until Jan. when the new person takes office? Will we have hell to pay?

Please tell us how we can deal with her, we’ve read all the tips- agree with her, look awestruck when she tells the stories, etc. Is there anything else we can do to get her out of there? We have thought about going to the head of HR, although we’re sure she knows what is going on. We are a united front, and lean on each other, but sometimes it isn’t enough.

It is really sad that a president can be impeached, but we have to continue dealing with her because the current administration doesn’t want the embarassment. Thank you for listening.

What do you think? It’s easy to tell people to be patient but how do you deal with the fear and loathing, particularly on Sunday night? Some possible answers lie in the strength this office staff draws from each other. How can they work together to knock off this wicked queen?

A reader from Kathleen, Georgia, writes…

When I was in the military and stationed in Illinois, my immediate boss was a PITA.  He had nervous ticks, including a ball-point pen he used to click all the time, and he smoked incessantly.  He used to come up to the work site at 3AM intoxicated and harass the night shift.  One night he told the night shift there was a fire in the graphics room, and upon being told there was no fire, he insisted that we follow the fire checklist.  He got quite belligerant and one of the workers from another section eventually had to lead him out of the vault.  He eventually got “fired”, which in the military means he was transferred to another office where he couldn’t do much damage.

I’ve had other bosses that were a little off as well.  One went crazy in the middle of Desert Storm and ended up living in his chemical defense gear for 4 days in a closet.  He was already a little bit of an obsessive anal-retentive type, and when the missiles started falling he couldn’t handle not being in control.  Ironically, the guy had a habit of telling everyone he had a BS in Psychology and giving impromptu personality analysis.  Classic!

What do you think? What role does stress play in the morphing of simply obnoxious bosses into truly crazy ones? When even metaphorical missiles, not even real ones, begin to fly, how many executives can keep cool and sane?

A reader from Los Angeles writes…

My boss was on a business trip in Chicago.  He was planning on flying from there to Canada to visit his wife who was on vacation visiting her mother.  The day his flight was to leave for Canada, he suddenly realized that he needed his passport to re-enter the US.  His passport was at home in Manhattan Beach, CA!!!  I, then, was called upon to go to his home, go through the garage using the secret security code, and retrieve his passport from his walk-in closet so I could overnight it to Chicago.  After being assigned this task, he gave me a long lecture about not snooping through his things.  While there, I ran into his housekeepr and after scaring each other to death, she asked me if I was bringing her check!?!?  I have never been asked to do such an outrageous errand   Mind you, I am an accountant and he is the CFO!!! 

Oh, I don’t know. I know a guy who used to have to zip up his boss’s fly when they were drunk.

A reader from Phoenix writes…

I recently switched branches at my bank due to a psycho boss.  I was the #1 banker in new accounts, loans, savings accounts, credit cards, investment dollars and business accounts for the first 6 months of 2007.  Yet my Manager took away my garbage can saying I didn’t use it properly, made me work 6 day weeks when no other banker worked more than 5 day weeks, and put me on written warning because I was involved in an auto accident and did not give 24 notice that I would be late to work! 

What do you think? A boss who undermines and drives away his best performer? Could this be an example of infantile jealousy? Fear of the next successful player coming up the ramp? Rampant insecurity? All of the above. And really, how does a person use a garbage can improperly?

A reader from Rolla, Missouri, writes…

I had a boss who insisted I rewrite everything I did. This woman had no college degree and a poor understanding of business writing.  She had been promoted only because they’d run out of people willing to do the job.  I was trained in what I did and had a good track record, but as far as she was concerned I couldn’t write a simple sentence.  My job degraded to endlessly going over papers with a ruler to catch any “mistake,” typo, or formatting issue.

Ideas such as a style guide or standard business usage were alien to her.  What could have taken a few hours stretched out for weeks, as she sent everything back marked in red.  I felt trapped in an English composition hell by a person who’s main skill was gossip.

The last straw was a huge pile of documents I had turned in months ago were returned to me.  She had never even looked at them and now I was to go over them all again!  I did, and no surprise, they still weren’t good enough.  I quit, and this idiot had the nerve to call me up wanting me to rewrite my resignation letter! 

That’s a new one on me. Rewriting one’s letter of resignation! You gotta love it. The vaccilation between vagueness, inattention and laziness and obsessive-compulsive correctionitis is not uncommon. Zooming from one pole to another is classic Crazy Boss.

A reader from Ottawa, Canada, writes…

Dear Bing, here’s the (repeated) (hi)story:

• Boss makes decision based on cursory examination of the facts, starting with a statement that he has four solutions that instantly come to mind for this issue.
• Boss loses track of test data accumulated from the tests he designed to address issue.
• Boss berates staff for not implementing the tests correctly, or for not recording relevant test data not intitally asked for.
• Boss avoids performing any tests himself, or visiting the test floor.
• With test results in hand, ignores alternative explanations for issue not in his initial solution set, even with overwhelming data that would allow the janitor to make the right call.
• Runs out of gas, stating that things will need to be broken further before they can be made to work. Also threatens staff with repeating meaningless tests.
• When the solution is finally implemented by avoiding any contact with Boss, creates revisionist version of the facts proclaiming himself solver of the issue as per his initial assessment.

This boss shows all the signs of executive dementia: losing things, lack of concentration, selective stupidity, inappropriate rage, inattention to details, greed for unearned credit. What can we do but laugh!? (Cry?)

A reader from Illinois writes…
 
I have a boss that depending on what day or even what time of the day you catch her on, her mood and tactic has completely flip-floped.  Case in point, she has the nerve to tell me to act more professional for laughing too loud at a joke that a co-worker told me at my desk.  Was this unprofessional, yes, it probably disturbed those around me working, but this is the same person that earlier that day told me that the past weekend she and her husband got drunk and that she gave him oral pleasure while he drove. She shops on-line and talks to her girlfriends about weight watchers after coming in late, then complains that her employees aren’t working up to their level.  Interesting tactics she choses to lead by.

What do you think? Is this a crazy boss? Or just a person with a VERY bad filter between her brain and her somewhat overly active mouth?

A reader from Albany writes…

I have a great boss. He instills in me words like “consistency” and “hot rush.” He also throws a few “well if I said that I didn’t meant it”s. We can have a complete breakdown in productivity but he wants to see the vacation schedule. He’s really big on that. After every holiday he wants to know if anyone was absent so we do not have to pay them for the Holiday, even if they have worked here 30 years (my right hand to God it’s true). We have 300 Mexican employees working here and he told me not to hire anyone that cannot speak English. If he asks you,”"What do you think of this?,” while he shows you something (what it is is not important) I desperately want to pick the right thing to say, but did I mention he is completely inconsistent in his thinking? He asks me things like, “Why does that person walk slow?” I truly hadn’t noticed and still cannot see it. One of my biggest causes for alarm is when he says, “I have been noticing……,” fill in the blank with whatever. The one consistent comment I can count on is, “”This is the worst year we have ever has for……….”"again you can fill in the blank.

What do you think? Why are crazy bosses plagued by inconsistency of mood and speech? Any ideas?