How common are lazy/delinquent bosses? Have you had one?

I come in late – often not all if I decide to work from my home office. I delegate stuff that I don’t like to subordinates, I am usually on Fluther on and off throughout the day. I often make long phone calls. But I demand the best – I will not settle for “almost good”. Am I the sort of boss that you are referring to?

(I also insist on having my own Espresso machine in my office.)

@DarkScribe – I guess, except that my boss doesn’t even demand the best – she’s happy with half-assed but I’m not

I prefer when the boss tells me what he wants and then goes and hides in his office. I can then get the job done with the least amount of effort and usually to a higher standard.

When the boss is around I have to do it his way, even if the way I do it results in a slightly better end product, in less time.

If my boss hid in her office, it would be better but she leaves her door open so that I can hear her chit chatting all day and msn-ing & laughing her head off and she makes absolutely no attempt to hide it.

Am I misunderstanding the role of a manager? Shouldn’t they be working throughout the day and accomplishing work on projects? or are they just supposed to assign the work to their subordinates (even if it only takes 15 minutes) and then do whatever they want with their free time (even if it’s personal business)? If that’s the case, why are they being paid for a full work day?

Ideally a boss assigns work to people, and then helps them solve problems. They also do the administrative stuff that is necessary to keep that kind of problem out of your hair.

Perhaps she doesn’t have enough else to do. So she’s just taking advantage of her freedom.

Hmmm…my boss doesn’t help me solve problems. I would only consult with her if I was really stuck and didn’t have the resources or ability to solve a problem on my own or wanted to get her opinion about how to proceed based on the kind of information she is privy to in meetings, etc. That is very rare (once every few weeks).

I assumed that she hired me because I solve problems – what good would I be if I asked her to help?

Crap bosses are very common. Good bosses are out there too. In every job I’ve had, there have been lazy people and motivated people.

The lazies used to piss me off, they still irritate me. But one day, my aunt who has been in the HR business for over 25 years told me, “Rich, there will always be lazy people, and you can’t change that. You can only choose to let them get under your skin or not.”

For the most part, it has helped me alot with my outlook when dealing with these worthless people. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder why they are alive. Because if they are lazy at work . . . imagine what they are like at home, when there is literally no one to report to but themselves.

“How common are lazy/delinquent bosses?”

That’s me! :-)
I come in an hour late, sometimes later. I have couch in my office, using at my leisure. I come and go when I please.
If I can get someone else to do the work I do.

Its called being the boss. A good boss delegates and it is earned. Just remember, we take the heat for everything and everyone.

My staff respects me, even when I am playing poker, or on Fluther. Because no matter what, I am always there for them.
And, at the end of the day everything gets done (perfectly) and everyone gets paid.

All too common. A clueless manager is not able to hide it. I’ve had a total of 3. They were so bad that none of them lasted very long.

Hmmm…this is interesting to hear the perspective of some bosses. You don’t seem to have any guilt about this. What if your workers were staying until 7:00 pm every night and you were leaving at 5? Could you just walk out of there after having played poker all day and say goodbye to them and feel okay about that?

I am also a supervisor and for some reason I feel a kind of internal guilt/ethic to accomplish as much as I can in a day partly because I hope that my sub-ordinates will see that hard work and will understand that I expect that from them. Even if I did things like playing poker and checking my personal email at work, I would do everything I could to hide it from my subordinates because I would want to retain their respect.

I think delinquent bosses may be able to avoid feeling guilty about it by deluding themselves into thinking that their subordinates still respect them. I don’t respect my boss at all (nor would I any colleague who does these things) but I behave in a way that makes her think I respect her.

@ftp901 You don’t seem to have any guilt about this.

Guilt? Why on earth feel guilt. You have earned your position, you are entitled to the perks it brings. It also brings a huge amount of responsibility – something that you don’t shrug off at five pm. Should people in management feel guilty about earning more than their subordinates? That would make as much sense.

If the boss is doing his or her job correctly, they should have a lot of time on their hands in a normal week. The bosses earn their money when the place is going to hell in a handbasket.

“What if your workers were staying until 7:00 pm every night and you were leaving at 5? Could you just walk out of there after having played poker all day and say goodbye”

Yes and I have and I do. Because my job is to make sure they do their job. Not do it for them. That’s how we learn and get better at it. If I have to stay late I will. If I don’t then I did my job well.
I do what I do because that is how I engineered it. And my employees are better because of it. Actually they are the best.

I am the boss, it was not given to me I earned it. As the boss I know everything.

Remember, it is not personal. It is business. It seems that some people just can’t accept that the boss is not the employee. Any way, that is why I have employees.

Maybe guilt isn’t the right word – I guess it would be more accurate to say that I couldn’t respect myself (or expect anyone else to) if I knew that I didn’t spend my time wisely that day.

Assuming there is always room for improvement in any business (new & better ways to serve clients, ways to improve processes and become more efficient), I would feel that if I have 3 hours to dick around in the day then that’s 3 hours I could have spent brainstorming ideas & improving things that could have helped my clients, improve quality, or saved my business money.

But maybe there are some businesses out that are perfect or don’t require innovation that I’m not thinking of?

@WestRiverrat

The good bosses earn their money by keeping their company from going to hell in a handbasket. They don’t make their salary to sit around and then start working when things go arai.

Tell the CEO taht you are a boss for that you are going to do your work when shit gets crazy, I can tell you it won’t get you far.

All of your responses are interesting – I truly want to understand the delinquent boss’s perspective because it has perplexed me for so long.

Sure, I and my colleagues did all the work while my boss watched videos and had long liquid lunches and all that crap. But if the client was unhappy all of a sudden at 3AM with the sales force meeting presentation he’d approved the previous afternoon and wanted to make changes, whom did he call? Me? Hahahaha!

I think not.

So, don’t worry. Unless your client is calling you. Then you should be the boss.

No GM will continue to pay a “boss,” money if the boss admits that “all he does” is sit on a couch and delegate tasks. A “boss’s” job is more than task delegation.

I know this. I have bosses, and I am a boss, and during the last year during all the layoffs and the 15% unemployment in CA were going on, we couldn’t hire people quickly enough.

It’s b/c we are top in our industry b/c our bosses aren’t “just delegating tasks,” like some people are saying here.

Also, if some of you are business owners, that’s not really what I’m talking about. I couldn’t care less what a business owner does because it is your name on the company/product so if you want to produce & sell garbage, that is your prerogative.

I’m interested in the people who are being paid a good salary by a respectable organization/company to manage an area/department and yet, see no problem with wasting the time they are being paid for.

When you know that an organization is paying you enough for your food, clothing, & shelter don’t you feel some kind of responsibility to deliver something in return?

@mrrich724 I did not express myself well. Bosses do have things to do, but if they are running a good shop, it may seem like they have time to sit and play games or surf the internet. What I meant was it is the boss that deals with the 3 am phone calls when the injector mold breaks down. Or the client that is mad because he doesn’t like the color scheme he (the client) picked out.

@WestRiverrat that is a much better explanation. I was worried there for a second, :)

@aprilsimnel – yes, that’s often how I feel. I often feel in the relationship that I am the one enforcing deadlines/promises that she’s made. If I don’t, she will often insinuate to her boss that I was the reason things were behind. I sometimes feel like I’m managing her just to save my own ass (like George had to do with Kruger).

I’ve heard this referred to as “managing up”, if I understand that term correctly? But I try to be very careful not to do it too much because I think that boss’ don’t like it and that people sometimes get fired for doing it.

In my experience the most successful bosses are the ones that are always working to make things better than they are. You gotta be moving towards something. In today’s tough economy you have to do more than tread water as a company to survive.

Any decent boss is working twice as hard as their employees. The difference is their pressure is greater because all paychecks, hirings, firings and cash flow are on their back ultimately. And they didn’t get where they are by accident. I run a business and it’s extremely difficult at times to make a profit. Even harder to have to explain the process to an employee who really doesn’t understand the cost. It’s easy to judge by appearances and it’s not an accurate assessment usually. It gets tiring. I’ve fired people even though it would create more work for me because they were so tedious.

@Captain_Fantasy – yes, that’s what I mean. I see opportunities for improvement all day long while I am at work. Many times throughout the day, I think, if only I had the time I could improve this or that or make this or that more efficient or better, etc. But I am only one person so I can only do 5% of these things (and still be able to get some sleep at night).

So, it isn’t as if there is a lack of work to be done there – anyone with their wits about them could look around and easily spot opportunities for improvement. Things that would drastically improve the life of our clients. So, what would possess someone to completely ignore those opportunities and hop on MSN instead?

Some people have mentioned that they earned their position and so are entitled to dick around because of it.

As I understand it, that sounds like you are resting on your laurels.
rest on your laurels: “to be so satisfied with your own achievements that you make no effort to improve”

Isn’t that a risky place to position yourself? I can see how you could do that if you own your own business but if you are one of those that work for a company, are you ever fearful that your laurels can only take you so far?

I prreferred working for those kinds of superiors. They left me alone to get the job done. The ones that really irritated me are those who wouldn’t back up my decisions. The “best” lazy superiors would just sign whatever I sent to their desk. Their billet had to be filled according to the table of organization, I make them look good, they get promoted, I get promoted.

I’m now a business owner, I’m only accountable to myself as to what hours I keep or what I happen to be doing at any moment. The bottom line is all that matters. I pay someone to do a job, it’s not their busness to question how I do mine. I give them what they need to do their jobs and I’m available to solve problems. When the shit hits the fan, I’m right there working alongside them.

Such confusion… :-)

It is not about “the boss admitting that “all he does” is sit on a couch and delegate tasks. Some of us are just lucky.
Or think they earned their position and so are entitled to dick around.
And yes, a “boss’s” job is more than task delegation.

At least for me and what I do and how I do it. Delegation can only happen (for me) if your machine is fine tuned, and you know what you are doing. It is not about being lazy it is about an efficient team that knows their job.
There is so much that you do not know (at least the ones that think it is unfair), that the boss does. That is not proper protocol to share with the employees, and a lot of time they don’t see that. Their jobs and their paycheck just fall out of the sky.
My job, and how I run my shop. I am the oil can, they are the gears. The gears are always moving, the oil comes out when needed.

I “dick around” because I have taught my people well. I keep them in line, when I see the ship going off course. The worrying is all left to me and they never see me sweat.

When you concern yourself with what you are doing and what the boss is not. You are confused. Your responsibility is what ever the task is, and is given to you.
It is called a job. If you don’t like it or you feel it is un fair. Walmart is always looking for employees. Plenty of putting pegs in their properly shaped holes.

Now I am not your average boss. I am unique. My people are compensated well. They would kill for me. They buy me cookies. :-)
I paid my dues. No need to get my hands dirty, unless I choose to or it is needed.

I could not “dick around” or goof off. If I did not have the knowledge and skill to put the right people in the right place. These people having the right understanding of what it means to work.

I guess I could cut my staff back and do more. There comes a saturation point. Pay the salary for one person. Have them do the job of three. Or hire three people.
I would rather provide a few extra paychecks, make my job smoother.

My people know, if they do their job and everything is good. I do not ride them, they can “dick around” too. Me always knowing everything and what is going on.
It is a great motivational tool. Like I said, they don’t have to worry about anything, unless they do not do what is required of them. And I don’t have to worry about what my people think if I am goofing off.

I can because they ARE doing their job.

Some might say with that free time. I could do more work. That is my prerogative, and not a concern of the staff.
I would rather enjoy my work, at a nice easy pace.

It might be hard to wrap your head around it, but the boss is in that position for a reason. A reason that does not and did not need your approval. :-)

Sometimes what you think of as dicking around may be the process the boss uses to think and plan. My former boss played Doom when he was working on scheduling and tasking.

OMG DOOM?! I want to work for his company, LOL

@ChazMaz
And of course you can just show up every day and not have to worry about the bottom line of the business and get the check at the end of the week right…~
oh ya that’s the workers…we have to make sure they get paid whether we get paid or not…

The bottom line is my business.

You’re J LO’s agent?

I dont know how common they are. But in my previous job I had one. I tried to warn the company about him but they would not listen. The good news is that someone finally came to their senses and he got fired for theft here recently. Whic is one of the things I tried to warn the company that he was doing. Well maybe they will now realize that I was not full of it when I tried to tell them what he was doing.