A Slack Attack Against Bullying Bosses

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 9, 2007 

Petri DishI had a high-spirited boss at my first “real?job” out of college.? She?bullied me?when I underperformed, but was elaborately appreciative when I went the extra mile.??Her favorite bullying technique was public humiliation.? She seemed to revel in bellowing statements at me such as, “If this is all you’ve got, you’ll never amount to *&% anything.”? ?As it turns out, it wasn’t all I had.? It was all I had -?for her and for that job.

A Petri Dish of Dysfunction
I was young and dumb and took an administrative job at an ad agency hoping to become a copywriter.? What they didn’t tell me was they were really a graphic design house pretending to be an ad agency so there was no copywriting.

When I finished the administrative work in 10 hours instead of 40, they realized I needed more to do.? They offered me sales development tasks (aka cold calling) and client relations tasks (aka calling clients and chatting about their account, their kids, etc), and they were less than impressed with my enthusiasm and commitment?to these tasks.? It’s not that these tasks were value-less, but they were not work I valued.? I wanted to write.

One of?the few things I?did get to write were our staff-meeting minutes.??After the meetings, I would run back to my desk to type the minutes while the staff would eagerly await them.??Everyone agreed my creative and witty recaps?were?much more fun?than the meetings themselves.? The meeting minutes were always done quickly and with zest – I needed no stick, nor a carrot.? I only needed to value the work.

I was immature, underutilzed, bored, and didn’t value the higher-level work they were offering.? Add to that my problem-solving capability was likely equivalent to that of my boss, and you’ve got a petri dish for dysfunction.

I must admit I had a few passive aggressive techniques for avenging my boss’ bullying.? As it turns out, many workers admit to slacking off to retaliate against a bullying boss.

My Favorite Passive-Aggressive Techniques
My boss was “big boned”, and we worked in an older building so I could feel her coming down the hall before she arrived at my door.? It was a strange coincidence that quite frequently my pencil would hit the floor just before she appeared, and she wouldn’t see me at my desk because I was hiding under it.

In the days when secretaries typed for managers, the bottom of any correspondence would contain the APEinitials of the author followed by the typist’s initials.? On high abuse days, I would maliciously include all three of my boss’ initials instead of just two.? Her initials were APE.

I’d like to believe that with twenty years on the situation, we would both behave in a more refined manner, but under-utilization can make work a jungle, and in jungles, you are bound to find APEs.

It’s confessional time.? What techniques do you have for dealing with bullies?

Filed Under Employee Engagement, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Talent Management

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