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Pretty much every one of us has at one time or another had a boss that we hated. A boss that made life miserable or was so incompetent that we dreaded going into work.
However, odds are that none of those bosses were nearly as bad as these bosses people over on “Ask Reddit” had when faced with the question, “What’s the shittiest thing an employer has ever done to you?”
So read these then go hug your boss and thank him or her for not being as gigantic an asshole as these employers.
One spring morning my city was hit with a freak snowstorm right before morning rush hour. Several inches of wet snow fell quickly and snarled traffic all over town. At the major insurance company I worked for at the time, about 1/3 of the staff said screw it and just stayed home. The rest of us all arrived for work anywhere from one to three hours late.
In the days following the storm, all the people who stayed home were stressed about how the company would deal with the unexcused absences. They were all hoping they would catch a break and be allowed to use a vacation day instead of being docked a day’s pay and getting dinged on their next performance review.
When the next payday came around, we got a memo with our stubs explaining that all the employees who stayed home would be given an excused absence and paid in full, while the rest of us were docked for the time we were late for work. ~ EKeebler
I went on a three week vacation. When I got back, one of my jobs had entirely new staff except for one person. The new boss could not find record of me and had already filled my position. ~ Amorine
Two very short stories: Old employer put a lot of requirements on me to achieve fulltime status. I spent thousands to do so, then they dropped my contract without notice.
Current employer – I worked 18 months without any vacation or even requesting a day off for personal. One of the guys I supervise died, and he happened to be my stepfather. Instead of taking time off for my mother and brothers, I covered all my hours plus his for the next several weeks, running into 100+ hours per pay period multiple times, because the department couldn’t handle losing BOTH of us and we were already limping by with temps. I finally ask for a night off to spend with family and help with their things, and my boss tells me no and calls me a liar. ~ massive_cock
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007. I took time off since I was paralyzed and in the hospital. I only took allowed sick leave. I returned to work on a cane less than a week later having relearned how to walk, really, my brain wasn’t comprehending the walking idea, but mostly dragged myself around. If you looked at my productivity, on a slow day for me even then I did 3 times the average employee.
Just before my paralysis, maybe a month before, or 2, my boss had promoted me and I was no longer her secretary. Now that I had MS, she told me I was obviously no longer capable of performing my job duties and would need to go back to being a secretary for her, including a reduction in pay.
I said no you can’t demote me for having a disability. She said she was only helping me.
I filed a complaint and threatened to sue because she wouldn’t let me come to work unless I was her secretary and I had witnesses stating she just really didn’t like her new secretary and was trying to find a way to get me back. I offered to take the secretary job back with a raise but she wouldn’t have it. ~ speckleeyed
I’m colorblind. My boss assigned me a work task once that was color-coded in a way that I couldn’t see. When I brought up my vision issues — not refusing to do the work, but asking for accommodation — I was written up for what they perceived as “insubordination”.
When I filed a complaint with HR asking for the write-up to be removed, the HR rep “graciously” gave me what she perceived as a solution: that I should go use the company’s Tuition Reimbursement program to go take a remedial art class at my local community college. “So that you can finally learn your colors”, she said. ~ Beta_leonis
Last week my boss gave me a difficult task with an impossible time frame.
When the time was up and I said I needed another day to finish, he got all cocky and went “I know. I don’t need it until tomorrow. But I told you I need it today because if I told you I needed it tomorrow you’d say you couldn’t get it done until Monday.”
And when I told him that’s not true, he pointed to the fact that I was unable to do the task in his just recently admitted impossible time frame as evidence that I wouldn’t have finished it on time if he’d told me when he actually needed it.
So, setting me up for failure, and then using the fact that I failed as evidence to say I’m a shitty employee. Ain’t management grand. ~ SteakAndNihilism
I got another job offer for a position that paid about 50% more than what I was currently making. My supervisor made a counteroffer that more than matched it – I just had to jump through some paperwork formalities. That paperwork gets dragged out for about 2 months, when I’m told that the supervisor didn’t have the authority to make that kind of counteroffer. Instead I was told 10%, take it or leave it. I had the offer in writing but it wasn’t an official document – fighting it would have been a long uphill battle. I took the 10%, found another job, and left without helping train a replacement with no fucks given. ~ Douche_of_York
I work at Sears, as a Backroom Associate. The PMT (Preventative Maintenance Technician) position opened up. The day the old PMT worker put his two week notice in, my boss approached me asking if I would like the job. Knowing that the pay was better than my current position’s, I was excited and instantly told him yes. The following day they started training me for the position. This went on for about a week or so, they announced that there would be a meeting at the end of the month. Well, I attended the meeting only to be introduced to the new PMT worker! I couldn’t believe it, they gave me the job and then took it away just like that. Ever since then, there has been no mention of the incident. ~ HorrifiK
I’m currently supervising anywhere from 7 to 22 guys at work (depending on the season). I don’t get paid extra to do this, I just do it because it needed doing, and have been doing quite well at it for the past 14 months.
Recently we had quite a few supervisor positions open up. I put in and was interviewed for one of them. My boss called me into his office, and informed me that he and the warehouse director felt I was too introverted to be a supervisor.
He suggested I start working on coming out of my shell, so if another position opens up I can try again.
I’ll work on coming out of my shell alright; going to get a lot practice interviewing for other jobs elsewhere. ~ mysterious_baker
Part 1: Hires me for full-time permanent position first week of August, then announces on the second week of August that the office will be closing at the end of the year.
Part 2: Promises excellent severance package for those who stay on ’til the end of the year. I do so, and in the last week the office is open, they then try to take it away from me, telling me I didn’t work there long enough to qualify for it.
My supervisor was quite pissed at this, so she called Corporate HR and arranged it so I got the full package AND an apology from the jerkbag who tried to shaft me. ~ bassististist
I got pregnant while working for a small subcontracting company. I told my boss (I was assistant to VP) and let them know I’d need to take a few weeks off after I gave birth. So the VP hired an “assistant” to cover my duties while I was gone.
I gave birth and took the week off and then an additional week with the baby for a total of 2 weeks of leave. I returned to work for a bit until my newborn son got sick. Very, very sick. He was hospitalized for almost a week.
I missed 3 days of work because of this and the day I returned, I was fired and guess who replaced me? The person who I basically trained to do my job, “my assistant”. Taught me a life lesson there, never train someone to do your job. ~ primrosepath969
When I was 16 I worked at a grocery store. One of my co-workers (28) kept sending me dick pics and one day cornered me in the break room and started kissing my neck. Someone else came in and he got off me so I told my manager.
You wanna know what that fucker said? “As a woman in the work place that’s just something you’re going to have to learn to deal with.” I quit right then and there but I should’ve reported him to his boss and so on until someone fired that mofo. ~ bitchycunt3
When I was 20 I was working at a gas station. My grandma became very very ill and we thought this was ‘it’. I was advised to head to the city 3 hours away ASAP to say goodbye. I was bawling and asked for a few days off. I got them. My grandma got well enough that we realized she would probably be ok. I was only gone 2 days and I was going to work my days off to make them up. I walked into work and my boss asked in a very snarky voice “Did your Grandma die?” I said “no” and she said “Oh that’s too bad” and walked away. I was shocked/horrified/crushed and started crying again. She later told me to “Get over it cause it was just a joke”. I quit less than a week later. ~ manypuppies
Check out the rest of the employer horror stories over at Reddit.
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