Do you like your boss?

[2Epcot]

Before I moved to CA I had what I thought was the worst boss possible. This person happened to be female. She loved to yell, scream, and had a reputation for being just mean. When I left to come to CA I thought I couldn't possibly have a boss that bad. Low and behold, I ended up with another boss even meaner. She even had been known to make some people cry at work. It is very odd to have someone yelling at you at work, for something not so important. Do they think I'm a child?

Currenly all my bosses are great, but it was interesting that both of these bosses were female. Then I remembered that both my brother and sister and similar problems with past supervisors .... also female. Not just one, but each also had two different supervisors like this. So with all three of us having this problem. I started asking friends. In each case, the people told me the worse boss they ever had was a female.

So are these all isolated instances, or is there something to this? Why do so many people have problems with female bosses? And why do some seem to be so mean and angry? I would think there are some great female bosses out there.

[ElenitaB]

I've had some great bosses and some awful ones of both sexes throughout my career. Luckily, right now I have one of the most amazing bosses, and yes, she's a woman. She takes the time to recognize the good work you've been doing and thank you either with a phone call, an e-mail or even an IM (she surprised me with that one during a conference call we were both on last week).

We both came out of the same general team but were in different areas and working in different capacities. I had heard about her prior to her assuming her current role, and everything they said was absolutely right. She has done amazing things with my current group (a project management pool) and we'll both soon be assuming new responsibilities thanks to her leadership.

I've also had some great male bosses in the past. I don't think being a good leader has anything to do with an X or Y gene... only the people gene!

[princessjojo]

I had one of these types ( )of female bosses about 15 years ago. I guess since she was my first “real” boss, I really didn’t know the difference. But as time went by, I noticed that she was this was to every new employee that came to us. It never failed that when the new people left, she would always come back to me as her personal whipping girl. I wasn’t one to talk back or to stand up to her because I had always been taught to respect authority, but I also never let her run me away and I think that got to her most of all. And I did spend my Sunday afternoons in a deep depression about going to work on Monday. In some ways I think she felt she was losing her grip because I wouldn’t go away (little did she know how bad I needed the health insurance). She was bad to the point that once I had asked for a vacation day at one of our holiday times. She gave me the day off, but told me I had to work one of our holiday days to make up the time. It was not company required, but she decided to require it. I did it, didn’t get any holiday pay for working the day(which was wrong) and had to take a vacation day for the day I was out. Yes, it sucked, I got my vacation and she didn’t get her way. She had mentioned to others that she could fire me after that because she knew I would never come in. She was wrong then, too!

Her entire issue was she felt she had to make it in a man’s world. She felt she had to prove herself to the others in the company and to do that she had to be stronger and more diligent than the men. She didn’t realize that those who got her there were what made her strong, not her methods. Even the men thought she was crazy.

She finally got married for the 3rd time and left. A couple years later she came to our company president wanting to take her old job back and he very politely told her we were just fine without her, actually better off without her and her department was much happier and flourishing as well.

I swore after that that I would never work for another woman again. I may have to, but at least the next time, I will recognize the characteristics and run for the exit.

[kakn7294]

I don't like any of my bosses from the director of the hospital to the director of nursing to my direct supervisor. The rules change constantly, nobody stands behind you, and they do their best to make life miserable. My direct supervisor used to be a floor nurse just like the rest of us and I worked beside her for years before she got the supervisor position. Now she treats me like I either have some horrible contagious disease or I don't exist. She will walk past me, look directly at me and not speak. And I'm not the only one she treats this way. Management is a huge part of the reason why I work nights - because they don't!

[dlpmikki]

I have had good and bad female bosses. The bad ones give the rest a bad name! I have been a boss to men and women. I treated them the same and some thought I was an angel and caring and others thought I was demanding. All I asked was that if I gave them the support they needed they got the job done.

When I have been teeated like that by my bosses I was fine. If they were overbearing, regardless of sex, I wasn't and told them so.

Bosses are only one side of the equation - you are the other and have your own voice and ways of pursuasion. use them.

[d_m_n_n]

I've only had a couple bosses in my life. One I respected and would have done anything for. Tom was an amazing individual who truly cared about his employees. And then there was Bill.

What a jerk! He was the type that would select one individual and ride and ride and ride until that person couldn't take it anymore (therefore quitting). Then he would select a new person to get rid of. Luckily I was never the "chosen one." In the end, we all decided that the reason he was mean to us (mostly women) was that his wife wore the pants at home. At least he could feel like the "man" with us. It all worked out...he was fired shortly thereafter.

[SteveL]

Wow, what a topic!
Mine has to win the award for the worst. Heck, I was even physically assaulted by him during one of his infantile tantrums. The result: he was promoted up the line.
Finding his face on a milk carton could only be rivaled by hitting the Powerball!

[maizey05]

Sounds like my experiences. I worked for the same banking corporation for 6 years. Won't tell which one, but it's one you might find in "America". LOL. Anyway, I was hired by a really nice and fair supervisor (woman). I transferred to a branch in CA. Look out! This one was a she-devil! I came in the day before my "first day", to meet her and get my keys. I introduced myself, and she literally said, threw my keys me and said, ok bye. That set the tone for the entire 1 month period, before quitting. I later moved back to WA, where I again transferred. Same story. This one on one of my first days, when asked a procedural question told me, "I don't care if you jump off a bridge". (She was later reprimanded, as well as her supervisor, who was fired.) Transferred to another branch because of this issue, and I wouldn't say this one was as evil, but just an old crab. Needless to say, I no longer work for this corporation, and love my boss now...I'm a stay at home mom.

[jillluvsdisney]

It's amazing how some people are so lacking in common decency and people skills.

Our last director was a woman. She had no people skills at all. Nor did she have any type of a sense of humor. She was very condecending to our managers.

Our new director is a man. He treats people much better and we all know what he expects out of us. No suprises and he actually likes us and cares about us. That's a rare boss for you.

My immediate supervisor has multiple personalities. In the past he has not been approachable at all. He's been very mean, petty and small minded. He also used to trash talk about the people he was in charge of. We complained because he actually scared some of us. He went to anger management and has been a whole new person for the past 6 months.
We'll see how long it lasts. His pattern of behavior has been to pick one person and hate them. Last year was my turn.

[DizHawk]

I have to say that my boss is amazing. My boss knows that I grew up in Kansas and that my parents still live there. A few weeks ago when the tornado hit Greensburg, he called me (on Saturday) to ask if my parents were anywhere near it. He's got my loyalty for quite a while now.

[SgtTigger]

I like my boss.... he is a great guy..... He has been my boss on and off most of my 17 year career.......

[crazypoohbear]

Unfortunately, most of my woman bosses have been evil, nasty, moody and untrustworthy. I have had a couple of great female bosses and some decent male bosses (my current boss is great, He doesn't bother me or the woman I job share with, lets us do what ever we want between the two of us, as long as there is coverage and the job gets done, he isn't involved)
I had a male boss when I was 17 and working at BK, he would take us out for drinks after we closed the place! Unfortunately the drinking age was 18 and most of us were under age and he knew it!
At the time I thought he was really cool,
Now that I have a 17 year old myself, WHAT was he thinking!~!!!!

[Speedy1998]

My current boss is my first female boss, and I have to say that she is growing on me.

I used to really hate her, but that started before she was my boss, when she was the manager of another department. Then last fall the Director of Finance decided to shake things up a little and reorganize the accounting department. All of a sudden I found myself working for the one person I worked with that I hated, and usually tried to avoid. Worse yet of the 4 person department I was the only one that was there when the change took place (before the change was announce 1 quit for family reasons, 1 had got an offer for a better job at another company, and 1 was on materinty leave). Anyway DW convinced me to stick around till after our WDW trip in June, which turned out to be a good thing, my new boss decided I was under paid for what I did and she got me a promotion and a raise since she took over in Nov.

[Hammer]

Chris, I've had bad managers, both male and female. Likewise, I've had great male and female supervisors/managers. The worst manager I've had was my manager at my last job (I recently started a new job). He treated me and most women liked dirt. He also made it next to impossible to transfer out of the department because he did not want to see any one other than his little clique advance.

[wdw_bound]

Gotta chime in here that I find it offensive to categorize good and bad bosses by gender. There are good and bad examples of both sexes, and the fact that we think it is acceptable in this day and time to classify someone's ability to manage by the make up of their chromosomes is deeply troubling.

I am a manager of a department made up of men and women at various stages of their career. I am sure some of my staff disagree with my decisions and my methods from time to time - but I am equally confident that if asked, they would all say that the enjoy being on my team. I try hard to be fair and treat you as I would wish to be treated, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to call you on something if I need to.

Am I the world's best boss? No, but I do consider myself a pretty good one, and my department satisfaction scores back up my claim. And it has nothing to do with my gender - being a good boss in my book is about leadership and caring, not about having a Y chromosome.

Let's not discriminate - no one can win that game.

[2Epcot]

Gotta chime in here that I find it offensive to categorize good and bad bosses by gender. There are good and bad examples of both sexes, and the fact that we think it is acceptable in this day and time to classify someone's ability to manage by the make up of their chromosomes is deeply troubling.

If you read my original post well, you will see that I was asking a question based on my experience, the experience of my brother, my sister, and a few of my close friends. Of course I believe there are good and bad of all genders, but since so many people around me have had similar experiences, with the boss being a female, that is why I opened the poll to a wider audience.

Just by coincidence I talked to my brother tonight ... never mentioned this post to him, and he had a story about his boss. My brother is a manger for his company with several people working under him. His job is 9-5, usually, but because of a large high profile project, he had to work till 10:30pm several nights, and past 1am another night.

As I've mentioned he's already had issues with his supervisor. So after all these long days he comes in at 9:25am one morning, after working till 10:30, and his boss gets all over him for being late. He had had it, so he threatened to quit. He told them they could figure out the rest of the project on their own. (Only he, and his assistant really understand the project completly) His boss back-tracked very quickly, and she gave both my brother and his assistant bounus, for all their hard work.

[vizsla]

I have always had good bosses. I recently got promoted where I work and have heard horror stories for years about the boss I have now. I have not experienced any problems with him at all to this point. He is the type of person that as long as you get your job done he will be happy. And what I have seen so far, there are a few supervisors that just never seem to have the projects completed they were assigned so he does get mad at them and pushes them a little harder.

[bleukarma]

The current boss’s I have now are great. Both my immediate supervisor and the office manager are easy-going and open minded. It’s the main reason why I want to stay at this company (even though they don’t pay me enough), I know finding a boss that you really like is hard to find. They are both male. However there are two managers in a different department that I could NOT work for, and they are both female. I’ve heard many horror stories from the people that work in that department and I think if they ever moved me over there then I would look for a different job fast.

The job I had before this I worked for a guy that I swear was the devil. He was just a horrible, mean person that I swear hated woman. All of my supervisors in that job were male and I only had trouble with the one.

I have left a job before specifically because I hated my boss. I was a legal secretary at a law firm and I loved the lawyer I worked for but his paralegal (who was basically my immediate boss) I hated. She was mean and rude and it made me hate going to work. I only lasted six months there and apparently she had gone through many other secretaries before me. But she was good at her job and she was the lawyer’s right hand man. One time I overheard him telling the office managers that if she goes then he goes. I guess if you’re good at your job then you can get away with treating people however you want.

[Damon18]

I get along great with my boss. In fact our families went to Disney together a few years back!

[Disney Doll]

I have a female boss and she's wonderful. I actually had very few bad bosses, but of the ones who were bad, most were female.

We have a supervisor in another department who is female and is notoriously difficult to get along with. Rumor has it she is a yeller and can be completely rude to her employees. Yes, she has made people cry. She is an older woman and I often wonder if it may be a generational thing in addition to being female. She has been around a long time and has been in a position of authority since back in the days when it was very uncommon to see a woman at that level. Maybe she had to fight to get to her position and she plans to fight to stay there. Maybe she learned her poor management skills from an old boss of hers who treated her poorly. Back when she started most of the older men running the organization probably thought that women belonged at home. Maybe her harshness is an attempt to prove she is a serious business woman. You can tell I've thought about this a lot. Her attitude is just baffling and I'm glad I don't work for her.