by Miranda Miller-Smith

Created on: December 23, 2008

I have worked for some really fantastic people, and also some really terrible bosses as well. My last traditional job was an absolute night mare! My manager was a back stabber, and the owner was abusive. I learned within the first two days at this job, that everyone was two faced. They were all so nice to each other, but I also heard them talking badly about everyone else. I tried to keep to myself and not get involved in any work place drama.

When the back stabbing manager had forced three of the other employees to quit, she started picking on me. She told the owner a lot of stuff that she had learned about me, and then she started spreading rumors about me. She gave me a ride home one day, when my car was having the heater core repaired. She said "Well, this is quite the house..." When she pulled into my driveway. I said "Thanks, we like it. Thanks for the ride, can I give you a few dollars?" She said "No, I live three blocks away, its okay." The next day at work I heard the women in the back talking about me, and how I can afford a house like that, but I couldn't give the manager five dollars for gas. Everyone began treating me differently after that.

Within weeks of this, on a slow day, the manager was visiting her husband in the office, the other women were talking on cell phones, eating and text messaging. The manager came out and said "You could scrub the kitchen floor with this brush and this cleaner." She walked away. I followed her and said "No offense, but I am not being paid to scrub floors and look at what I am wearing, my clothes will get ruined." She said "Oh, thats ok, I guess I didn't think about that."

The next day the owner was in my face, screaming at me about not scrubbing the shared kitchen floor, and how if it is slow, regardless of how fancy my clothes are, I will be on my hands and knees, like Cinderella scrubbing.

The manager kept it up, she was just a trouble maker. If you have a boss like this, here is my advice to you.

* Remain polite and calm, the terrible boss might want you to get upset or loose your cool.

* Respectfully address the sitaution in a quiet place, such as an office. Ask the back stabbing boss if you can speak to him or her. State calmly why you are upset and ask why they stabbed you in the back like that? If it is an on going thing, state that this situation is getting out of hand, and you will go to a higher authority if it continues.

*Stop sharing details with the back stabber, without information to stab you in the back with, the problem is solved.

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