Handling a Horrible Boss! Have you ever had a boss that you liked or admired? If you’re like most working people, then you’ve probably had nothing but bad experiences with your bosses in the past and present. Why are bosses so terrible to their lower-level employees?
Bosses usually consist of supervisors or managers who do nothing but give orders and complain whenever you do something wrong. They may not even do it subtly either. Since they know that you desperately need your job, they feel like they can get away with belittling you or blaming you for things that are not your fault.
How can you survive in such an environment? You have two choices at this point. First, you could quit your job and go on welfare. But if you do that, then you’d probably be on the streets within a few months. No, it is better to find a logical way to tolerate your boss and deal with their grievances for the sake of you and your own family’s security.
The main thing you need to remember when handling a horrible boss is to do the best you can at the job and try to get recognized for the excellent work that you do. If your boss continues to give you a hard time, then find ways to manage their negativity without getting upset.
Below are five tips on how to get started in doing that.
1) Understand Your Boss
Why is your boss such a miserable person? What can you do to make their day better? If you have a boss that doesn’t like you taking long lunch breaks or arriving five minutes late to work, then do something about that. Start managing your time better so that your boss doesn’t have a reason to get upset with you.
Apply this logic to any situation. Just find out why your boss keeps mistreating you. Then try to turn this problem around so they will treat you better in the future. It won’t work in every situation, but sometimes you might have a boss with a legitimate grievance against you. Fix the grievance, and you will fix their behavior.
2) Confide in Your Peers
If your boss is always horrible to you for no particular reason, then they’re probably horrific to your coworkers as well. Confide in your peers and talk to them about your boss to see if they’ve had the same experiences with them as you. In most cases, they will understand and share the same dislike that you have for your boss.
By talking about your boss’s problem with your peers, it will allow you to release all those negative thoughts and energy from your body. Think of it as a form of group therapy where communicating your thoughts and feelings helps you cope with the unpleasantness of your job.
Read also: How to become a true leader
3) Don’t Get Revenge
Your job is not a war between you and your boss. Let go of any ideas of seeking vengeance toward your boss because they did something that made you feel angry or sad. Some employees like to purposely get back at their boss by taking longer lunch breaks and working slower. If you do this, your boss will have a good reason to terminate your employment.
The best thing you can do is what you’re supposed to do. If you try your best to follow company policy and do your work to the best of your ability, then let fate decide from there. If your boss still fires you because they don’t like your job performance, then maybe it wasn’t meant to be. But if you don’t agree with why you got fired, then go to your company’s human resources department and complain.
4) Talk to Upper Management
Inside each department of a big company, there are multiple managers and supervisors of different ranks. Lower-level employees may have more than one boss in some cases. They may have a group manager who manages the employees of one particular sector of the department. Then you have a supervisor who manages multiple groups or the entire department.
Let’s say you have a problem with your group manager and you want to complain. You could always go to your supervisor who outranks them and talk about your problem. Sometimes the best way to deal with a nasty boss is to speak to their boss.
Of course, you need a legitimate reason to do so other than merely disliking them. If your manager is doing something wrong or making your job more challenging to do, then you should talk to their supervisor. They might be able to straighten out your boss for you.
5) Ask Questions
Do not be afraid to ask questions to your boss whenever you get stuck or confused about something at your job. Asking questions is the best way to avoid future problems with your boss because you can prevent a mistake from being made.
On the other hand, if you try to pretend like you know everything and fail to ask your boss when you get stuck, then you’re liable to make mistakes on the job. Then your boss will have a legitimate reason not to like you.
Conclusion
Some bosses may be people who are unhappy in their own lives. Perhaps they’re sick of the 9-to-5 routine just like you. There is no much you can do in this situation other than to make their life easier. You can do that by following the advice mentioned above. Understand what your boss wants and try not to do anything to agitate them. If you can manage that, then your boss should become more tolerable.
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