Bosses And CEOs That Left Us Shaking Our Heads

From Redditor u/Kraft_Dinna:

My grandfather was in the hospital. My mom texted me saying he signed a DNR. This happened on a Thursday; I worked as a cook then.

I told my manager I needed the next day off. I suggested a three-day weekend to visit him in the hospital, which is a nine-hour drive away.

She refused. She said she had no one to cover my shift. I was cooking dinner rush while talking to her. I told her this was my last chance to see him. She mentioned her brother died in the hospital but still worked. She said life sucks sometimes; you just have to move past it. While I cooked, she asked, “So what’s it gonna be?” in a threat. I replied, “I can’t go if nobody can cover me.” She apologized and thanked me for not missing the next day.

The next day, my shift started. My phone was exploding in my pocket. I was at the hospital with my kids and wife, with my grandfather. My manager lost it: “Where are you!?” “Tell me if you’re late!”

I sent a reply. I said, “You said you had no one to cover my shift? You are covering my shift tonight and all future shifts. Enjoy! By the way, I didn’t prep anything last night, so you better leave now!”

I felt very emotional. I sent the message, waited for it to send, then I blocked or deleted the number. I wanted the final word. I did not want to give her a chance to fix things or tell me how unprofessional I was. I did not care.

From Redditor u/selm267:

I worked at a small, understaffed eye clinic with three staff members and the doctor. We dropped to two staff and the doctor when I quit. We managed to keep assessments running. Six months later, the doctor finally gave my 90-day review. For thirty minutes, she listed all my flaws and stated she disliked me, thinking I was not performing well. Sometimes, when she entered, I had my back to her, avoiding expectations she never told me about.

Actually, I handled the work of two to three people and kept everything running. Patients liked me; I received zero complaints from patients or coworkers.

I applied for the same job at another clinic. When I said I quit because there were only two or three staff, he immediately asked, “How does an office run like that?!” Now, I have eleven coworkers. I do one-third of the work for more money and get respect. It is amazing.

From Redditor u/oryx506:

The worst boss I had was at a McDonald's. A younger manager handled things for about ten months. Then, they brought in a second manager from another store. He seemed fine for the first week. Then, one day, a sixteen-year-old girl who usually worked the drive-thru was put on the grill for no reason. She got grease on her shirt. The manager told her she looked like a pig and told her to clean it or go home. She left crying.

The next day, another underage kid asked for water after a three-hour rush. The kid looked like he was going to faint. The manager said no. The kid then said he would drink from the sink in the back. The manager threatened to send him home if he did.

I lost it when I heard that. I basically told him to leave and walked out. I never went back.

I heard a month later that he was fired.

From Redditor u/RobWins2022:

I worked on a devapps team for a major ISP. We had to finish a project by the day after Thanksgiving. We worked until midnight the day before Thanksgiving, all day of Thanksgiving, and all night until midnight. That meant 44 of 48 hours coding and testing.

We turned in the project at 4:30 the day after Thanksgiving. The CTO accepted it and told us, "You should not have taken so long to get this done. You are not qualified to work at this company; you are not qualified as developers."at all"

The following Monday, they announced the sale of the new software package to another company for $4.2 million.

All three of us turned in our resignations that day.

From Redditor u/NeedsMoreTuba:

I worked in a craft store. My boss crossed the line by hitting each of us on the back of the head while saying, "One for you! And one for you! And one for you!"

I thought he was joking (still not cool). Then he got to me. He did not like me much. "And one for YOU!!" he said, and he smacked me so hard my glasses flew off my face. They were not loose, but they were after that day.

I did not get to quit. He fired me at the end of the shift.

From Redditor u/MsAmazingWho:

The boss said she did not know what happened but that I was not the same person from the previous year. She wanted the happy, cheerful person back.

She knew what happened. She was at my father's funeral two months before.

From Redditor u/teenicon:

In high school, I worked at a Subway. My boss asked the team to come in a Sunday night after closing for a meeting. As soon as everyone settled, my boss said, "We all know there is one person in this room who isn’t efficient like the rest of the team, and it is becoming more obvious by the day."

She asked how holding others back felt when I was slow at making sandwiches and cleaning. My boss had three others give examples of my 'poor' work publicly. I cried from sheer embarrassment and left the meeting. This bothered me for days, keeping me up for weeks. That memory stays sharp. No one ever made me feel this low before. That happened at a Subway.

From Redditor u/Simoncowbell:

Haili tweeted Elon Musk because he lost access to his Twitter platforms. Haili did not know if he was fired. Elon did not know him, so he asked what Haili worked on. When Haili named his high-level projects, Elon dismissed him with 'pics or didn't happen.'

Musk then claimed Haili did no work, using a disability excuse to lie. Haili then tweeted about his disability, muscular dystrophy, and how it worsens.

Elon had to learn that Haraldur Thorleifsson, a respected digital entrepreneur, sold his company to Twitter and chose a job there instead of a one-time payment, was the person he insulted.

The contract states if Twitter ends his role, he gets the company's value, which is $100 million.

From A Redditor:

[Elon Musk's] rudeness is old news. But the pandemic showed he was more than just a jerk; he was a liar.

During the ventilator shortage, he publicly announced sending 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals. Instead, he sent CPAP machines. When criticized, he ignored the comments and kept calling them ventilators. He still claims he gave away 1,000 ventilators during the pandemic.

From Redditor u/Ok_Star_4136:

Musk admitted the hyperloop idea was fake. He was just trying to delay California's modern train rail plan in Napa Valley.

Before that, he released videos and tech demos showing the technology. This shows he spent money keeping the farce going.

He claimed he would give free satellite internet in Ukraine when the war began. Later, he tried to take back that statement and then tried to bill the government for it.

I used to think people could invest in him and get their ideas heard. Many of his projects look questionable. You cannot say he actually contributes to society.

Tesla is the only thing he did. Even then, he was the Steve Jobs for Tesla's iPhone. People got a lot of credit, but he did not engineer or design it. He did not lead most decisions; people just wanted to think he did.

From Redditor u/RegularEvening:

I worked my first job at 18 or 19. He criticized my lipstick, calling it an ugly color. He suggested I wear bright red lip color with my red uniform shirt. He disliked my all-black shoes. He showed me how to mop the floor, taking the mop from me to show me the 'proper' way. He also told a coworker she could not wear a sports bra under her uniform. I quit days later.

From Redditor u/Bryaxis:

[Quoting a Salon article]:

[Eddie] Lampert. He took the idea that humans act best when selfish, pitting Sears company managers against each other in a contest.Lord of the Flies death match. He thought this forced rational action and boosted performance.

[…] Instead of boosting Sears’ profits, division heads fought over their own areas, undermining each other for their section's money instead of the whole brand.

From Redditor u/Npatrick93:

Bob Nardelli. He was CEO of The Home Depot in the early 2000s. He changed the company's core beliefs, aiming to compete with Walmart. The stock fell. I lost my 401k completely.

Then he resigned with a large sum of money, and I had to find a new job. This happened almost 20 years ago, and HD is still recovering.

From Redditor u/Disastrous-Use-2373:

I worked the front desk at a small, family-owned Chiropractic office. It was early morning; patients had not arrived yet. I placed my phone on the desk (in a folder or similar) and started scrolling. The boss (chiropractor) walked in.

I did not close the folder fast enough. So he pulled up a chair next to me and said firmly,

“Instagram does not pay your bills; I pay your bills.”

I just sat there while he talked about phones. I earned about $400 a week. That amount did not cover rent, so I used Door Dash during my lunch break to earn extra money.