The Idiot Boss Review!
Friday, November 11, 2005No, this isn't going to be a musical number about the life of my Idiot Boss. Instead this is the review I had to write for Idiot boss at the request of his boss.
As you've probably previously read, I'm not a fan of my boss. The Idiot Boss moniker isn't just because I don't like the guy, it's because he's truly a moron. If you're even an occasional reader of this blog, you've probably heard me bitch about him at least a little. I mean it's not like I mentioned him here, here, here, here and had a whole post devoted to him here.
Since I'm sure you're dying to know what I really think about him, I present for you The Review:
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Employee's Key Contributions/Accomplishments:
"Idiot Boss" has aided in the creation of a Work Request System for our department and is heading the creation of a unified drafting and modeling procedure. He also parses the new incoming requests and tries to assign them to the proper drafters.
Employee's Key Strengths (please reference leadership and functional competencies):
His knowledge of "Company X" business is very high, as he constantly seems to be up to date on news in our division and others. He has fairly decent technical writing skills when organizing and writing guidelines and processes. He is also usually a very friendly person. He is very good with numbers and seems to be able to remember any procedure number by heart. He did help to drive some change in our department with the Work Request System and the Combined drafting procedure.
Employee's Areas for Improvement (please reference leadership and functional competencies):
"Idiot Boss" needs to improve on virtually every leadership and functional competency. Although he is constantly taking training classes, he does not seem to be developing as a better supervisor. He seems to lack proper acumen for effectively supervising a group. The level of respect for him among his employees is very low, instead of inspiring them to work to the best of their ability, they look for other jobs. Three people have left the group citing "Idiot Boss" as their only reason for leaving. (two quit, one sought promotions elsewhere) He has made several poor decisions when assigning work that has actually decreased the level of respect for our whole group. "Idiot Boss" seems to have developed a habit if telling people what he thinks they want to hear instead of being honest. At several points he has had miscommunications that, if said to the wrong person, could have led to possible lawsuits (Mostly due to what could easily be construed as discrimination). Along the lines of communication as well, is that he lacks skill in giving presentations, trainings and meetings, to the point they rarely seem like an effective use of time. He also needs to use one on one time more effectively. He often gets side-tracked or makes unrelated or unnecessary phone calls in meetings even when he has been told by employees that they find that rude and disrespectful. The lack of communication also undermines the development of teamwork since projects are often assigned using only the Request System and no verbal communication so peers do not know they could be helping each other on projects they have previously worked on.
Other Comments:
I chose the Unsatisfactory rating after much thought. I had originally selected "Needs Improvement" but decided against that after reading the implications of each of the ratings. He fits much of both, though "Unsatisfactory" was the more accurate. While "Idiot Boss" is a very kind caring person, he is not a good fit at all for a supervisory role. I respect him as a person, but as a supervisor it is very hard to. He has a very hard time recognizing problems with employees and does not work well to get through the issues. He really doesn't seem to be able to effectively show the competence to be an effective leader. He rarely collaborates with employees effectively and the Work Request System is actually lowering the amount that he does talk with them. He also has actually been chastised on several occasions by engineers and other managers for making some poor decisions. After working with him for years and seeing little improvement I could not give a "Needs Improvement" rating. I have not provided many details in this review in order to keep the length down, but would be glad to discuss any of this in person.
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So there you have it. I did my best not to be spiteful, yet detail to what lengths he is an complete idiot. I tell ya, I really had to struggle to find things that could be called strengths. The director of our department made a joke the other day. Someone has said to him they were going to make up some bad scenario like Idiot Boss resigning. His response? (I'm still not sure if this was completely in jest or not) "Bad? That would be a good thing!" Problem is, it's so incredibly hard to fire someone for incompetence in this company it's ridiculous. The best employee here could come in with alcohol on their breath and be fired on the spot, fuck up a whole department and it takes six months to can your ass. Stupid.
Oh well, hopefully at some point someone will wake up and listen to what we're saying!
Anyway, so there, now you can all feel a little better about your work situations. If you have an Idiot Boss of your own you're not alone. If you have a good boss count your lucky stars!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 8:37 AM,
13 Comments:
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At Fri Nov 11, 09:56:00 AM,
said...
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That sounds a whole lot like the survey I took on Roboto back when I was his whipping girl. It was supposed to be anonymous, but the sneaky little sociopath was getting copies so he raked me over the coals for it.
I think you did a nice job of stating what needed to be said in a professional way. I'd give it an A+ if you were in one of my Business Writing classes. =o) -
At Fri Nov 11, 10:27:00 AM,
Esther said...
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I think you did a pretty good job of not just coming out and saying "He's an idiot, fire him." My old boss wasn't stupid, but she was an evil bitch. She used to make my life difficult just because she could. The most memorable comment she made was "Don't you listen...Do you think this is some kind of sick joke?!" after giving her directions to a professor's office that were given to me by the school.
My new boss is great, but her last day is Thursday. So sad. -
At Fri Nov 11, 11:00:00 AM,
FINY said...
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Oh man, I know it took a lot of effort but it must have felt SO good when you were done!
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At Fri Nov 11, 12:33:00 PM,
Marie said...
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Wow!! I am very impressed with the eloquence and references used in this Idiot Boss review. I don't think it sounds spiteful at all. You were very clear and concise in your examples and it came off as professional. It should be interesting to see what they actually do with these reviews though. Is this one of the steps that is being used to "manage" him out?
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At Fri Nov 11, 01:22:00 PM,
The Nicsperiment said...
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Man, now I pity IB. It sucks when someone who is otherwise a decent guy gets put in a position where he is entirely ineffectual. I bet he realizes this, too, but has no idea how to remedy it, and probably can't. Poor guy. But even worse for all of you under him. Maybe they can find a better place for IB, and give you guys someone who can handle the job properly.
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At Fri Nov 11, 04:23:00 PM,
Chief Slacker said...
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Jaded - I really don't care if he finds out who wrote it, I really can't believe taht he thinks I have taht much respoct for him anyway. Several parts of that I've told him to his face.And YAY! I got an A+!
Esther - Yeah evil bitches have their own spots in the lexicon of bad bosses. Hopefully the next boss is jsut as cool or better!
S.C. - Thanks! yeah well it was thought out. I had a couple people read it to make sure it didn't sound bad but none dreally had much for corrections.
FINY - yeah it definitely took effort. I would much rather have jsut said: "He's a compelete mororn with zero skill." But yeah, certainly did feel good clicking "Submit"
OzzyC - I doubt there's much chance of that, I can work him so bad it's not funny. This is the same guy who went from being super pissed to giving me what I want in the course of 30 minutes.
Marie - Nah, this is the standard end of the year performance review stuff. Hopefully it's the start of "managing" him out. Thanks for the compliments, I trid hard!
nicholas - yeah, he's a pretty decent guy, but TERRIBLE. About the only position I think he'd fit well in is someone in charge of updating standards and whatnot. Definitely not supervising though. -
At Fri Nov 11, 04:26:00 PM,
said...
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Nicely done!
You know, I prefer the critical approach. Nothing like being able to go over your boss' head and get him raped by his boss (I think I did that once...heh). -
At Fri Nov 11, 11:25:00 PM,
mkecurler said...
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I got rid of my Insane Idiot Boss a few years ago.
My stress levels have gone down alot. My new boss is great. Work is alot easier when you have someone who knows what thye are doing and they trust you. Great blog by the way! -
At Fri Nov 11, 11:34:00 PM,
Mike said...
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Great, nice blog..
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At Sun Nov 13, 10:42:00 PM,
Kira said...
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I have a good boss who is so much better than my old boss that I almost weep for joy when I enter her office.
On a not related note, is there any way to get code for the badge but a smaller version of the badge? It seems to move over my text too much if I try and put a picture into my post, so I had to temporarily remove the big ass sucker :) -
At Mon Nov 14, 01:43:00 PM,
Chief Slacker said...
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Captain B - yeah, I've had enough of him, no more being nice and hoping that he improves.
Lizy - yeah he does suck, definitely the worst "boss" I've had. A-holes are one thing, complete idiots are another.
sabatkes - I hope I can get rid of this one, either taht or get promoted to be his equal. Thanks! Stop back often!
Mike - Thanks man! Stop by and slack whenever!
Kira - There are so many managers around here who would be awesome to work for and I have the idiot, it sucks. I hope the code addition I emailed ya worked!
Pieces - Lazy bum! ;O) -
At Wed Nov 16, 09:02:00 AM,
Chief Slacker said...
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june Bug - I really doubt it will come back to bite me, he's much to wussy for that. Unfortunately it's not going to have the impact it should though.
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At Wed Nov 16, 10:19:00 AM,
Carrie said...
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dammmmmmnnnnn!!!!
well, kudos to you for manning-up and speaking the truth. too many people don't do that to avoid static.
I'm very curious to hear how all of this pans out.