Comments on: 3 things to do if you hate your boss

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:19:00 +0000

To a degree, it depends on your relationship with the company and your reasons for leaving. My principles on exit interviews are 1) avoid having them, 2) if you must be in one, offer constructive criticism about the company (one thing to improve upon could be…), 3) offer positive points about the company, not just negative opportunities to improve.

You can’t complain about managers, coworkers, or policies; there is no percentage in doing so.

Remember, it is HR’s responsibility to protect the company from lawsuits — not to help you in your career or in your work. An exit interview is HR protecting the company from lawsuits and then secondarily seeing if there is information there to help the company improve.

Smaller companies have the same principles, but it is possible to have much closer relationships with the owners and constructive advice to them could have a much better outcome — or much worse if you are in a smaller town and the owners are well known and could casually cut you off from jobs in other places.

Cynical, I know. But I’m pretty conservative when it comes to exit interviews. There is just no plus-side for you no matter how you look at it.

By: Apalera

Apalera — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Scot, if someone has decided to leave, what and how is the best way to do an exit interview? Should someone tell the truth and the reason of his frustrations? Or just leave quietly and move on because you found a better job anyway?

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:01:00 +0000

Three years is a long time to wait, so good for you in hanging in there. And a word of caution: your best friend is now in a different role and could very easily be the hardest person you’ve worked for just so he or she doesn’t show any favoritism.

Be careful what you wish for — it’s not all Easy Street!

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:40:00 +0000

I’ve worked for family owned companies. There are ones that are fabulous and work to ensure everyone is treated well. And others where it is all about the family and the rest of the people working there are to aid and support the family.

Easy choice: this will be how it is for the rest of the time working there. Good enough to stay? Or is it time to leave? No other choice in this one because you can’t outlast the family. Thanks for leaving this comment; it is an important addition to the choices we have to make as employees.

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:40:00 +0000

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:11:00 +0000

You don’t approach him for an increase because you already know the answer will be no. The only answer to a bad boss is to either wait him or her out until you get a new manager or find a different job in your company or a different company. Or deal.

There is no magic bullet that will solve this problem for you; your boss won’t change his or her behavior, so you need to do something different.

By: Swazi Kortjas

Swazi Kortjas — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 05:17:00 +0000

i dont hate my job , but my boss hates me too much in such away that he told his friends that i cannt do my job properly, its been three years working for him and there is no increase , he is very hard in such away that i cant even apprach him regarding salary increase , please help how approach acrual boss regarding the salary increase.

By: Ccedwards0

Ccedwards0 — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:30:00 +0000

Wow – that is very impressive.

I almost blew up at my boss this morning. I came close enough and said enough that he knows something is wrong.

I wish I could be more like the others and keep stuff in but I have never been able to manage this my entire life.

I like the transactional approach – what would you like me to do? Ok. Sure.

I can barely stand to look at this person but I need to remember to focus on my job and doing the best I can at that.

I like and get along with my co-workers.

Unfortunatley, I’ve vented quite a bit with just two co-workers who have also shared there similar takes on the boss.

I know I’m not the only one but unfortunately the company is small and run by sons of the founder. They have no interest in making the company better for the employees and view us simply as the means to more money, power, etc…

By: PoutyLoki

PoutyLoki — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:50:00 +0000

Thought I would share my excitement with ya’ll. The boss that has been the thorn in my side for the last three years is leaving in 3 days. Yeah baby! I waited it out, and VICTORY. I have decided to keep my delight to myself, I’m even gonna sign the card my co-workers are getting her, and if asked will donate any amount they need for the cake and/or gift they wanna get her. Cause she is going, going, GONE! I can afford to be generous with only 3 days left. Best part….Her replacement is my best friend. Hello EASY STREET! So, keep the faith out there. Bad bosses go to Hell.

By: diana

diana — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:31:00 +0000

thank you scott for your reply, but i stuck it out and he wwas ask to leave the company, now we have anew boss and now shes worst then him she came on board in sept 2010 now she has written up more then 1/2 my co- workers she went head and fire one of my co- workers 2 weeks ago she has been there 12 yrs. i felt real bad. now guess what? she wrote me up twice
and the last meeting she was bringing up the 7 written up memos from my last boss. isn’t this illegal. when she first got there she treated me so nasty i don’t feel comfortable no more there its going 15 years at my job, i need help i’ve been looking elswhere.