Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Have you ever had a boss that was always directing you to do crazy things? His/her directions were illogical, impractical and would cause the company harm if they were implemented. Maybe he/she lacked the technical skills or knowledge in the area you worked in. So you go to the boss and try to talk them out of their crazy directives but you get nowhere. The boss digs in his heals and insists you follow his/her directions. What to do?
How about complaining about your boss to his or her boss? Make an appointment with the big boss and carefully explain that you know best. Show the big boss that your immediate supervisor is a complete idiot and that his/her directions to you will cause your work performance to suffer and the company harm.
Will it work, will going to the big boss help you in the end be a more effective employee? Anyone with a story about complaining about your supervisor to upper management?
Always get it in writing. Email is a wonderful tool. Save them.
As long as you work for this person, your job is to make them look good. Sine this individual is a bit 'out there' the best thing you can do for you is make sure your own butt is covered.
I did and it was successful. My immediate supervisor had me do things like return her phone calls, take her clothes to the cleaners, check and write down all the messages from her answering machine, any duty that she was given she would delegate to me, that lasted all of 2 months with me doing as she asked. One day I set an appointment with the boss and told her that I do my job and I do my job well and I am not one to complain but I had a concern and did she mind if I spoke to her about it. I was very professional but told her that I thought these things were not in the scope of my employment. I asked her to please keep our conversation confidential and I apologized for having gone to her.
That was the end of it. My immediate supervisor worked with me professionally and knew her place with what was required.
All was good, all is good we still work together and that was 6 years ago. And to this day I am convinced the head boss kept it confidential. I love the top boss!
My husband did a few years ago, actually the story is quite funny. Back in 2007 he had gone to Denver to attend a wedding of one of his college friends. When he came back to work his boss demanded him to take a drug test, only him nobody else. Why? Because his boss said in a memo and I quote...
"...I am demanding you to take a drug test as you had recently visited the city of Denver, Colorado. It is very well known that Denver is a haven for marijuana use as well as hard drugs like cocaine and meth. Since everyone in Denver is on drugs and since you were in that city I must assume that you had done drugs as well. Why do you think Denver calls itself the mile highcity? Failure to do a drug test will result in losing your position at XXXXX. Do it or ELSE !!..."
My husband went straight to the CEO who in turned went on to fire my husband's boss. Oh for the record my husband did email a copy of that memo to his friends in Denver and yes they got a very big kick out of it.
I had to go over my boss' head a few times. Toughest thing I've ever done.. I spent many sleepless nights preparing how to go about going over his head. I have to repeat, It was the very toughest thing I ever had to do...!
My boss hired me and we worked side by side and were great friends for five years. Then he was promoted and I replaced him as supervisor of the department. Even though he got promoted, he resented me for successfully taking over his old position. He started the department and hated to see someone else running it successfully.
He picked on me and rode me about every little nit-picking thing he could find. He even resorted to going into my office and shop and going through the trash after I had left for the day, to see if he could find anything to harass me about. This went on for years and grew progressively worse. My life was a living Hell, to the point I was seeing a doctor and finally went to see an attorney. .I couldn't sleep at night, and even weekends were not pleasant, knowing I was going to have to face him again on Monday..!
I finally went to his boss and hit a wall. His immediate boss was just filling the spot temporarily, and didn't want to get involved. He said he read my boss' report and was siding with him because he is the boss..
I started looking for a new job and had some interviews when a new director was hired, so I went to him. He was wonderful. He read both of our files and my employment record and discovered I was an exemplarily employee, and finding out I had seen an attorney, he wanted our feud to end. He called my boss in and told him to knock it off and starting working with me and get along.. As luck would have it, that pi$$ed my boss off, and made it worse, so I went back and reported him again.
The second time he got called in he got the message and things improved remarkably. He found out I wasn't going to put up with his treatment and laid off of me after that.
We continued to work together for several more years with him as my supervisor. We tolerated each other, even went to lunch together many times after, but never without other people as buffers. I would have had nothing to talk to him about without others at the table.. We both played the game and got along for the good of the company.. and my sanity..!
I got many crappy duties after that, but I hung in there and it paid off, I don't have to put up with him anymore, but I still get to cash the great government retirement checks every month..
Sometimes a man has to take a stand, especially when you know you're right. Had I been in the wrong, I'm sure it would have exploded in my face..
The key is being in the right...!
Have you ever had a boss that was always directing you to do crazy things? His/her directions were illogical, impractical and would cause the company harm if they were implemented. Maybe he/she lacked the technical skills or knowledge in the area you worked in. So you go to the boss and try to talk them out of their crazy directives but you get nowhere. The boss digs in his heals and insists you follow his/her directions. What to do?
How about complaining about your boss to his or her boss? Make an appointment with the big boss and carefully explain that you know best. Show the big boss that your immediate supervisor is a complete idiot and that his/her directions to you will cause your work performance to suffer and the company harm.
Will it work, will going to the big boss help you in the end be a more effective employee? Anyone with a story about complaining about your supervisor to upper management?
I personally wouldn't do it, unless the boss was giving directions were going to cause real harm, like an accident, or if the work environment was so toxic that I would need to quit if things didn't change.
I've gone over my supervisor's head a few times, but I think the fact that I challenged both my former and current ones is one of the reasons they and their manager haven't agreed to develop my role and instead pigeon holed me into a position with no room for advancement. So it has its risks.
My supervisors have given wrong advice, have been aggressive, though I fight back and correct them when needed, i.e. telling us the wrong answer, which would potentially cost us a customer. At some point, my current supervisor was so bitchy, rude and standoffish, that my team mates and I pooled our ideas and approached the manager, asking him to intervene since he often ignored our emails.
We even got to do an "upward review" of our supervisor and go all out in our venting, which led to some (temporary) changes in her behavior. She's not the best performer though, and often says she'll do stuff, like doing monthly quality assurance testing, but not doing them for 6+ months. To resolve this, I offered to help her do the testing, she told me she'd get back to me, but never did.
Then when I follow up by emails, lamenting how I miss that part of our performance review and CC the manager on it, she replied right away, but does nothing to address the problem. She's pretty flaky, I guess she's overworked, but definitely not all she's cracked up to be. But she has improved in terms of communication with her subordinates and is not as rude/demanding as before, so at least that's better.
The major problem is that the manager is either overworked himself or a softy who won't take charge. There's definitely a sense that supervisor can do no wrong, so challenging them too much could lead to consequences that will affect you for the rest of your days at the company.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
