Most likely, your boss is a douche. It’s probably not all her fault, she probably wasn’t trained in how to manage people, or in how to establish clear expectations and rewards, or how to appropriately accept the burdens of power; She is probably your boss because:
1) She was very good at her old job doing work that did not involve interactions with the humans
2) She is a really excellent suck-up with “executive potential” and her bosses don’t have a clue what you all do anyway in your department and really don’t care
3) No one else wants the job because you guys are douches, and this is punishment.
4) They are going to eliminate or merge your department with another and no one is telling you
5) Her boss is a douche and he believes douchiness is the best qualification, it’s called cascading douchiness
6) Her dad or grandad owns the company, and hey, news to you, it’s called Douche Bag Inc
7) She is really qualified for the job and is an excellent leader.
Okay, #7 is as necessary and rare as Karl Rove in prison, but, I digress.
Most employment issues are not caused by poor workers, rather, contrary to popular view, most employment dustups are caused by crappy, douche bag bosses. Crappy bosses, unfortunately for you, have the power to negate their own inadequacies by blaming you; power sucks when you don’t have it, and you don’t have it. Unless you are a boss, in which case, you can turn around and take it out on your miserable underlings. And btw, sorry to break it to you but if you are also a boss, odds are, you are a douche. This is the fate of most managers & executives, we have douches for bosses and we are douches as bosses, and occasionally we have douches for staff, it’s called the Lucky Douche Trifecta.
There are ranges of douchiness, so one hopes that your boss is on the mild douchiness scale. Those are mostly tolerable. As the scale climbs, however, your chance for a work life without confusion, erratic standards, and misery declines exponentially. I will be writing posts on how to cope with douchey bosses, depending on the type and degree of douchiness. There are always ways to find some thread of hope, however thin and snapping.
Enjoy your work day!
