10 kinds of bad bosses and how to survive them

Photo: Sanja Gjenero

Bad bosses are bad for business and they can make everyone’s workday miserable. But not all bad bosses are created equal, according to authors Kathi Elster and Katherine Crowley. In Working for You Isn't Working for Me: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss, they describe the kinds of bad bosses that may be infecting your office and how to handle them. Here are ten of the offenders you should look out for in your workplace and tips on how to survive working for them.

1. The Chronic Critic. This kind of boss doesn’t think you can do anything right—and is very vocal about it. And the criticism is not limited to your job performance either. Your clothes, your personal life, or the car you drive are all fair game for this boss to dissect. When you start working for the chronic critic, you may have a brief honeymoon period, but then this kind of boss will completely obliterate your confidence.

“Usually you have two good weeks with The Chronic Critic and then it starts to get ugly,” said Elster. “You’ll feel like nothing you do is good enough because they’ll always find fault with everything you do.”

How to survive The Chronic Critic: First and foremost, take good care of yourself. Keep in mind that this is someone who is never going to be happy with anything that you do. It’s nothing personal because The Chronic Critic is doing this to your colleagues as well. If you need a self-esteem boost, make a list of your accomplishments every day so that you can pat yourself on the back regularly.

2. The Calculating Confidante. These bosses will make you feel like they really care about you by always asking you questions about what’s going on in your life. Don’t fall for this—it’s a trap. They don’t care about you; they care about information about you.

“What this person is trying to do is find out intimate details about your life that then they can turn around and use against you,” Elster said. “They dig and dig and they’ll use their pop psychology to draw you in and make you feel as if they care about you—but actually they’re looking for material to hang you on.”

How to survive The Calculating Confidante: Simply put—keep a lid on it. Don’t accept invitations to social events with this boss. Avoid long lunches. And most importantly, keep your mouth shut.

“If your boss starts telling you private information about someone else, acting as if they’re saying it as a compassionate counselor, you need to become sealed like a trap,” said Crowley. “They are not that competent at doing the actual activities of their job and so what they’re counting on is political maneuvering. Through having the goods on others, they will remain untouched.”

3. The Love-Struck Boss. Although the behavior of these bosses may not rise to the level of sexual harassment, they are looking for love in all the wrong places—namely, your cubicle. This boss will ask you to stay late on special projects, compliment you on what you’re wearing, or gaze a little bit too long at you during meetings. The Love-Struck Boss also has no boundaries and is emotionally needy.

How to survive The Love-Struck Boss: Although you may feel flattered by attention from The Love-Struck Boss, or even reciprocate those romantic feelings, keep things professional between the two of you. The less you make yourself available to The Love-Struck Boss outside of working hours, the more likely this boss will look for love in someone else’s cubicle.

4. The Rule Changer Boss. The Rule Changer Boss will tell you to do one thing on Monday morning and something completely different by Monday afternoon. You may start to wonder if The Rule Changer Boss has problems with short-term memory because directives will change so frequently.

How to survive The Rule Changer Boss: “The only way to handle The Rule Changer is to use pencil, not pen,” said Elster.

When working for The Rule Changer Boss, you need to check in frequently to make sure you are on the right track before you get completely contradictory instructions.

5. The Persecutor Boss. For The Persecutor Boss, making you feel like dirt is a daily priority. This boss is cruel, critical, and thinks you are nothing more than an incompetent turd—and lets you know it all the time. Usually this boss will have a rotation of abuse, so that everyone gets to spend time squirming in the hot seat.

“They know they’re doing something a little naughty and they really can’t help themselves. They target an individual and there’s really no reason. They just decide to target somebody and abuse them—and they do it publicly,” said Crowley. “They don’t understand the magnitude of their behavior and as a result, The Persecutor Bosses have 100 percent turnover a year. In most cases, people don’t even make it a year with The Persecutor Boss.”

How to survive The Persecutor Boss: “If you’re being persecuted, what we suggest is that you really take care of yourself in terms of making sure that you’re getting sleep, exercising, and eating healthy because it will just wreak havoc on you,” Elster added. “The only way you can deal with it is if you can really see that it’s not your problem, it’s theirs—and that’s not easy.”

Part Two: 10 kinds of bad bosses and how to survive them (continued)

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