In my career, I have worked with great bosses. I am not going to talk about any of them today! I would like to speak about the lousy bosses, the ones who do not add value or let you be.
Fiction: Coming from a cultured background, I was naive enough to assume that certain people only make it to the top of the corporate ladder if they possess certain skills.
BOWA HA! (Homer Simpson Laugh!)
Fact: the majority of the calibers in managerial positions in our community have no idea what they are doing half of the time – most of the time actually – I have learned this the hard way!
There are bad bosses and there are horrible bosses! The bad ones will not develop you or give you room for growth, but the horrible bosses are just the party pooper! They will make sure that your self-esteem is flushed down the toilet, along with pieces of your confidence and probably a part of your brain as well! Hundreds and thousands out there are lurking in the dark waiting for their next victim. That poor victim may just be you! So watch out for four main stereotypes of Egyptian horrible bosses:
“They will make sure that your self-esteem is flushed down the toilet, along with pieces of your confidence and probably a part of your brain as well!”
Ego Medhat
Now this is the kind of a boss who thinks he is amazing and that his mere presence at the workplace is the biggest investment he needs to do. This guy will never listen to you, value your opinion or give a rat’s butt what you are saying. To him, showing up at the office every day is something that you should pray rak3eteen shokr for in a holy corner dedicated merely for thanking the Lord for Medhat! Too much of your time is spent expressing your admiration of how awesome he is. Medhat usually has mommy issues; his mom raised him to think that he is amazing by nature and that he does not need to exert any effort to make it through life. Unfortunately, he expects the whole world to treat him like mommy did. Why Om Medhat? Hewhy?
Soma El 3ashe2
This one is particularly interesting. He is either an active womanizer or a womanizer wannabe. Either way, he will always try to spread his praise all over your appearance and completely neglect any professional contribution of yours. He will try to make you fall for a word, a sentence or a gesture. He will never settle for taking no for an answer and will continue his attempts to seduce you no matter how much you ignore his attempts! If you are married, he will always try to find a conversation in which he scrutinizes your relationship with your husband, or makes innuendos about common issues with married people, hoping that you would fall into the trap and start having a conversation with him about your significant other. Never allow this! He is dragging you to a conversation that is below you just to wrap his dirty thoughts around a weak point of yours. Always mark your limits and his. Of course I would advise you to hit him with an ashtray, but you wouldn’t want to add physical harassment capabilities to the “skills” section of your CV, would you?
Mean Machine
This is the mean guy, the guy who is never pleased or thankful! He will make your life a living hell regardless whether you are doing a good job or not. He will always find a mean comment to upset you, or negative feedback that is shared at a time in which you are already feeling down. He will not give you any credit or allow you to get credit for yourself. He is simply a bad guy! He has no standards but his mood swings and the fact that he is probably PMSing most of the month. One day you will think that you understand what he needs you to do and you do it. The next thing you know, he gives you hell for doing that one exact thing. With these guys, I usually feel sorry for the people who actually have no choice but to be around them.
“Bottom line: there are times in which you just have to run for your life away from these horrible bosses!”
Suzy Nafsana
Now you finally have a female boss and you thank God for no longer reporting to men. You think that she will understand your priorities and support you… Dream on! Problem with many women at work is that they find it hard to separate sentiment from professionalism. Suzy, it is not our fault that nobody is asking you out, you needn’t take it out by depriving your subordinate from vacations or time off work. Suzy will always compare herself to you. She will always feel that whatever she is not getting you should not get, and whatever she is getting you should not get as well!
Bottom line: there are times in which you just have to run for your life away from these horrible bosses! Our lives are hectic enough, filled with enough commitments and an ongoing feeling that we are not doing enough of anything. We are not spending enough time with our loved ones, we are not working out enough, we are not getting enough time for ourselves, etc. So, enough is ENOUGH of horrible bosses! Quit your job and find a boss who cares about you as a human being and develops you as professional.
Regina Inani
HR Manager
Twitter: @GinaInani