Careful what you wish for.

[iheartmaytag]

I had a former co-worker who was actually a supervisor in another unit, that had no redeeming qualities what-so-ever. She was mean, vindictive, and would single someone out for destruction for the slightest infraction. I don't mean write up, I don't mean she fired them. She systematically and totally destroyed their will, their esteem, their reputation; then she fired them.

There were so many people in my department that planned her death over the years. She was fired about three years ago and no one shed a tear, in fact a few had a celebration when she left with her boxes. (She was also a horder).

They found her dead in her apartment yesterday morning, and I feel bad for her. Because she was such a mean person, her own kids wouldn't have anything to do with her now she died alone in her torment.

My pledge today: Careful what you wish for, because it might happen. And I will try to be a better person so someone won't have to pitty me when I die.

 

[panthera]

What goes around, comes around

The older I get, the more I notice that.

I have a group right now, all of whom failed their last semester in English II (roughly the same as second year Latin or Spanish or French).

Their professor is proud of that fact that he fails over 75% every semester.

His own children won't talk to him, his estranged wife won't visit him...and every single one of us in the faculty hate him passionately. He's the kind who wouldn't dream of reloading the photocopier when he's used up all the paper or putting his coffee cup in the dishwasher in our little Teeküche...

Would I feel bad if he were to die and nobody noticed? I'm going to have to think about that. Seriously. I like to think so, but am not so sure.

And that is kinda scary.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Now let the party begin!
How many went to her funeral?
Anybody that mean should have no one looking over them unless they pissing on her grave......

What a

 

[chromacolor]

I must be a vindictive person. Of all the jobs I've had in over 25 years, I still remember 3 bosses I HATE. It probably would bring joy if I heard something horrid happened to them.
I don't think I'm a mean peson, so your post at least made me ponder on trying to not be so hateful.

 

[iheartmaytag]

The woman who was her supervisor here, said at this time they haven't planned a funeral because her children won't claim the body. The state may dispose of her, if no one steps forward. Dept head is talking to her pastor now.

BTW--the woman was only 55.

 

[washerboy]

the twin still lives

I must work with the deceased evil twin..pertty much the very same story...fortunatly someone in the office (I confess..it was me) pointed out to the executive director that she was laying the ground work for a really good lawsuit..so long story short Spawn of Satan was demoted and hours cut to part time. I thought I would want to "party down" as little satan fell,...just like the above..her only child moved 6 hours away and will not have anything to do with her; her siblings and parents in town will not have anything to do with her either...I pass by her house several times a week..car in the drive and not a single light on, even the property owners association in the neighborhood avoids her...I feel sorry for her..to a degree..but on the other hand..I've watched her..and it appears she enjoys the life she lives despite how pathic it is. I guess what really blows my mind..is why would anyone enjoy being miserable and hateful all the time?

 

[panthera]

Some people

should never, ever be given authority over others. It just seems to bring out the absolute worst in them.

A thousand years ago, I worked at a hotel in Durango, Colorado.
It was a nice job, the pay was decent and my first boss was a really smart lady who taught me a lot.
She got promoted, her replacement was a fundamentalist Christian.

She didn't have the authority to fire me, but she gave me schedules which were as hateful as possible - I'd pull a double-shift on Friday then Sunday night followed by Monday morning...with a half-shift on Tuesday and Thursday (Wednesdays were required attendance staff meetings). She knew I had a 60 minute drive to the hotel. At 8,000 feet. In winter.

My quarterly ratings had been perfect before she was in charge, after she was in charge they fell to the lowest rating on everything...

And so on.

Well, times got bad, the hotel closed, I was hired by my old boss to run the front desk at her new hotel across town...and my old boss was now under me.

I took exceptional pleasure in always being perfectly correct and polite to her. Never scheduled her differently than anyone else, always gave her good ratings in her reviews.

She spent 14 months waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Which it eventually did, of course. Like all fundamentalist Christian ministers, her husband couldn't keep it in his pants was diddling half the town. The male half.

I truly believe, had I treated her the way she treated gays, she would have killed herself when things went so bad.

Not that she ever revised her opinions, of course.

 

[mixfinder]

The Twist of Fate

My partner's father does everything he can to manipulate and control his children. Their lives are constantly turned upside down never knowing where the next one of his "plans" is coming from. He had a stroke in November of 2009. I didn't want to get caught hoping for his demise and prayied God would let it unfold in a way that brought relief to the family. From my perspective having him gone would make our lives easier. I had surgery last Novemeber and my friend Gyrafoam advised me to watch for a clot and the possibility of stroke. Never knowing how thoughts, prayers and intentions cross wires I realized the stroke I wished for might have been my own. I try to focus on the parts of myself I can change and not fighting my head over someone else. I am reminded of the story of Great Expectaions and Miss Haversham, wondering what happened to make this woman so locked up in her story of unhappiness. Did they find the yellowed wedding dress?

 

[laundromat]

vengince???

I worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital for 12 years.There were 5 different hurdels I had to go through and eventualy lost my job due to some difficulties that stemmed from my thyroid cancer.My imediate boss,her boss,the administrator and supervisor who were involved and went to court against me and their losses in all counts,are all dead.they all died horrific deaths. The administrator got diagnosed with Crone's disease and shot himself in the face with a shot gun.My imediate boss died of stomach cancer,her boss died two weeks after firing me of bone cancer and it happened three months after being dignosed.The supervisor was stuck on a train crossing,hit by an oncoming passenger train that was going 96MPH hitting his truck and pushing it 700 yards making it shrink like an acordian smashing anyone inside and then bursting into flames.All of this happened within a year of my job loss and 4 months after the trial by jury.I had nothing to do with any of it but,my co-workers always thought I had a few friends who were into voodoo and posibly had dolls made of these folks to be able to harm or kill them. I have no knowledge of anyone I know who is into voodoo at all. It just may happen to be that karma may have more to do with these folks more so than some curse somebody could have set. I remember another co-worker who had worked the ER double shifting it from 11AM to 11AM 12 hours and was asked to return in 4 hours to file some loose xray reports. He took a 15 minute break in the break area and fell asleep making him 5 minutes late coming back. He got fired for sleeping on the job!!

 

[neptunebob]

The question I have in all this is how do people like that become managers? Why does the upper management hire them if they are so obnoxious? If they put on an act for their bosses, If I was the boss, I would be so furious that they lied that I would fire them on the spot! Do you find that a lot of people with MBAs and business degrees are the most obnoxious people around?

Oh, and I did have a boss at a fast food that mistreated people but the owner kept her on because she had 6 kids and she "had to provide for her family"(that she carelessly created with 3 men). She developed cancer and 6 months later died.

Maybe I am really mean but the first thing I thought was "Ding, Dong, the Wicked Witch is Dead"!

 

[iheartmaytag]

The question I have in all this is how do people like that b

I usually find it's becaue they are exceedingly good at kissing the lower extremities of the Director. There are a few around here right now that if the Director were to stop suddenly we would lose them clear up to the shoulders.

This was the case of Ms. H. BTW. Very good Kiss Ass, very poor anything else.

There was a time when I first started working here that she flat out told me not to apply for an open position in her unit. She stated, with an angered face, and witnesses "You are too pale, and too male to work for me."

 

[laundromat]

At JHH, we had a job board where you would bid and seniority as well as experience were supposed to be the method used to determine who would be best for the position(s) available.Most of the time though,it was who knew whom and what their abilities were. I remember when I was getting ready to have my experimental brain surgery and applied for a leave of absence.They denied it and I had to appeal. During my wait,I had a grand mal sezure in the office and it lasted 17 hours non stop. I came out of it blind and had a breaf amnesia. I got my sight back in 5 hours and my memory back in 10. I got my medical leave but,they did it without any paycheck that was due me.During the pre op testing that took 3 months to finalize, the position I held was given to somebody else and,when I returned,they couldn't give it back to me. I fought it and my lawyer brought up the gay issue and how I was being put down and horassed by individuals who hated gays.She said that the verbal abuse was triggering some of the sezures and those who were doing that needed to be corrected and disaplined properly.The individual who got my position was transfered to another department and I was given back my job after I had the 100% successful surgery.Seven months later,I was fired but in documenting everything going on from day 1, I was able to take JHH to court and won my case w'out settling out of court.They gave me all the wages with interest I would have gotten along with any increase for evaluation time.Then a huge sum of money for all I went through during that period. I went to another Hospital where they finally, correctly, diagnosed my thyroid cancer and did surgery as well as chemo and radiation treatment. To this day,I still have issues with my health that stems from my thyroid but,I refuse to take any meds other than mary jane.I had the brain surgery to get off all the depressants and psyche meds they had me on.Anyway,it's great when you have a boss you are friends with.It makes your job a lot less stressful and makes you feel important to their company.That's how it is here.We just blessed our dinner truck we finished last weekend and are going to Hilo to sell some smoked fish,tortillas and shepherd's pies,this Saturday.

 

[whirlcool]

In my career I have met quite a few like this. Control freaks who have unrealistic expectations of their underlings.

Years ago, I worked part time in a data center during the school year. The woman who was my manager was this hard, cold ex WAC type. She was tough as nails. Due to a long running mainframe computer job, I was chosen to sit and watch it run on Thanksgiving day. So I had to cancel my Thanksgiving with my family to sit at the computer. They had a rule about NO televisions in the computer room. SO since I was the only person in the building, I brought my television to work that day.

Sure enough, about 2 in the afternoon, this manager walks in the computer room with a stern look on her face. She just said "I want to see you in my office, NOW!" I thought Oh crap she's got me now.

I went into her office and was shocked! On her desk she had a complete Thanksgiving dinner set up for me on fine china and even a flower or two in a vase. She just said "Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for staying here on this day." She went into the computer room to watch the mainframe while I ate. She never even brought up the subject of the television.

I thought that was so nice of her. But, the next time I saw her, she was back to the same old militant style. I heard about 5 years after I left she passed away at age 42 from cancer.

I think some companies choose people like this because their management style is "Manage by fear".

 

[mixfinder]

Too Uptight

The ladder of success is lined with the faces of your friends. Too often the ones at the top have only smiley faces beaming up to administration and choose not to show visceral reactions to people and concepts they might not agree with. Then look out below!

 

[rapunzel]

Isn't it interesting to note

that a very large proportion of middle-aged women (in management) are sour? Also I have found that the nastiest of the lot look the way they act.

My theory is that they are unhappy with themselves and everything that they do reflects this. They usually don't have a satisfying personal and sex-life; and they try to find an outlet for their resulting frustrations in academic and career pursuits.

They pursue ball-breaking as a kind of sport and are hostile to anyone they perceive as a threat, as more fortunate, better looking or whatever.

Academia, the health industry and public service attract a disproportionately large number of these individuals. Sour queens fall into this category also.

I've always found working with men less political, easier and fairer. Men, as a rule (there are exceptions), tend to be far less manipulative and much more on the line.

With women one always has to read between the lines. They rarely say what they actually mean and they are big on inferences.

The above story that started this thread is tragic. I don't like making judgements about people not knowing what experiences have led them to become so twisted and miserable. Though, I also believe that many are born that way and it is a true reflection of their character. They only feel satisfied if they bring misery to others.

I've read somewhere once that a study found a significant number of people in high-power positions exhibited personality traits normally found in bad-ass sociothiopaths. I don't find that at all surprising and it explains some of what I have observed working with very successful and driven individuals.

 

[alr2903]

joblocked?

I wonder if any of the above describled, miserable folks were in the catergory of "joblocked", stuck in a job they hate because of economics, personel finance, need for health care, or fear of a new beginning. There are a lot "sad sacks" in the workplace. I locked in my twenty years of service, 3 years ago, the 6 of these years were hell on earth. My advice to anyone over 50 with a locked in pension is "move on", you are nothing but a number with a built in incentive to take more *hit, and when you do move on keep changing every few years, never drop anchor. alr2903

 

[hunter]

sour middle aged women.

In general, I have found that boomer women are far more sour than any other generation. (Think Hilary Clinton).

Here, they fought the fight for women's equality. Okay, despite what the feminists claim, while ON AVERAGE women earn 77c for every dollar a man does, when you compare apples to apples - women in industry x versus men in industry x - it is pretty near equal, and in lots of areas of the country , women earn more.

But you know what? They discovered that for the most part careers etc. suck. Oh they have their moments and economic freedom and equality is vital. But they aren't the wonderfully fun places to be that they were perceived to be.

And oh yeah, well, if you say 'you are as good as a man' (and you are of course) then you will be expected to do all the shit men do too.

Is there still places where men and women are not treated equitably? I'm not so stupid as to believe that there are not. But by and large, women have a far, far, far better lot than they did 40 years ago.

But guess what? Life is still hard and often sucks.

 

[laundryshark]

Waste of Human Flesh for a Brother!

He was most abusive to me and the rest of the family in our childhood years. To this day, my older brother smokes like a locomotive, drinks like a fish, and does dope! I'll never forget the first time I heard from his kids on Facebook. The first things I heard were that their dad was not there for them and also their uncles; as in: "Why weren't you there for us in childhood? We are very hurt and upset." Of course, what else could I do but listen and show compassion to my now beloved nieces!? They are grown young ladies now and one has a little girl of her own already. It is most unfortunate to think that my brother has made himself to be this utterly worthless P O S for white trash. Parish the thought that he would soon die and I would not even hear about it till two weeks after the fact. A stray dog has more respect than my brother. Haven't spoken to him in years. The kids were from his first wife, who threw his *** out when she was seven months pregnant with her second child. His second wife is also a hopeless loser. And as though that weren't enough for my sister-in-law, she remarried, only to find out the guy was an alcoholic, and abusive to her and the kids. So she had to split up with him for good. Goodness! I, being in the middle of my family (third of six grown kids), could write the ultimate best seller on family dysfunctionalism and sibling rivalry. Glad I have long since moved away from all the childhood and present day trash.--Laundry Shark

 

[rapunzel]

Women's Equality

I am all for it and as you say Hunter, if women want to work in traditional male jobs they can't cherry pick. Many don't, but many do. There is also the 'princess syndrom' to contend with and now more so than ever. The western females claim that they want to be treated just like men, but not really. What they really want is to eat their cake and have it.

40 years of feminism has created a culture of reverse discrimination, not reconcilliation. Mothers still re-enforce traditional stereotypes, but with a weird twist.

Women get away with a lot more than men in professional and social settings. Over the years I've been touched and pinched inappropriately, have had female co-workers make lewd and suggestive jokes and comments about my sex. Admittedly these took place in good humor and I never felt bad or the urge complained about it, but had the role been reversed I know that I would have been held to account. As a male I have to be so much more mindful about what I say and do. Especially since I am not out at work and have never been the 'girlfriend' type.