DEAR Donna,
My boss is a complete arsehole, ordering me and my colleagues to do things we’re not happy about, such as our current works outing to Ukraine, which he said was a three-day team-building exercise, but that was more than a month ago and we’re still stuck here and he won’t let us go home.
We’d love to tell him to get f**ked and quit, but he’s the kind of tinpot dictator who holds a grudge and would take revenge on us. How can we deal with him?
Yours,
Nikolai, 3rd Spetsnaz Brigade.
Dear Nikolai,
Unfortunately, we all have to deal with terrible bosses at one time or another, and yours sounds like a bit of a tyrant!
The first step is to make a formal complaint to HR and put it on record that you’re unhappy. You also need to begin keeping a diary of incidents where your boss crosses the line. It will help you cover your back in case the matter is escalated to middle management, and will be useful evidence for war crimes tribunal prosecutors in the Hague.
Another approach is to try to meet your boss in a more social setting, where the pressures of work aren’t foremost on his mind, and air your grievances. The fact he hasn’t joined you on the works outing speaks volumes about him. After all, good leaders lead from the front. Maybe email him and invite him to join you and your colleagues and see what he says.
The third approach is to overthrow him. Perhaps you and your colleagues could go to head office together, drag him out and string him up by his ankles from a lamppost outside. It’s drastic, but drastic measures can be the only solution with difficult colleagues.
