Are You The Boss From Hell?

This is an interesting question? Years ago I wrote a feature story on this exact topic, and we ran a graphic of a devil stomping employees with the story. A few weeks later one of our readers, an owner with 20 or so employees, called me up and said she came into work on morning and an employee or employees had posted the graphic on her computer with her name written underneath. Ouch!
She couldn't have been as bad as some of the bosses we profiled in the story that year. Here's how they earned Boss From Hell honors.
John (pseudonym), owner of a Chicago telemarketing firm, was one of our big winners. Here are a few of his award winning management techniques:
* When an employee’s father was scheduled to go in for hip surgery, which had already been
delayed because of pneumonia, John insisted she call the surgeon and have it rescheduled because he didn’t want her to miss work.
* When an employee who had been missing for three days was found dead, John didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want productivity to suffer. (What a guy)
* When an employee had a heart attack at work, John called the paramedics and, with the stricken employee still lying on the floor, ordered everyone else back to work. (Productivity is important, after all).
Believe it or not, the award wasn’t a shoe-in for John. Close runners-up included a West Coast boss who kept a loaded gun on his desk to intimidate employees and a Southern boss who separated two-ply toilet paper in order to generate more paper, thereby saving money on supplies. (Wait until my CFO sees that one.)
In my next post, I'll offer up a test to see if you are The Boss From Hell?