I'm wondering how you guys react to/deal with a boss that's full of sh... and you have to cope with it every day until some day you've just had enough that you may not take it any more...
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I'm wondering how you guys react to/deal with a boss that's full of sh... and you have to cope with it every day until some day you've just had enough that you may not take it any more...
Read some vintage dilbert comic strips!Quote:
Originally Posted by stanav
To be honest mate I have never really been in that situation, I've been quite fortunate and have always had very understanding and fun bosses (when I called our office today my boss was in and had got Bob Marley on and was singing to it very loudly!). However, one of our client's sites has got a real b*tch that is in charge of most things and as I have to go there quite often I sometimes get her giving me crap. I hate her and it makes going there really sh*t but the nice thing is that I dont work for her company directly so she cant be quite as harsh with me as she is with other people there that are actually employed there. I often think to myself though, if I did actually work there I would just find myself another job and then tell her to "go away", but not in those exact words :D I dont think there is a lot else you can do if they are really high up in the company.
On the other hand if they are not that high up then I would go to whoever is above them and explain why they are bad at their job or complain about the way they treat people etc and see what they have to say about it..
Before my current part-time job, I used to do office work. I did have 2 bully-boy bosses who got themselves "relocated" - one as a job centre customer.
The situation doesn't occur in my current job. Most of the managers are ex-drivers, and are very keen to point out that they are drivers first, office workers second. If you don't mind a touch of bad language, google for "Terence The Minge Nolan" - including quotes - to see what happens when we get stressed. Note the reaction of the manager, sorry, ex-driver that walks in.
This happened a few days ago at my depot. Unfortunately I wasn't there to catch it on my own camera.
Typically a sound beating with the nearest printer will get them to adjust their attitude. For a bit, anyway.
Been in that situation twice, both times it was obvious the boss wasn't going anywhere for a long time. Both times I applied elsewhere and got progressively better jobs. I'm generally a pretty loyal person, but I refuse to be unhappy at work. Take the leap and split, let the boss clean up the mess when you're gone.
Or, a sound beating with the nearest printer is the next best option.
you could take the fight club approach and beat the crap out of yourself in your boss's office and then blame him...
That reminds me of the movie Liar Liar with Jim Carey where he beats himself up in the restroom.
I switched jobs. Interestingly, my boss switched jobs at the same time I did, but my new job (within the same agency) was so much superior, as was the pay, that it all worked well. The thing was, my boss wasn't a bad person, he just hated himself, which made him expect that failure was his inevitable lot, and he would work like a scalded, but misguided, beaver to attempt to avoid that inevitable failure. The stress that he was putting on himself leaked out at other people, with bad results. He moved up, but since he always works with himself, he will never escape his own misery.
Wow... Sorry that my original post misled you guys into thinking that my boss is a bad guy who treats his fellow workers like trash. In fact, he's a fairly nice guy, very polite to all fellow workers and best of all, he doesn't put his nose into other's work or watching behind the workers' back... However, his technological knowledge isn't very up to date, and this is where the BS comes from. Before he came to work for our company as the IT director, he was an IT manager in an AS400 shop. His knowledge on as400 operating system and RPG programming is quite respectable, but that is it. It's the Windows environment and OOP programming world that he's working in now. What he knows doesn't apply anymore but he refuses to realize that. For example, we have been using a database for equipment inventory and I wrote an application to use on the front end for that DB and it has been in use for years. Instead of learning how to use the current system, he wants to convert everything to using an Excel workbook because that's what he's familiar with. Even worst than that, he wants to have a listing of everyone's usernames, passwords, email accounts... in an Excel sheet! What happens if that excel sheet falls in the hand of someone else? That is just one of the many examples.
To me, that is BS... And how do you deal with that?
He's paying you, yes ? So what do you think you should do ?
No, he's not paying me. The company does :) However, I now what you mean and that's what I've been doing all along. I'm just wondering if you guys would do something different. After all, if anything goes wrong because of one of his BS - and we all (but him) know this WILL happen, it's just a matter of time - we are the ones who are responsible for.Quote:
Originally Posted by schoolbusdriver
Ah I see, well I'm kind of in a similar situation to that at the moment but slightly different scenario - I work for an IT support outsourcing company and one of our clients has an IT manager on site and he seems to be pretty poor technically and often messes things up that we could have done for him and done properly. The problem in our case is that because we are an external company we cant really go trying to get our client's own internal IT people fired or whatever, so we have to just leave it. However, if I actually worked for the company then I think I would be forced to eventually go to one of the other directors and explain my concerns and just see what they say. I would suggest you do the same, if this guy wants to convert everything to an excel spreadsheet then he obviously does not know what is best for the company so I would try to convey that to someone who is 'above' him.
If you are not quite sure what to say (as its sometimes hard to explain to someone non-technical why someone is not doing something technical correctly) then I would suggest just going along with everything he says for a while and then keep track of when his choices/decisions cause problems or waste time later down the line. I think an actual list of examples is so much more powerful than just saying that you think he could do some things better. Obviously also point out the potential problems that have not yet happened as well (like the excel sheet full of credentials falling into the wrong hands etc).
Having said all that, I'm guessing you have probably already considered all of the above... but I dont know what else you can do.
May I point out to all of you that I'm the guy that had to lie to his boss and tell him that none of the VB6 apps would work under Vista. That is the one and ONLY way the world of .NET even made it into this company.
I'm still fighting to get it apps I've developed in VB.NET (VB6 rewrites each of them) deployed.
I had to smile about the Excel thing...my boss is just like that. He is even afraid of VB6 and earlier because it isn't VBA.
How do I deal with it?Thats how. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by schoolbusdriver
He's the IT director. He's on the board and he's responsible for the company IT. It's his role to decide on the direction of IT for the organisation and how things should be done. It is your role to implement that decision. Certainly you should be giving advice and, if you see a potential problem, you should raise it. But, if he chooses to ignore you advice and warnings then that's his perrogative and, ultimately, his responsibility if it all cocks up.
Depending on what sort of a bloke he is you may want to cover your self by sending concerns via email so you can demonstrate later that you were dilligent if he turns out to be the sort that blames his mistakes on those below him. Be freindly rather than officious about it, though. You're just raising a concern in the normal way. The fact that it happens to leave a trail you can use to cover yourself later is entirely incidental;).
It can be soul destroying to work for someone you think is taking the wrong aproach (it's the main reason I left my last job) but if you try and 'take them on' in some way then you are bound to lose. The only people you could raise your concerns with are the rest of the board and I doubt very much they'll respect your opinions over his - after all, they hired him, rather than you, to make these decisions. If you really feel you can't work under him then move.
Do what he tells you to do. I've been on both sides of the table you're sitting at. Sometimes a director or CTO/CIO has to make some pretty stupid compromises to get the rest of the executive/management team off of his/her back. Remember sometimes "You don't know what you don't know" I'd look for another job anyway...Quote:
Originally Posted by stanav
Here are the facts you presented.
1.Your systems are being replaced with ones that don't require a programmer to maintain.
2.Someone wants your usernames and pwds.
3.You publicly lack confidence in your new director.
Dude, I'd drop a $20 that a reorg is in progress.
Yes, sir :) I've been doing as told. And you're probably right on the reoganization thingy. I can smell it... Many of my co-workers have been asked to go thru and document everything they've done; and more than once I was assigned to take over tasks that normally performed by some other people.Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterBlaster
I'm not in the position that I can find another job right away if I ever decide to do so (Rhode Island is a small state with very few technical jobs available, especially in the IT field). So I'm kind of stuck for the moment. I just want to make my days at work more enjoyable...
Have you thought about (or tried) actually pointing out the disadvantages of his methods/ideas?
Then, my advise would be to offer him as much feedback as possible to make his screwed up solution work and hope they keep you. Typically, this is known as polishing terds. In the process of telling him the "How" try to get as much insight into the "Why" as you can.Quote:
Originally Posted by stanav
In a past life, I had built one of the most bad a$$ custom ERM systems I'd ever seen. My then CTO tasked me with implementing a garbage off the shelf system that a retard could maintain. I informed him that we would lose 50% of our current functionality. We did it anyway and, of course, lost 50% functionality. That was fine, as he laid off the entire technical support/development team, offshored the newly created manual work, and increased the companies profitability by 15%.
Good luck man!
Time to start looking for another job!
In that case keep you head down. Do things his way and try and make it work. If you don't think it'll cause friction then make him aware of any problems in his approach but keep it freindly and do you best to make his approach work despite the problems.Quote:
I'm not in the position that I can find another job right away if I ever decide to do so
And start looking for a new job now. Even if there isn't a re-organisation in the offing and your job isn't at risk (which would be the worst case), doing things badly when you know how to do them well will slowly but steadily leech the life from your very soul.
There is one other possibility, if he's a new director there's a possibility he's got 'New Manager Insecurity Syndrome' (or 'new director insecurity syndrome' in his case) and he just wants to make his mark so everyone knows who's boss. This pernicious and deblitating condition usually manifests itself as ignoring all good advice, 'updating' (for which read 'replacing with a non functional equivalent) all internal system and using obtuse phrases which don't actually mean anything when examined closley. If that's the case he'll probably quieten down in a month or so, so it might be worth toughing it out.
welcome to my world !!
Glad to know that I'm not alone :bigyello:Quote:
Originally Posted by Davadvice
Get an ants nest and a box of maggots, cover yourself in honey then stab yourself in the heart in the ventilation shaft directly above your bosses office.Quote:
Originally Posted by stanav
That's crazy enough that it just might work!!Quote:
Originally Posted by visualAd
By the way: MB, good to see you. That's some good advice.
Whaddup Shaggy :wave: Good to see you're still around man!Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
Maybe your boss is reading vbforums right now and figured out who you are!
It could happen, but the chances are very slim... Why would an RPG/AS400 programmer read the chit chat in a VB forum?Quote:
Originally Posted by gtilles
Because the RPG/AS400 forum has been really slow lately! :bigyello:
Role playing with AS400? Is that like Zork?
Revenge is a dish best served several years later, long after you've made friends again and nobody will suspect you.
Dr. Evil has a lot to say about people that are full of sh...Quote:
Originally Posted by stanav