My New Boss is EVIL.

My new boss absolutely sucks.
Originally uploaded by EdnPHX.

It’s often said that people leave jobs not because of money, but rather because their boss is a total jerk. Well, I’m finding that out right now. You see, while I was in San Francisco last week, my boss resigned. I was devastated because, actually, I love my boss; she is supportive, dedicated to my development, and just an all around cool lady to work for. She always said “thank you” for doing a great job and made me feel totally valued. For Christmas, she even sent me a huge Napa Valley gift basket filled with totally cool stuff. I enjoyed my boss. She was awesome. So much in fact, that I would work at 110% my capacity level, because she motivated me to do even better than I already was doing.

But, now she’s gone. And, she confided in me that the reason for her leaving was because her boss was a total evil bitch. And I now have to report to this evil bitch. I knew my boss was having trouble with her boss, who just started with the company not even a year ago. The rumor on the street was that her boss, who we will call “Angry Black Woman”, came to the company after leaving her previous company after a huge management shakeup/downsizing. We now know that she is now suing her previous company for racial discrimination for a very large sum of money. Yes, that’s right, she plays the race card. Now, if it’s legit, I’m in total support of it. But if you met this lady, you’d know she’s up to no good. To give you an idea of how evil this lady is here’s a couple observations:

• Her door is always closed. (Not very Human Resources of her, is it?)
• You are NOT to talk with her unless it is important. (Important on HER standards)
• If you do not report to her directly, there is no need for her to know you. In other words, if she doesn’t HAVE to deal with you, she won’t.
• It’s her way or the highway. No input from you is needed.
• A one-on-one development session should not be longer than 3 minutes. (NOT and exaggeration)
• You are to complete a “status report” to let her know what is going on. DO NOT call her. SHE WILL CALL YOU if she needs you. This needs to be completed on a weekly basis, and is to cover everything you do and how this affects her.
• You will be immediately fired if you comment that she looks like an angry black drag queen.
• If you send her an email, you will not get a response in a reasonable time frame. Unless, you beg for an answer, at which could potentially get you fired for BUGGING her.
• She has a perception by the HR community at the company that she cannot be fired because she is a minority, and she’ll sue your ass if you should do such a thing, even with cause.

Sigh. And to make things worse, all, and I mean ALL, of my co-workers in my group resigned in fear that they would have to work for the Angry Black Woman. I stand alone. Yes, I’m absolutely and totally screwed. 6 resignations in 2 weeks. So, now I am loaded down and stressed beyond belief. (FYI, for those of you that may, by chance, think I have a problem with black women, it’s in your best interest to know that all of the resignations were minorities. Yes, she is THAT evil.) What to do?

Well, being a person who believes “The only way to escape a problem is to solve it.”, I have applied for 2 internal positions which I have 3 interviews set up this week. I also have an interview with an external company tomorrow night. So I got some things in the hopper, it’s just a matter of time before it happens. I even had some people I work with here offer to help me get out any way they could assist me. Made me feel really good. The one thing to remember though, is that I hold one hell of a big chip in my hand. If I leave, the Angry Black Woman is totally fucked. She doesn’t have clue about what I do, and she would be up shit creek if I leave. I could work this to my advantage, (i.e. a huge retention bonus), but in the end my life would still be miserable working for her. So now, it’s up to me to make things happen.

It would be a great feeling to just get up and leave and get an even better job than I have now. I can sit here for the time being, but I know eventually I am going to have to move into a different position or company altogether. Crazy huh? Well, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but I have a feeling things will turn out fine. Maybe if I am lucky she’ll get hit by a bus. (Just kidding………….or am I?)