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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Annoying little things your boss does that really bug you!

57 replies

DroningOn · 04/04/2018 14:00

I like my boss and we generally get on well but he has this really annoying habit of discussing people in our team or projects we collectively are working on as "his"..... "hello, let me introduce your to Lucy, she is my financial controller" or "yes, that's my project and I'm really proud of it, my team really excelled in that one"

petty I know but it bugs so many of us, and replacing "my" with "our" would totally change the tone of it.

AIBU or is this as patronising and braggy as I think it sounds?

OP posts:
frasier · 04/04/2018 14:13

Ex boss used to change one or two words in any email he had to see before sending, just because. His grammar was awful, his vocabulary even worse, so often his changes didn't make sense.

He had one of those great big year planners on his noticeboard in his office, we all had them, and I was given the task of changing them one new year. Underneath his were a few old notices, one of which was a list of "rules" to "show your staff who is the boss". One of them was "always change something in a fax or email".

peachgreen · 04/04/2018 14:34

Sends my work on to senior managers / the CEO without copying me in - not exactly claiming it as his own but also not giving me credit. Puts ALL his meetings in his calendar as 'private' for no good reason but insists mine are all unlocked. Has meetings about my projects and doesn't invite me. Starts all projects himself and refuses to involve me in anything until he hands them over to me halfway through when he gets bored. Arranges secret social events with only half of our team (not including me) and makes me pay for them out of my budget as 'staff expenses'. Has 'secret squirrel' meetings which he deliberately drops vague hints about to make me nervous which end up being nothing at all. Forces me to lie to other staff because he doesn't want anyone knowing we outsource a particular skill. Never gives me any feedback (positive or negative) until my mid and end of year reviews so it always comes as a surprise. Told me off when I told him about the miscarriage I'd had that weekend because it was 'not very cheerful news for a Monday morning'.

Grin

Believe it or not I actually quite like him, he's just a terrible manager!

EnglishRose13 · 04/04/2018 14:44

My boss, when annoyed with you, won't talk to you about it, instead he makes snide remarks or will just ignore you in general.

I had seven weeks sick while pregnant, due to HG, and he ignored me when I came back. Company policy is to have a Return to Work interview upon your return, and he refused.

He also cannot keep his feelings at the door. He's having a tough time personally and his moods bring the whole team down.

Original poster
DroningOn · 04/04/2018 18:42

Crikey, makes mine seem very trivial!

OP posts:
Wishiwaswonderwoman87 · 04/04/2018 18:44

Keeping meticulous note of any time i owe him... but never remembering when i work late

ikeepaforkinmypurse · 04/04/2018 18:57

takes my pen or use my phone. I have scared pretty much the rest of the office away from my desk, but the big boss hasn't got the memo yet.

Fluffyears · 04/04/2018 21:40

Mine used to send my reports to senior management to act like he had produced them. He was thick and didn’t see I had added a footer saying ‘created by fluffy on 02/08/15’ for example. My manager before that had me send the reports. He also bullied me until I ended up signed off on prozac and finding a new job.

juneybean · 04/04/2018 21:44

Ignores my emails
Changes the subject when I ask a question
Forgets our conversations

G5000 · 04/04/2018 21:52

I had a micro-manager. I spent about 6 times as much time explaining and reporting what I'm doing then doing the actual work.

Sunflowerhappy · 04/04/2018 22:33

Says things like can I have a word with you or can you come to my office in five mins, making me think I've done something wrong or making me think it's important...for it then to be trivial and something he could have said there and then. Total power trip, pathetic.

He's also one of those who have no empathy when you are unwell. Pressures you into work when you are sick and if God forbid you take the day off sick you have two phone calls in the day asking how you are and when your coming back. My sick record is good but he treats you like you pull a sickie every week Angry he's also rude on the phone when you are sick.

Fluffyears · 05/04/2018 08:48

Ooft I had a micro managing nutjob she used to ask you what was happening with a case and then twist what you were saying so you got tied in knots. I could see her doing it and pretending not to understand what you were telling her. She also used to ask if you had called a company is I said ‘yes, it was engaged or unobtainable’ she’d Then call the number to check as if I was a liar!

Mydoghatesthebath · 05/04/2018 08:51

Gosh grim. I had s co worker who constantly sniffed. It used to drive me insane. Every few seconds a massive sniff.

Moreisnnogedag · 05/04/2018 09:19

One of my bosses winks at me (and other female staff). Annoys the living hell out of me.

strawberrysparkle · 05/04/2018 09:33

I had a boss that did the 'my' thing! Drove me absolutely crazy!!!!

He also used to pass off work as his own.

I have a boss who literally does absolutely nothing but is always so terribly busy if anyone asks and far too busy to take any annual leave but somehow manages extended lunch breaks, being late, leaving early and millions of fag breaks. Drives me crazy! I think they don't take annual leave for fear of being found out that they do nothing.

Sosog00d · 05/04/2018 09:39

Sadly so familiar.
*shit stirring
*passive aggressive emails jumping to conclusions
*would cause a row in an empty house
*out and out bully

That's just the most recent one. I usually think it's me, that I'm not bending enough or I've not learned the game yet Confused

WhiskeySourpuss · 05/04/2018 09:51

Claims that I haven't given him information when in reality he either wasn't paying attention at the time or has forgotten.

Cuts me off mid sentence when he doesn't understand or has no interest in what I'm saying - when it's work related & about actual laws that we need to follow

Can't actually do anyone else's job so doesn't realise that we have 2 lazy fuckers doing the bare minimum to get by & leaving everyone else to pick up the slack

Rather than just say that he's pissed off about something he thinks you've done or not done he makes passive aggressive comments to other staff in your presence

Flounces off to his office if he's been proved wrong - although to be fair I like this one because a) I like proving him wrong & b) it means he's no longer in my office Grin

RoderickRules · 05/04/2018 09:54

Kicking me under the desk.
I sit crunched up.

Talking over me/others.

But on the whole is a very lovely understanding and supportive boss.
Reading this thread I see how fortunate I am.

BubblesBubblesBubbles · 05/04/2018 09:59

....Breathes....

Phones me while I’m on leave...when I don’t answer my works phone he calls my personal one...then calls my landline ffs Angry

Original poster
DroningOn · 05/04/2018 17:12

Never discussed it with DH but he says his boss is a sniffer too and has a really annoying little throat clearing cough that's not really a cough and drives him mental.

OP posts:
Tisfortired · 05/04/2018 17:16

Mine also is absolutely incapable of leaving her feelings at the door. If she has had a row with her husband for example, the mood in the office is awful until he apologises! She mutters insults about us all under our breath, and if somebody rings in sick she'll slam the phone down and say something like 'for gods sake that's all I need' which makes everybody terrified to be ill! She eye rolls and sighs when we ask for our annual leave about cover. We are not allowed our phones out in our desk, they have to be away and you are not even allowed to LOOK at it without express permission.

She's really pleasant... Grin

Spoony84 · 05/04/2018 17:21

I like my boss. But in his emails he gets where/were mixed up when spelling. "Were are those reports?"... Grrrrr....

frasier · 05/04/2018 17:38

Spoony Arghh! I hate that! All my ILs do that and it makes me cringe.

iklboo · 05/04/2018 17:41

Exists

MissionItsPossible · 05/04/2018 17:46

@DroningOn

Oh god, does your husband sometimes work in my office? There is a man (who I assume is his boss) who was driving me insane today with the stupid throat clearing cough. Luckily I wasn’t close enough to hear if he was a sniffer too.

TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain · 05/04/2018 18:10

My actual manager is great, but we do have two managerzillas at work. One is really bad-tempered and so self-important that if you accidentally pick something up off a printer that he has printed, he will bellow and rage that it was a "private document". It's usually a standard form. He's been there for so long that the senior management make excuses for him and "he's just like that" apparently.

I did catch him out once. I needed a pen in an emergency and someone told me to fetch one out of a drawer that he used. He came in and started yelling about "confidential papers". I was feeling really bolshy and answered "that's funny, all I see are pens." That's probably why he hates me so much.

The other one I swear is half man, half weasel. I'm not sure what he actually does other than say he'll sort stuff out and then let his team whinge and cry and do fuck all. He's meant to be in charge of an admin function and they walk all over him and make excuses not to do admin tasks. I'm not talking tea making or anything like that, it's actual admin work that the ringleaders in there don't like doing.

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