My celebrity boss is a lunatic I'm losing the plot

[Niceseasidetown]

My boss is a celebrity in our industry. Think: 100s of 1000s of social media followers, his own podcast...and all the ego that goes with that.

He is also rude (telling people their ideas are fucking shit), a huge micromanager and a bully. Everyone at work says this, not just me. His adoring fans don't see this side of him.

When I took the job he wasn't my boss. He fired my boss publicly saying he wasn't up to the job and now I have to work much more closely with the celebrity boss. My stress and anxiety are through the roof. I am criticised for everything and publicly. Literally not one thing is right (even obvious achievements). I'm mocked and ridiculed. I'm very experienced and well paid and in my 40s. I'm good at my job.

I'm obviously looking for a new job.

Spoke to HR who just sighed and said he is like that. He owns the company.

How do I cope. I feel on the edge of a breakdown. I also have to manage a team who he undermines me in front of.

Literally every hour is miserable and terrifying.

I can't do anything legally or practically. I need emotional coping tips because I am a wreck. I worry what this is doing to my physical as well as mental health.

Get out of there and fast. It's not worth it. Love to know who it is!

If it’s Steven Bartlett he just posted an inspirational Instagram and trusting your gut and surrounding yourself with the right people. Yikes.

Yes. Do this. Absolutely. Totally right.

Go to the tabloids

Oh and if you go down the police lawyer way, I’d still post videos of his treatment of his staff, he can’t take them down and that is the beginning of your case which cannot be hidden. It is not illegal for you to post his treatment of staff, but it would give you a very public awareness that can’t be put back in a box by very high payed lawyers, but do make sure ur camera is hidden and dose show you being harassed, bullied and humiliated or you won’t have proof for yourself. X

I agree with this. I had a very toxic boss who said she’d withhold my references. I worked my socks off to the end only to discover she’d sent the bare minimum to my new employer.

I will never do that again. Next time my notice goes in I’ll be doing the bare minimum until my leaving date.

If there’s a chance they won’t pay you properly at the end I would make sure you’ve taken every minute of holiday before you hand in your resignation.

Could you write down all the things he says that are comical and become a stand up comedian based on “funny things my boss says”

Do you belong to a union? Bullying is out of order and you need help to stand up to your boss. I had to give up a career I loved because of illness caysed by workplace bullying and I wish I had been able ti stand up for myself.

i'm literally hopppppppppppppppppppping to know if it's spenny or jamie.
i have read lots of rude stuff about stephen bartlett on here so i don't think he's that great.
in the meantime i bet loads of people agree with you - like when ellen de generes went sideways and everyone was saying how mean she was - which might be nice to have other people who can confirm that you're not making this stuff up and it's serious and horrible and yuck.

If he puts on a fake persona for his audience, then you should record him berating you, and anyone else, over several occurrences and expose him for his true colors. This will either shame him into not behaving like that or he will lose so many followers that he is no longer relevant. Obviously the second option may come at a cost for his employees also.
Good luck!

In my experience, employment lawyers are for the fabulously wealthy, they only seem to be interested in situations where the employer is already offering a deal - I have been failed by some major City firms.
Narcissists don't seem to worry about NDAs - several that I have done battle with have just tried to to run me out of money. Interestingly, the threat of an ET worked because the CEO couldn't stand the prospect of having to drive 60 miles to suit me.
Keep detailed notes, get yourself a new job and wait patiently for a public bust-up with someone else. Narcissists always exaggerate and WILL make careless statements about NEVER having behaved in a certain way.
I have yet to hear of a whistleblower profiting from their efforts, but those following in their wake seem to enjoy greater success.
Good luck.

My old boss was very similar. I used to make his Earl Grey tea a very special way - put the tea bags on the dirty kitchen floor and stamped on them very hard before using them. Gave me immense pleasure to watch him drink it.

ooooh and if you want to spit in his tea then spit in it before you add the water and not after. otherwise it's a pain in the arse to dissolve it.
tried and tested by moi.

I really want to know if it is Steven Bartlett I was such a fan 😫

I am not a litigious person, but I think you should sue him for creating a hostile work environment and abuse/bullying. Keep complaining to HR and document everything. Being the owner does not exempt him from employment laws.

Sertraline 😉

Oh no! I do's sympathise as I have worked with egotistical bullies (not celebs but high up in their field)

I felt like a failure for not coping but eventually left with no job to go. I

Have you signed an NDA? Is there a book in this? Devil wears prada type thing?

You will feel so much better once you are going for interviews while looking for a new job and once you get one, even if you have to work out your notice period, you will feel so much happier to know that you are going that you will feel mentally far stronger.

Once you have finally gotten out, come back to this thread with a few identifying details so we can all work out who this nasty maniac is

My first boss was awful to everyone in the office. His secretary used to put her fingers in her bum crack before putting the biscuits for his afternoon tea on his plate.

Just leave! You need to be in a good place mentally to find a job. The job market isn't difficult at the moment.
Accept a long comute, anything to get out of something so toxic.
I've been in similar situation and could never leave. The company closed and I was made redundant. Two months later I had a new job after just one application.
Otherwise save money so you can survive without a job for a couple of months.
Good luck!

I’d be tempted to sell a newspaper story on them for top £££ so that you don’t miss out money wise! They sound bloody awful.

I was thinking of the Devil wears Prada as well! I remember reading this book and thinking the boss is so horrible. I've came across some frankly crazy and nasty staff working in health care. I'm starting a new job soon and it's worrying wondering what the staff are like. I'm trying to tell myself that although I don't have the exact experience for the job, I have a lot of specialist experience in a related area that most of them won't have.
OP hope you manage to get something else soon and can give him 2 fingers as you walk out the door!

Had moved back from overseas and was really excited - within a week horrible boss made life a misery. In addition to not taking him seriously once I decided to go (which curbed some of the bullying) and turning problems back on him I mentally wrote the following, to the tune of the Archers

'I really hate my boss, he is a bastard, slimy little (insert descriptor of your choice here) git, he's a pain in the arse. Overworked and underpaid, in first and out last, but if he thinks I'm working late again, he can kiss my arse'.

It is not going to win an award, but humming the tune to myself made the last few months I was there a lot easier!