How many workers are afraid of their bosses these days? How many of us cower and tremble just at the thought of our boss? How many work places are still run by lazy tyrants who revel and feed on the power they believe they wield?
There is nothing wrong with some good old fashioned respect toward those who hold more responsibility than us and whom ultimately we are responsible to between the hours of nine to five (or whatever shift we work), in fact, this kind of respect should be positively encouraged.
Of course there are those bosses that are faced with the ever more common "skive at every opportunity" workforce for whom a little more strictness is certainly more than warranted.
Yet I speak of the kind of boss mentioned in my introduction, the one that delights in the power of manipulating fellow, and some might say, more civilised human beings than themselves. If I hadn't heard the tales and stories with my own ears I wouldn't have believed bosses like this still existed. You would be forgiven for having nightmares of Oliver Twist proportions!
Bosses that actively seek out the more timid members of the workforce and use them as their menial task minions. "Fetch this", "take that" and "do the other" are the orders barked out, none of which are found in the employee's job description.
Blamed for errors that are someone else's, (often the boss themselves!) reprimanded and humiliated in front of all the other staff, all of whom are too afraid or too interested in their own position to stand up for their harassed co workers.
"Take legal action!" Cry the masses. For those with strong will or those prepared to leave their job for the cause, (usually those who either don't need the salary or already have another job to walk into) this might be an option but for many other folk, those who prefer to avoid confrontation or those that need the job to pay mortgages, bills and provide for children, this is an impossible task.
Often a boss who behaves in such a despicable manner, usually have their back covered from all angles. They are well connected; they have even more powerful people smiling down on them from somewhere. They act without remorse and become merciless to those who through no fault of their own are rendered defenceless.
The only likely outcome to such legal action is a jobless employee and a lightly knuckle rapped boss with feet up on their desk already targeting their next hapless/helpless victim.
Of course much of this is a generalisation and of course there are some superb bosses out there but I have heard enough to perhaps raise this as an issue and at least create debate.
Thank you for listening.
Why not write your own stories and opinions and post them here at searchwarp. A great place to place to air your views or begin a writing career!
http://SearchWarp.com/Register.asp