What's the worst

[Gigi]

I'm pretty sure all of us have been asked/told to do outrageous things by bosses/supervisors etc.

One of the worst things I have ever had to do was go to a mental hospital to spring boss's spouse who had been held for 48 hours because of a suicide attempt. Now I am claustrophobic in the extreme and being on a locked ward for even half an hour was awful!

What's your story?

[Rose2Bear]

I think it's going to be pretty hard for anyone to top that, actually....   That does not seem right that your boss made you do that.

Alllllthough... I did have a job once where once of the assignments included going through box after endless box of evidence from homicides and rapes. Piles of bloody clothing, knives, guns, underwear, human hair, the works...   That was a very strange assignment, but really put life and my interest in pursuing law into perspective.

[MadMadge43]

Probably doesn't compare, but still consider it the worst work experience ever. I worked at the Halloween shop at JC Pennys when I was 16, young cute girl and Assistant Manager kept making me wear the sexiest skimpiest outfits. It was uncomfortable, but at least I felt cute and really the only thing on display were my legs because they were all very short skirts. But my last night of work, my actual manager was there. Now, I hadn't brought a bra with me, because I thought I was going to be thrown into one of these sexy outfits that you can't possibly wear one with and didn't feel like leaving it under the counter where I normally kept it. Manager puts me in the clown outfit. Well, if you're accustomed to cheap clown outfits you know the material is an 1/10000 inches thin. And while by no means a busty girl, I was rather "perky". I had never been so embarrased in my life. I felt like I was naked the entire night, I was so glad when that job ended.

[lecach]

When I worked for a major charity group my boss was HORRID. Our offices were in an old house. One winter the pipes froze and so the toilet wouldn't flush. Rather than walking to the offices next door (the houses were almost touching they were that close) to go potty my boss made me go next door and fill gallon jugs of water that she could use to flush our toilet.

Then the day I was leaving to go on my first Disneyworld vacation I got to work early. I found a piece of paper on the floor beside the copier. It was the agenda for the next days board meeting. The top item? The discussion of the elmination of my position. The day I got back from vacation the boss told me. I was actually relieved.

[MineralDiva]

Just before I was married, I worked as an Executive Secretary to a real tyrant.  Though some of his requests don't quite compare to "springing a spouse from a mental hospital," here are two of the milder but memorable ones:

Valentine's Day:  He calls me from out-of-town and tells me to get THREE dozen yellow roses and have them delivered to his wife.  "Are you kidding?  It's VALENTINE'S DAY!  There are no more roses...of ANY color, left in the city!"  "I don't care how you do it.  Just get'em and get'em over to her!"

I did find the roses...and since it was too late to have them delivered, I had to pick them up from the florist and drive them over to his wife at home myself.

He got what looked like a "bill" from an Italian department store.  Evidently, they'd done some shopping on one of their many trips abroad.  BUT...it was all in Italian.

"Come in here, please."  "Yes?"  "Tell me what this says."  "I'm sorry, it's all in Italian...and I neither read nor speak Italian."  "Well translate it!"  "I told you, Mr. Donkey, I don't read or speak Italian."  "I didn't ask if you read or spoke Italian.  I told you to translate it!"

I actually had to go out and buy an Italian dictionary to translate this stupid thing.  Turned out that it was a statement of a credit they owed HIM. 


ETA:  These were but two of the many "challenges" he presented me.  It was over 20 years ago now.  But I can remember them as though they happened yesterday!  The worms probably have the old crank by now, but he certainly taught me to think on the fly!

[BurninDinner]

One of the worst things I have ever had to do was go to a mental hospital to spring boss's spouse who had been held for 48 hours because of a suicide attempt. Now I am claustrophobic in the extreme and being on a locked ward for even half an hour was awful!

Boss couldn't go him/herself?  That really says something about their relationship.

[MineralDiva]

The latest outrageous request, was made by my current boss:  He wanted me to find a LIVE bear to bring to a conference we're hosting next week.  And he's been bugging the snot out of me for it, so much so that it's become a running joke.

Nobody is going to bring a "live" wild animal to parade around at a conference!  "Good heavens!  What are you smoking...and why don't you share it?"

[Lisbeth]

I'm pretty sure all of us have been asked/told to do outrageous things by bosses/supervisors etc.

One of the worst things I have ever had to do was go to a mental hospital to spring boss's spouse who had been held for 48 hours because of a suicide attempt. Now I am claustrophobic in the extreme and being on a locked ward for even half an hour was awful!

What's your story?

At my last job, I was told to call the IRS, state and local tax agencies, and on one occasion, a bank, and pretend to be the client.  And I am not an actress.  If I were, I would have been working at the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street in Manhattan rather than that of 3rd Ave. and 57th Street (where the office was).

At another job, where I worked as a secretary as well as an accountant and tax preparer, I was asked to send a personal political contribution to a candidate who is infamous for KKK, neo-Nazi, and other racist connections.  That same boss asked me to do various kinds of work on his son's campaign for the Houston City Council (the guy had no chance in heck of getting elected).

[IndianInlaw]

"He wanted me to find a LIVE bear to bring to a conference we're hosting next week."

Can you say "liability?"

I used to videotape story time at the public library.  One ground hog day they advertised they were going to have "Chuck The Groundhog (or whatever).   I thought this was cool until I got there and discovered it was stuffed and mounted.  I was in my 30's so I could imagine the disappointment of the kids "IT'S DEAD!!! "

My worst assignment was to dig into the financial affairs of all the big donors of our YMCA, so the Y would know how much they could hit them up for.  This included the members of the board of directors, as well as people who truly loved the organization.   This entailed checking anything available to the public, like stocks and stuff.

[Sterling]

One of the worst things I have ever had to do was go to a mental hospital to spring boss's spouse who had been held for 48 hours because of a suicide attempt. Now I am claustrophobic in the extreme and being on a locked ward for even half an hour was awful!



Boss couldn't go him/herself?  That really says something about their relationship.

This may be what drove her to attempt in the first place.

I was told to develop a roll of film for my boss and pick out the 2 best shots of thier daughter fram them and mail them to her grandmother.  I did it and half way through the stack of photos were several shots of his wife naked and perfroming a lewd act on a popcicle.  I guess he forgot they were on that roll.

[blue_bunny_paz]

Oh dear, that's troubling.

I had a really awful job a while back. It wasn't at all what I'd signed up for, one of these sell-your-soul sales job where you work 12 hours a day - only 8 on Saturdays - and have to spend all your spare time team building and clapping hands in a circle and such.

I spent the whole night on Friday at the hospital with my friend who had a miscarriage. I only agreed to leave as she was asleep and being looked after. I phoned work to explain the situation and they said I would be allowed to be ten minutes late. I was so tired I didn't have the strength to argue and went in. Stupid, I know. 

On the Monday I had heard nothing from my friend all Sunday (she was now at home). She wouldn't answer the phone and I was worried as anything. I went in to work then explained that I had to check on my friend. They told me to take my sales folder so I could do some selling while I was at it.

Goodbye job!

My friend was fine, as it happened. Just sleeping a lot.

[ButterflieRJ]

I temped during college summers.  This particular story takes place during one of those triple-digit-people-are-dying high heat index summers.

Boss was in his high 60's, maybe even early 70's, overweight, a rude boor, and, well, I'm pretty sure he was going nuts.  He NEVER got my name right.  2 weeks before I started, the AC quit.  He inisited on NOT getting it fixed.  It was MAD hot in that office.  There are other examples of his going nuts, but I'll keep this short...

Anyway, the worst thing (aside from not getting the air fixed) was that one day he came out of a long period of time in the washroom and said, "Jennifer, will you help me with my suspenders?" and turned around (my name is not Jennifer, or anything even remotely resembling it).  His shirt was untucked a bit, sweaty (like, dripping sweaty, EW!), and the back clip of his suspenders had come undone.  You know... the back clip that centers right above the buttcrack?!  :shudder:  He couldn't reach it to reclip it and wanted ME to do it!!!  My quick-thinking self grabbed 4 pieces of tissue and reclipped it in record time--offcenter.  He just lumbred away without even thanking me.

At that point, I called the temp agency to tell them about the AC problem, and that it was so hot in the office I was starting to feel sick.  They came in, stood in front of a big industrial fan, and didn't think it was "that bad" and said I was "overexaggerating", and then berated me for wearing shorts, a tanktop and flipflops when the assignment called for business casual.  I ended up giving them an earful, not showing up to that job or returning their calls, and finding another (better) agency to temp for.

[MineralDiva]

<<<<Can you say "liability?">>>>

That was exactly the question I asked!  (Right after, "Are you nuts?")

[Eastsider]

When I was a graduate student, I had a boss that while not bad was pretty clueless.  For example, he'd send an e-mail then come into the lab and say "Did you get my e-mail?".  When I said no, he'd say "Go read it" and then leave the room rather than just telling me what it said or asking me whatever he was trying to find out.  Anyway, I am pretty social so I was always arranging things for birthdays, baby showers and what not.  After my DH and I got engaged we decided to throw a party at DH's house to celebrate with all of our friends and people we knew wouldn't be able to make it to the wedding (this was a casual party, no gifts were even mentioned).  Anyway, my boss came to me and asked if I could make my party also a "going away" party for our lab technician who was leaving.  Very weird.  I told him no because she didn't know our friends so it might be awkward.
Oh, and my current boss asked me to plan a retirement-like party for a guy we had to lay-off.  I managed to convince him that might be a little awkward as well.

[Slartibartfast]

Not as much a weird boss, but a weird job . . . throwing rats in a kiddy pool full of paint.