Strict boss? What do you remember?

remorseless

did you ever had (or have) a strict boss at work and what were the rules you had to obey? Like couldn't use your mobile during working hours, can't take long break, etc?

Or are these things of the past?

[Deleted User]

Why,
Do you think this is something people should get counselling for?


(changed what I was going to write but cheers for helping me vent as I've experienced worse rules that equal mental torture, decided this isn't the place really for that) though the last place you could make and receive mobile phone calls anytime you liked and the culture was to swear as natural convo and that it was crude but this was explained within 5 mins of arriving to the office to be fair

pinpin

Definitely not things of the past!
There's huge variance though. I guess depending on how well paid you are and the industry you work in.

Me. Unskilled. Perpetually on minimum wage. Usually warehouse type jobs. I've had lots of bosses (usually the supervisor rather than the manage, though) who get annoyed if they see you share a laugh with a colleague. Call you in to the office to tell you off if you are 2 minutes late to work, if you are 2 minutes late coming off your lunch break.
I had one boss a year or so ago at a popular delivery company who used to SCREAM in the employees faces about work matters, lol. Not allowed to look at you mobile phone during work hours.

Compare that to a number of my friends. Clever guys with degrees earning approximately 10X my wage. They can more or less 'come and go' as they please in term of breaks and work hours. They're encouraged to socialise with colleagues. One of them has a pool table and a HUUUUUGE flatscreen TV hooked up to a playstation where the staff all have huge fifa tournaments during work hours! The bosses value them and let them do what they want.

It's like another world to me! lol

Sagz_2

remorseless wrote: »

did you ever had (or have) a strict boss at work and what were the rules you had to obey? Like couldn't use your mobile during working hours, can't take long break, etc?

Or are these things of the past?

By using your mobile during work time (for personal issues) and taking longer breaks than specified you are not doing the work you are being paid for.

If you think those things are strict you'd hate to have me as your boss!

pmd123

My first boss in the NHS was strict, no mobiles, no talking to colleagues, no personal phone calls etc. and they were always wondering why staff turnover was so high !

Some managers do not realise that if the staff are happy at work then they enjoy the job more, become more productive, happy to spend an extra hour or two when it's needed, as they know they can take it back when they need it likewise.

Sure there are others think that people will take the P in a situation like I suggest, but in my experience it has the opposite effect, people tend to work above and beyond expectations.

DKLS

I had a boss at a hotel, who allowed no drinks or food at your desk or any talking, It was a miserable environment where you arrived muttered a hello and got your head down for 7.5 hours.

His personal bug bear was staff that didn't eat the free lunch provided, he would rant and rave about why I was eating out when there was perfectly good free food.

When I resigned he had steam coming out of his ears demanding to know why I was leaving this great job, I told him the exact reasons why and thought he was going to have a keel over with a heart attack. Proper red faced, bulging veined rant.

PasturesNew

I've had loads. One boss employed a tea-lady to bring one cup of tea to your desk in the morning and in the afternoon. You weren't allowed to speak or say thank you for it. The reason he employed a tea-lady was to prevent anybody leaving their desk whatsoever.

He was also known to sack people if it were in working hours and he saw them walking into the car park. e.g. somebody was sacked who had asked for time off to visit the Dr for an appointment and the boss drove into the car park and saw the employee running from the car park to the office building "40 minutes after working hours' start time" - had him sacked on the spot.

He got so bad, the judge at the industrial tribunals office said to him "I don't want to see you in here, you're always in my court after sacking staff without legal reason"

Timpu

I recall 2 things:

Insisting we all be at our desks by 9am at the latest, no matter how late you'd stayed the night before. I had no problem at all with the 9am thing but it got silly and unproductive when I was working through to 10pm or later for a number of consecutive nights.

No headphones though other teams around us plugged themselves in. Again, I didn't mind, it's comes across as somewhat unprofessional when the CFO is seeking attention. I did object though when strict boss would go into chatter mode. We got on well enough that I could openly tell him to 'please shut up, I'm trying to do some work'.

PasturesNew

One boss even dictated which hand I picked the phone up with. He'd rearrange my desk in the evening, putting the phone where he wanted it to be, then the next morning he'd show me how to answer the phone with it being on the left of the keyboard and not the right, where I had it.

Talk about control freak.

I worked alone, all day, in the office, just me, doing everything. There was just me and him - he was out all day on bookings and I was at the office doing everything else.... and he had the CHEEK to say I was answering the phone wrong as I had it on the right hand side of the keyboard.

Pfft.

Torry_Quine

Sagz wrote: »

By using your mobile during work time (for personal issues) and taking longer breaks than specified you are not doing the work you are being paid for.

If you think those things are strict you'd hate to have me as your boss!

I agree here. That is not strict at all.

missprice

Had one boss that counted the pens used and if you dared ask for one say a week after being given one, you had to give a good reason or not get given one.
One boss wanted addresses typed
Name
Address
Postcode

When the convention at the time was
Name
Address
Postcode.

Umm er another boss wanted the graves dug to precise dimensions and woe betide anyone who got it more than a centimeter out. This would not have been so bad maybe if soft soil area, but it was rocky stuff and hard to dig in first place ( pre mini digger days btw)

Another wanted all loaves to be the correct weight ( I was not the baker, just delivery) he would weigh each loaf and send back any wrong uns. Again with maybe 20 loaves or less fine, but we were talking hundreds.

Another insisted a really huge floor was mopped a specific way, and watched you on the CCTV

Is some sad sacks around when they behave like this