Lessons learned from a horrible boss

Can having a horrible boss really be good for your career? Candice thinks so! (Shutterstock)

Candice* had high hopes for a successful career, but it was almost derailed by the most horrible of bosses. This is her story.

When Candice* left university with a degree in Language and Communications, she had the world at her feet. She landed an amazing permanent job at a prestigious retail corporation and full of optimism, headed off to wok.

It was not as she had hoped.

Little did she know that she was to be tested beyond her abilities by the most horrible of bosses. Candice found herself at the mercy of a boss so ghastly, so demanding, so exacting, that she almost didn’t survive her first year of work.

But, determined to show her maturity, Candice refused to allow her boss to get her down. She decided that she was not going to allow this experience to hamper her career growth and would use it to her advantage. Today, 5 years later, she is more than grateful to have experienced working with a manager like this. She noted that it did not just make her a smart worker, but also a smart thinker.

Also on her side was her father’s valuable advice: “Only do your job, and do it to the best of your ability. In that manner, there can be no complaints” he said.

Oh, but there were complaints about almost everything.

No excuses

Being late for work was out of the question, and since public transport soon proved too unreliable for her dreadful manager, Candice found herself with a drivers license and her own car at an early age – not bad for a fresh graduate. Becoming more independent and self reliant was a great step for Candice, and she benefited not only at work but also in her private life. Thanks to her increased independence, Candice went out and met a lovely young man who, in good time, became her husband.

Keep record

Back at the office though, Candice apparently took too long to complete her daily tasks, so she started to record every task she attended to, detailing how long it took. In this way she did not just explain to her atrocity of a manager what she had done for the day, but she could also show her how long it took. She had a daily performance report and developed a quick, sleek technique to update and save it. Thanks to this experience, Candice is now adept at reporting, tracking and storing data, and she has fantastic time management skills.

Turnaround time 

Candice was also ordered to answer phone calls and emails within TWO MINUTES of receipt. Taking any longer to respond was judged as being disrespectful and rude. Candice says this directive has led to her never missing a deadline or an important notice from head office, and her mailbox is always up to date.

...and stop smiling! 

Not one to stop there, Candice’s heartless boss even told her not to smile so much! Now, surely nothing can be found to fault a friendly face? Accordingly to Miss Mean Manager, people wouldn’t take Candice seriously if she smiled all the time. Candice admits that this did actually benefit her, in that it helped her to learn to stand her ground. Candice admits that she had in fact been taken advantage of by co-workers and even friends. Now, Candice maintains great relationships with colleagues, but is no pushover.

In her own words: 

The list goes on and on, but these were just a few of the things that would drive anyone out of that office. But I never left; I knew that I should use this to my advantage. So I did and today I can do any task, no matter how hard it might seem at first,” Candice told us. “Today I’m still at the same company, my first boss is now retired. I am not sorry she was hard on me; she taught me skills that no university, college or life crisis could have ever taught me. Sometimes it is easier to just do your job and enjoy what you do, than to look for complaints and act on them. Life is not always easy, but life can always be easier when you do what you enjoy doing.”

*Name changed to protect the innocent. 

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