the worst boss of 2016 is…

by Alison Green on December 22, 2016

We have a winner! 9,181 votes are in, and the worst boss of the year is the manager who showed up while an employee was having chemotherapy to talk about work … with 28% of the vote. Congratulations, terrible manager of the year! You suck.

The seven runners-up, who managed to be pretty terrible themselves:

* the manager who threatened to fire people if they didn’t sign up to be a liver donor for his brother – 24%

* the manager whose carelessness caused an employee’s horse to die – 13%

* the boss who crashed an employee’s wedding to ask about work and then wrote her up for having him escorted out – 11%

* the boss who called an employee after midnight to drive hours to pick him up from the airport and then suspended her from work because she was casually dressed – 10%

* The boss who’s letting an employee be verbally abused and sexually harassed by a coworker and Does Not Care – 9%

* the employer that will fire you if your friends and family don’t follow the company’s religious values – 3%

* the boss who stole an employee’s family heirloom and gave it as a gift to someone else – 3%

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    2. 2horseygirls*

      Indeed … I didn’t have a chance to vote, but it definitely would have been a tough decision to pick just one.

      1. Jessie*

        I didn’t vote exactly because I couldn’t decide. I was paralyzed in the face of so many atrocious bosses….

        1. Mel*

          Me too! I went to vote, checked out all the letters I didn’t recall immediately, and then couldn’t decide on only one.

        2. Emac*

          Me too! I did vote, but I really can’t remember which one I finally chose with so many deserving worst bosses.

          1. annabel*

            I THINK I voted for the winner, but I also might have voted for the liver donor or the wedding crasher. I has also horrified by the heirloom stealer. These are all terrible people

    3. Princess Consuela Banana Hammock*

      That was my first reaction, too! We truly have an overabundance of liabilities.

    4. Wendy Darling*

      I also feel like it’s telling that stealing and regifting a family heirloom, which would be solid #1 worst boss material in some past years, got 3% of the vote.

      Really all of them deserved to be winners, but we can only choose one.

      1. animaniactoo*

        This is what I was thinking – it’s saying a lot that something that egregious only got 3% of the vote.

    6. LadyL*

      I’m honestly incredibly surprised that more people didn’t vote for the horse killing one. I know he got punished in the end, but nothing will being the horse back or ease the agony it was needlessly put through. If I thought my boss had contributed to a beloved animal’s suffering I can’t say what I would do.

      1. Elizabeth H.*

        Fwiw I think that it may have felt somewhat mitigated in retrospect because it was more obvious in the update that the horse had to be put down, it was a relatively short time difference. None of that alters the unbelievably horrifying effect on the employee, but I think the overall gestalt seems slightly less evil? That’s just my 2 cents of explanation

      2. Engineer Woman*

        I felt this is a one time poor judgement on the boss (not to inform employee immediately after receiving the call) and possible absentmindedness (i.e. Got sidetracked and then forgot – even though it was an emergency!!) rather than a truly evil and clueless person where you have more time to realize how horrible you are (as in finding address of chemotherapy center or creating and implementing a policy to have your employees screened for possible liver donation AND then firing them if they refuse to get tested…)

        The others are active conscious acts of horribleness where I think the horse boss might not be as malicious.

  2. Rachel*

    Yay! I’ve been refreshing all morning waiting for the results. I had a feeling it would be close between chemo boss and liver boss.

    Also, holy wow at the number of votes this year.

    2. AdAgencyChick*

      It was definitely between chemo boss and liver boss for me, and the last grain of sand on the scale for me is that at least liver boss’s employees had the possibility of lying to him to get out of going on a donor list (not that they should ever have to, obviously!), whereas chemo OP’s boss made it impossible to avoid him.

      They both fail massively at humanity, though.

      1. Aunt Margie at Work*

        I picked chemo boss because he let another employee take the professional fall. The admin who gave into his threat of showing him the calendar or being fired got fired because of that.

      2. Marzipan*

        Liver boss fired people for not being medically able to donate, though! So, not sure that lie would have helped much…

      3. Jayn*

        I went with liver because it’s hard to get more intrusive than acting like people owe you their actual bodies. But having them all laid out side to side made it a much closer decision than I expected.

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      My vote lost! They’re all failing terribly at being good humans, so I decided to vote based on who I think is the worst at managing in particular. So I voted for the manager who’s letting an employee be verbally abused and sexually harassed by a coworker and Does Not Care.

      1. Kelly L.*

        That one definitely gets points (or are they anti-points) for the sheer long-running incompetence of it all–it’s not just one incident of awfulness, it’s consistent awfulness.

        1. Venus Supreme*

          If I could, I would get “I said EEOC and things got weird” OP to combine forces with “My coworker uses Your Mom jokes” OP to kick Clerk to the curb and have the entire management staff get their act together.

      2. Addison*

        Ohhhh wow. I wish I could subtly give my boss accolades for Allison Thinks You Suck The Most as a christmas gift.

          2. Aunt Margie at Work*

            So now i have the Mcdonald’s break today song in my head:
            “You deserve a glitter card…”

            or
            When he absolutely, positively sucks the hardest, make it a glitter envelope.

            It’s glitter time.

      4. CM*

        I voted for Wedding Boss but this one is the worst in a different way. It’s not just abuse, it’s openly supporting abuse. It’s harder to write off as one crazy person. This is the kind of thing that can really mess with your head, but happily it seems like Addison is more stable than I might be in this situation.

        1. Emily*

          I voted for the Wedding Boss, too! I tried to consider which situation I’d be most angry about, and concluded it would be the wedding scenario. Such a tough choice, nonetheless.

      5. Tomato Frog*

        I regret not lobbying harder for this one. Next year I’m putting up signs, taking out ads, and going door-to-door.

          1. Jean*

            Me too! I’m also having fun imagining your campaign signs: “Vote for [Insert Boss Nickname here]…He’s/She’s Truly Awful!” or “First in War, First in Peace, First in Worst in Management.”
            This has many possibilities.

      6. animaniactoo*

        That was my runner-up. I approached it from the standpoint of which of these makes day-to-day work life suck the worst, and being sick and dealing with the crap edged out being young and dealing with the crap.

        1. Purest Green*

          That’s logical. I couldn’t as easily pinpoint which boss in the chemo scenario I was supposed to be evaluating, but ultimately I decided taking no action against blatant and long-term sexism and harassment is worse management. Also OP’s description of chemo boss was written in a way that indicated she knew this was wrong and terrible and while stressful, not as demoralizing as the way harassment OP described her situation, which she almost didn’t seem to realize she shouldn’t have to tolerate.

      7. Sadsack*

        See, I voted based on the worst circumstances for a boss to be an ass, so the person getting chemotherapy fit that criteria the most for me.

          2. Jen S. 2.0*

            I’m okay with voting on that criteria. The overlap in the Venn diagram is pretty big.

            They’re all just terrible. I hope they all step on a Lego in the middle of the night in the dark in bare feet, several nights in a row.

        2. Transformer*

          I voted based on the long term consequences. Each had short term consequences but most you could solve by leaving… the horse dying was just inexcusable. Plus, my animals are my babies so in my mind it would be like death of a child.

          1. Relly*

            Long term consequences is what pushed me to chemo boss. Employee’s health care might be connected to her work, meaning she CAN’T quit without risking her treatment. Moreover, stressing out a chemo patient might make them even sicker, which us the last thing someone fighting cancer needs.

      9. Grey*

        I also voted for the harassment-allowing boss. I think there’s a big difference between “worst boss” and “boss who did the worst thing”.

      10. Kathleen Adams*

        The manager who Does Not Care about verbal and sexual abuse was my pick, too – although obviously they all totally, totally, TOTALLY suck.

        Just the thought of that employee having to put up with that for ages and ages and ages…well, it kind of broke my heart. And it’s completely fixable, too, if the manager weren’t such a spineless weasel.

      11. Wakeen Teapots, Ltd.*

        That was my vote and for exactly that reason.

        The others were horrible, self involved people. That one is the Worst Manager of the Year 2016 imho.

      12. Mookie*

        My vote went for that one, as well, and in addition to your reasons (failing at a fundamental management task) I regard it as the least absurdly surreal of the bunch but the most likely (to some lesser degree) to happen to someone else, so the post and your advice in it is probably going to be helpful for others.

      13. TootsNYC*

        That’s where I would have fallen as well, because it’s not the worst human being, but it’s the worst MANAGING.

    2. Rat in the Sugar*

      Yeah, I went with chemo boss on the grounds that he had to make extra effort to sneak into a medical facility, but I’d like to hear Allison’s reasoning on her vote.

      1. Dweali*

        I went with this boss too…they are all horrible but something about messing with a person’s healthcare…

      2. animaniactoo*

        If I understand correctly, I think it’s the difference between purposely going out of your way to make somebody’s life hell (as chemo boss was doing) and just not knowing how or being willing to do your job effectively (as ignoring-harassment boss is doing). From that perspective the latter is the worst at being a manager because they don’t even know what the right thing looks like or want to personally deal with the fallout of doing it.

      3. Emilia Bedelia*

        I think the reasoning is that the chemo boss is just a terrible person in general, and his terribleness is not as a result of being a bad manager, it’s a moral failing on his part. Anyone could harass someone by sneaking into their chemo treatments. The sexual harassment boss is uniquely awful because it is his job to deal with workplace issues like that, and he is failing at his job. He might be a nice person generally, but he’s totally failing at being a manager.

        Personally I voted for the wedding boss, because it combined cluelessness, AND abuse of power, but I think they’re all worthy competitors.

  5. K.*

    I was torn between chemo boss and liver boss but ultimately voted for chemo boss. They’re both horrible people.

    1. Paige Turner*

      I voted for liver boss just based on the number of people affected but I can’t say that chemo boss isn’t equally awful.

    2. The Cosmic Avenger*

      Yeah, unlike past years, while I can still explain my own reasoning I can’t really find any fault with or good argument against any of the other choices.

    3. smokey*

      I went with liver boss because he didn’t just threaten to fire people, he actually fired multiple people over it. Doesn’t specify how many, but the letter does specify that one has liver disease and another was pregnant. Both fired.

    4. CanadianDot*

      I voted for chemo boss because at least with liver boss, you know that he’s coming from a place of love for his brother, even though he’s going about it ALL WRONG.

      2. designbot*

        It also seemed significant to me that the employees of liver boss could quit and it would suck but they’d (most likely, never know what people might be going through) live, while employee of cancer boss was literally receiving her life-saving cancer treatment at that exact time. How do you walk away from that?

        1. Sherm*

          That’s what I was thinking. Someone receiving chemotherapy may not be in a good position to go job hunting, but liver boss’s employees could all try to find something new. And boy would they never forget you when you explain why you are looking for a different job!

        2. alter_ego*

          that’s why I voted for the horse boss. All the other employees could quit, however disruptive that would be, but horse boss’s OP could never fix that situation.

          2. designbot*

            That one really called to me too but I hadn’t made the connection. That’s exactly it, there’s just no going back from that situation. Grand-boss pulled it back a little bit for me though since they at least did their best once they found out.

      3. K.*

        That was my reasoning too. My brother is one of my best friends and favorite people, so if God forbid he were faced with a potentially fatal health issue, I can understand wanting to do absolutely anything to get him medical care. I don’t agree with the execution AT ALL, but I can at least kind of understand the motives behind it.

      4. SarahTheEntwife*

        Yeah, for me the liver donor boss should be prevented from harming other people in his desperation, but I can understand why he would be driven to what might be completely out-of-character actions. Chemo guy just seems to be that way without any extenuating circumstances.

    5. Elizabeth H.*

      I don’t think I actually voted but my pick was chemo boss, and I had a very specific rationale. To me it struck the exact right balance between total insanity and total idiocy to be just the right balance of horrible but sane enough to theoretically have had the option of behaving differently. Liver donor mandate: this is completely insane. Nobody in their right mind would begin to consider this as an option. Heirloom theft: I don’t know if it’s insanity but there is something really wrong with this person to even consider this course of action. The horse carelessness: this is unbelievable idiocy but I can imagine a human doing this, even imagine a not awful person having the worst day of their life on the scale of logical thought process doing this. I think the sexual harassment permitting boss is also disastrously clueless but not exactly malevolent. The other two (religious beliefs and wedding) I wouldn’t disqualify on either grounds but they don’t rise to the level of the chemo situation in terms of egregiousness. It just seemed to master the axis of “rational enough to be considered on a scale of human behavior” vs terribleness.

    2. Liane*

      We can only wish even one of them magically becomes that self-aware.

      My Inner Snark is hearing them AND the winner saying assorted variants of “I am so shocked at the rampant internet disrespect displayed on AAM & Alison’s total lack of managerial ethics and expertise!!!!”

      2. The_artist_formerly_known_as_Anon-2*

        Don’t worry Liane. The people doing these things don’t think they’re doing anything wrong, or unethical.

        Therefore, they just shake their heads. But they’re not shocked. They actually think they’re effective managers. They scoff at this, unfortunately.

      3. The_artist_formerly_known_as_Anon-2*

        And also, as awful as it sounds, people who do these things to other people aren’t too worried about the effects of their actions.

        After doing something dastardly, they hop in the Lexus, go back to their gated community, plan for golf and the country club dance, and worry about reloading the wine cellar.

        They do not care about student loans, or people having trouble meeting the rent, or your car breaking down, or your mortgage going in arrears, or increased health care costs. It might be fun to describe them in rancorous terms on a bulletin board, and a healthy vent….. but it changes nothing.

        The only times I ever smirked and bellowed – is when a VP had to go to jail for 14 days for a DUI. I went “boo hoo” when he had to cancel his cruise because he had to use his va-ca time to go to the hoosegow. The state where this happened – it’s 14 days … not 14 days when it’s too rainy to play golf, or community service — it’s 14 DAYS – BRING TOOTHBRUSH AND PAJAMAS

    1. Liane*

      Yes!!!!
      Those gold spray-painted secondhand Barbie dolls are just the thing!! (That boss made the Weird Holiday list a year or 2 ago, didn’t she?)

    1. designbot*

      yeah I also voted for chemo boss on the strength of his employee not being able to walk away without medically hurting herself, but they were all pretty terrible.

    3. SophieChotek*

      I agree – I was wondering if we’d had any updates from any of them…? (I admit I may have missed a few)…

  11. sunny-dee*

    I still say horse boss should have one. That one actually had a body count. :) Then again …. sadly, there are no bad choices here. As it were.

    3. Busytrap*

      I went with that one because with all of the others, the person could quit (I know, I know, still not ok!) to get away from Terrible Boss, and it would be ok (ish? dunno?), but horse person still had a missing family member as a result of her manager’s negligence. SUCH a hard decision, though — that list was a true list of deplorables!

    4. Erin*

      I would agree with you and almost voted that way, but I went with Alison’s suggestion of who’s the worst boss, not human being. The horse boss was the worst human being to me, but I voted for the liver donation dude for worst boss.

  12. Mostly Lurker*

    I didn’t vote; I just couldn’t decide. I was thinking about the combination of malicious intent / negative impact of their actions / overall managerial ability and couldn’t pick just one. Sad that this year was so horrible; here’s hoping for a kinder 2017!

  13. Arbynka*

    IT Crowd, anyone ?

    “Now you hold on a minute, sugar tits! Everyone saw through that report. I even got that award off those feminists. The one shaped like the ice cream fellow.”

    “That’s a “Shithead of the Year” award”

    Shithead of the Year should totally be a thing.

    3. Elizabeth West*

      I loved that show. My favorite quote, from the Fredo episode:

      Roy: [talking about The Godfather] Fredo, in the film, he was essentially a pimp.
      Moss: No! he took the ring to Mordor!

      I laughed so hard I had to pause it.

  14. Visualized Tacos*

    But really, in the end, they’re all winners. And by winners, I mean totally awful examples of human beings.

    1. Rachel*

      Agreed! And just think of the awful bosses who didn’t make the ballot: dunce cap boss, verbally abusive boss who didn’t pay his employees, boss who wanted to move his nephew in with the OP and husband for 3 months… Any of those would have had a good shot at winning in any other year.

      1. Kelly L.*

        A year when literal dunce caps didn’t make the finals because there was so much even worse. Great job, 2016. *blows raspberry*

        1. Relly*

          I am waiting to find out that 2016 was a crappy virtual reality project. Or a nightmare. Beginning to lose hope ….

  16. Liane*

    Just goes to show you how horrible the bosses were this year that ignoring sexual harassment, stealing, and forcing religion on people were so low in the poll.
    Maybe next year the nominees won’t be so sickening.

    1. CM*

      I know — the previous years’ worst bosses (except 2011) were so tame in comparison, they wouldn’t have even made it on to the list this year.

  17. Czhorat*

    In thought liver boss was the worst for literally demanding the actual flesh of their employees, but I really can’t argue with a vote for chemo-boss.

    1. Pineapple Incident*

      I agree wholeheartedly- I wanted to split my vote for exactly this reason. They’re all so bad it’s not a “lesser of all evils” for the ones who lost- it’s like an Evils’ Club or something.

  18. I GOTS TO KNOW!*

    I had a hard time deciding between chemo boss and allowing harassment boss. To me they are both ongoing issues that indicate a severe lack of managerial skills, while the others are more one-offs (though still likely not top of the board in skills).

  19. Forever Anon*

    Just re-read the chemo post and I’m sad for the letter writer all over again. Ned is a terrible human.

  20. Hattie McDoogal*

    I voted for chemo boss without having actually gone back and re-read the letter – just did now and it was so much worse than I remembered! Aside from the obvious crap they put the OP through, they also threatened to fire the admin if she didn’t tell them where the OP was, even though that was supposed to be confidential, and then turned around and fired her anyway for breach of confidentiality when she did tell them. Ugh ugh ugh.

    1. A Different KatieF*

      Oh my gosh, I had totally forgotten the part about the admin being fired. I feel even more justified in my vote for chemo boss–he is the worst!

    2. zora*

      Seriously, I have read it a few times now, and it is just so so so so awful, I still feel sick to my stomach for that poor OP and the Admin, and I just can’t believe two different bosses were just so terrible. Ugh.

  21. Sherm*

    If we continue to get a bumper crop of bad bosses in the years to come, we’ll have to have different categories, Oscar-style, so that there can be more “winners”:

    — Worst Abuse of Authority
    — Worst Abdication of Responsibility
    — Worst Disrespect of People’s Right to Keep Their Internal Organs

    1. J.B.*

      Although if there were more than one competitor for internal organs each year, the world might explode.

  22. Tomato Frog*

    I just want to take a moment to reflect on the horribleness of stolen heirloom boss, despite its low ranking. It did not leave my jaw hanging open like some of these stories, but it is the only one that had us collectively rage-planning a heist. Which I am still up for, by the way.

    1. Alice Ulf*

      +1 I am totally up for driving the getaway car on that one. But any other parts of the operation should probably be left to those with grace and/or actual, y’know, physical coordination.

    2. Buffay the Vampire Layer*

      Yeah, heirloom boss really upset me. It was a horrible thing to do with no gain other than the boss sucking up to someone outside the company on a personal level. Just a rotten thing to do.

    3. fposte*

      I also was dying to know what actually happened. Did the boss plan the office sweep just to get the employee’s heirloom?

    5. Jean*

      Those of us unable to participate in actuality can still send good vibes. Just let us know when to start.

  23. NoMoreMrFixit*

    For the 10th year of the blog maybe we need a Lifetime Achievement Award for Worst Boss of All Time chosen from the previous years’ winners. Maybe name it after Attila the Hun? :-)

  24. Jo*

    I voted for the liver boss, just because this was so outrageous. This makes the buying-underwear-for-employees-manager who wanted to approve the chosen underwear first (who I believe was a nominee for worst boss in a previous year?) seem like a warm fuzzy human being.

        1. burnout*

          Wow. I had missed that one. Are we sure these were office workers? Because that sounds an awful lot like a madame at the “bunny ranch” type of business set up……

  25. Colorado*

    I find it amusing that somewhere out there is a person who has no idea they just “won” this contest and have been rated worst manager of 2016 on a global level. If only this post could somehow cross their desk…

  26. periwinkle*

    We might need to vote by category next year –

    * Worst sustained awfulness (e.g., chemo boss, harassment-tolerating boss)
    * Worst single incident (e.g., liver boss, heirloom thief, wedding crasher – these bosses are likely to be routinely terrible but the post concerned a particularly egregious event)
    * Horrible boss who at least received deserved discipline e.g., (horse-killing boss, airport-ride boss)

    2. Mephyle*

      There is also a category defined by collateral damage i.e. how many more people were affected in addition to the LW. The admin who was fired by the chemo boss, and the pregnant employee and liver diseased employee who were fired by the liver boss are particularly sad cases.

      1. Jolie*

        Did the airport ride boss receive discipline? When/where? Can’t find it in the letter. Was there an update?

  27. Anon today for privacy*

    I voted for Liver boss because he FIRED people who wouldn’t or couldn’t be donors. I get that he’s upset, but that doesn’t give him license to remove livelihoods. “My brother is terminal; if you don’t help, I’ll terminate YOU.”

    I’d like to see an update on this one. At the very least, boss backed off and reinstated the employees; at best, brother got an organ (through approved means) or is managing with other treatment.

    Note: my stance is influenced by the fact that my spouse’s test results came back this week as malignant. (Caught early, treatable, prognosis is good, but …sigh. Cancer is a shocking diagnosis for anyone and we’re a little numb.) Still, neither of us would dream of inflicting such a demand (major organ replacement!) on our coworkers and friends. What we do need: best wishes / prayers.

    1. Jean*

      So sorry to hear this. May your trip through cancer include kind, skilled professionals and helpful, tactful, and discreet friends, coworkers, and family. And may you have many more good days than bad.

    8. mccoma*

      Best of luck with your spouse’s treatment

      I could almost forgive a one day psychotic episode that lead to the whole testing thing, as long as the person came to their senses and apologized to everyone, but as soon as you starting firing people, it is game over for any sympathy. The boss went from a tragic figure to a monster.

      1. sstabeler*

        I think the reason why Mandatory Liver Donor Boss isn’t seen as being as bad is it’s assumed he’s more desperate than anything- while the other bosses were in full possession of whatever limited number of brain cells they have.

  28. Some2*

    I’m fine with this year’s winner, but threatening to fire your employees for not donating their organs to your brother takes the cake for me…absolutely insane behaviour

      1. Fafaflunkie*

        Sadly, indeed. My thoughts are that she is still alive and well and that the cancer she’s fighting didn’t take her. It’s bad enough to deal with cancer, but to deal with the crappiest boss on the planet while doing so is enough to even break the Grinch’s heart.

  30. Vito*

    As a liver Transplant recipient (3/19/15), I am surprised that the hospital did partial liver Transplants. The one who did mine does not.

    1. Hrovitnir*

      That’s interesting, I wonder why not. I’m glad you got one, and hope you recovered well.

      I’m really frustrated because altruistic liver donation is not allowed in NZ. When I learned that livers regenerate well I really wanted to donate some – I’m healthy, I very seldom drink, it should be good. I’m also part Maori, which could mean I’m more likely to be a closer HLA match to a Maori patient, as that is a real problem*. And so many people here die waiting for organs. Ahh, it makes me so mad! Obviously it’s a major surgery but at the end of the day that person could live and have a functioning liver, and mine would grow back so win-win, goddamnit. You can donate a freaking kidney altruistically! And while I know you can live happily with only one I’m much less keen on that in case something goes wrong with the remaining one.

      *I also would be keen to donate bone marrow (basically if it’s something I’m OK without, please take it?) and they specifically want people of Maori heritage (as there’s a huge pool of “caucasian” donors internationally), but won’t take women for reasons that I understand but GAH. I disagree!

  31. Lucy Westenra*

    Man, I though Liver Dude was going to win for sure. But that was more outlandish than anything else. I’m surprised that pick-me-up-at-the-airport-you’re-suspended man didn’t get more of the vote.

    1. Tyrannosaurus Regina*

      Airport Boss was my vote! I can’t really articulate why, but that one just sent me into a keening rage-spiral in a way that none of the others did.

      1. Sideshow Starlet*

        He got my vote as well! He tried to discipline LW for after she did him a favor… A favor which would not have been necessary had he not maxed out the company credit card on personal purchases.

  32. Inigo Montoya*

    Chemo boss. While I was doing chemo one of my staff called me during an infusion to ask if I thought I would feel like coming to work the next day because she wanted to take off to go to the beach. My wife was livid!!
    If Ned had lied to come in to talk to me about work, I would fear for his life.

  33. Relly*

    I think all these people are so horrible that I wouldn’t really have minded any of them “winning.” They all deserve our outrage for such differently crappy reasons.

  34. Fafaflunkie*

    Although they were all terrible in their own right, i personally voted liver boss, but chemo boss and wedding crasher boss could have just as easily garnered my vote.

    Here’s hoping 2017 is a heck of a lot better than 2016 was.

  35. Don't mind me*

    Definitely horrible! But I’m curious as to why this out of the office calendar is so confidential? Obviously this led to a terrible outcome but wouldn’t it be helpful to know if your coworkers are off or just offsite? Unless I’m misunderstanding something…

    1. Tyrannosaurus Regina*

      My understanding is that the calendar showed the LW was out of the office, but not *where*.

  36. Andy*

    My Christmas wish is a podcast where Allison talks to the bad bosses, like really gets them like she got me, right in the reasoning center of the brain, and we get to hear the moment they realize they are not on the path of light.
    I was a horrible employee in the past, but maturity and Allison and now…solidly middling! Vast improvement! I’d love to witness that bright moment in others when you recall the thing you did and feel appropriately abashed. but not until I get to hear the story.
    I want to hear, also, what the f some of these nuts are thinking when they pull this crap.

  38. paul*

    Bored at work before I go on vacation, so I read through all of those. Now I’m mostly just a little depressed that there’s so many craptacular managers out there.

  39. LadyL*

    Have you ever considered doing a column where you evaluate beloved fictional bosses? For example, I’ve been rewatching the Mary Tyler Moore show lately, and today I started imagining a letter from someone in the newsroom writing you about Lou Grant: Dear Allison, my boss drinks openly at work, verbally abuses my co-workers, is overly familiar, and on more than one occasion has shown up on a co-workers doorstep drunk in the middle of the night. Should I go to HR?” Or Leslie Knope on Parks & Rec: “My boss has absolutely no regard for my private life or personal time, expects me to drop everything I’m doing whenever she gets excited about a new idea, is kind of manic, finagled one of her friends into a job opening, and emotionally and verbally abuses one of her direct reports to the point that she encourages our whole team to jump in on the abuse. What can I do?” I for one would definitely enjoy such an article.

    1. Mookie*

      YES. Scott & Bailey’s boss, played by Amelia Bullmore, is a treasure trove of interesting management techniques. I like this idea so much.

  40. Greg*

    Wow, I was so sure the worst boss of 2016 would be the guy who made racist and sexist statements, encouraged violence, refused to disclose relevant information, bragged about committing sexual assault, was credibly accused of committing the very sexual assault he bragged about, and nonetheless asked for a promotion … which he subsequently received.

    Fortunately(?) he will be eligible to receive worst boss of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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