40+ Screenshots of Bosses That Show How Being in Power Brings Out the Worst in Some People

Kudos to this girl for standing up to her boss after he called her out for sitting on a stool during her shift at work. Bear in mind that her manager knows she has two broken bones in her foot.

She’s sick of the abuse and decides to quit when her boss turns on the charm and quickly changes his story. We don’t blame her for leaving. No one deserves that kind of abuse from a power-hungry boss.

This employee knows their rights. They issued the ultimate comeback when they stated the laws regarding employment and pay. Now, this is someone who won’t allow their rights to be violated! Good for them that they’re so familiar with the laws. That being said, it’s a shame that they need this type of information in order to protect their rights.

While the employer’s response could’ve been a bit more apologetic, we think they got the point and will have to give their employee their pay.

This poor employee got drenched walking to work in a thunderstorm. They were met with this when they arrived at work, soaked to the bone.

Everyone had been given the day off, and no one had informed this person. Maybe a company-wide email would’ve done the trick.

Shift work is extremely tricky to manage. Most companies expect you to find someone to cover your shift when you can’t work but they add a cap to the number of hours someone can work.

Toby first went through a long discussion with his boss about being unable to work due to being sick before ultimately deciding that his health was more important than being treated poorly. Good on you, Toby! No one should feel bad that they’re sick. This boss could’ve been a bit more understanding.

This woman went out and bought her boss a muffin after she asked for one. Not even a few minutes later, she finds the muffin in the trash. Was it not the right flavor? Was it stale?

With absolutely no explanation, this poor employee was left to wonder what was wrong with the muffin she chose. It just goes to show that there’s just no pleasing some people.

This employee was doing the responsible thing in quarantining when her boyfriend tested positive. But, her boss was having none of it and even went so far as to say that they don’t give a hoot about the laws and rules that were put in place.

We hope she did stick to the quarantine regulations and the boss got off their power trip.

These baristas had to fix their boss’s mistake when he threw used ground coffee beans (10,000 of them!) in with the batch of fresh beans. This was clearly his fault but he made his employees sit and sift through thousands of beans to separate the used beans from the fresh ones.

Owning up to mistakes is something bosses rarely do. This is just another example of bosses getting their employees to clean up their messes.

We all fear getting sick and being hospitalized. Not as much as this employee, though, who received a rather horrible reply from her boss, Judy, when she texted her to let her know she was in the hospital and wouldn’t make it to work for her shift.

We’re not quite sure what Judy was expecting but we can be sure that she probably didn’t appreciate the sarcastic reply she got from her employee.

It would seem that even working six days a week without a break isn’t good enough for this boss. After requesting just one day off to rest, this woman’s boss felt it necessary to go off on her.

She ultimately quit her job when her boss had zero consideration for the fact that she regularly covers everyone else’s shifts to help them out. We don’t blame her for quitting and we wish her well in finding a job with a company that values its employees.

With absolutely no explanation or warning, this boss took away desks and comfortable chairs and replaced them with this monstrosity of a workspace and paired it with a stool. A good, comfortable working environment is key to productivity. Yet this boss clearly doesn’t care about that.

Hopefully, his employees will show him they need comfortable seating and a proper desk in order to do their work. We can’t even start to understand what this boss was thinking with a move like this.

Having a good work-life balance is vitally important. But when your boss would rather have you cancel your plans with family to work – even when it’s not your shift – it’s clear that they don’t value you.

This rude boss threatened his employee with a disciplinary meeting when she refused to come in to work on a weekend when she wasn’t due to work. Good for her, though, when she replied to his request by quitting. We would, too.

A Christmas bonus isn’t a right but a privilege. But when you work for a Fortune 500 company as this woman does, you’d expect a bit more than a voucher for a free jeans day at the end of the year.

This is honestly so insulting and degrading. We can see why she decided to share her “Christmas bonus” online for the world to see. This is awful for her and the company should be downright embarrassed!

While we understand that some companies rely on a clocking-in system to keep track of their employees’ hours, instituting clock fraud guidelines seems a bit ridiculous. This employee shared their company’s list of offenses that would constitute “clock fraud,” and we’re shocked to see that even bathroom breaks are included on the list of no-nos.

We’d consider finding another job if we were them because no one can time when they need the bathroom! And bathroom breaks are not a privilege, they’re a right!

What would you do if you received a text at midnight asking for changes to some work you’ve been doing for your boss? This guy didn’t take it too well and went off at his boss for being unreasonable – and understandably so.

Some bosses just don’t understand that work-life balance is important and that employees have their own lives outside of work and normal working hours.

Missing work because you have something planned is one thing but when you can’t make it to work because it’s your daughter’s funeral, you expect your boss to show a little more empathy. This wasn’t the case when this guy’s boss threatened him with cutting his pay if he didn’t come to work.

Thankfully, he had some power of his own and reported his company for unsafe work practices that got the company shut down. Good on you, Dad!

Not even a sweet bird’s nest was safe from the tyranny of one boss who ordered his employees to continue with construction despite there being a nest of eggs in the area.

We’re glad to see that at least one employee stood up to her boss and ensured the safety of the eggs before continuing with their work. What would possess someone to be so heartless as to destroy a bird’s nest? We can only wonder.

This employee stood up to their boss when he was ordered to disobey health regulations and serve older meat to customers. The boss, however, didn’t seem to care much for these regulations and instead fired the employee.

We’re hoping this guy didn’t leave it at that and he reported the chain to the health inspector for breaking important health codes.

It seems that this boss is someone who blatantly disregards the severity of this virus. He ordered his employee to come into work despite living with someone who had tested positive.

It’s no people got sick so quickly with people in positions of power like this. We hope that everyone at this workplace stayed safe, despite the boss’s wishes.

This employee was trying to do the responsible thing by swapping shifts with another employee due to a possible viral infection. However, the boss had none of it and seemed to show no regard for his employee.

This certainly brings to light how indispensable employees really are to certain bosses. We hope that this employee did the right thing and stayed at home.

Celebrating your birthday with your co-workers is always fun. But not so much when you can’t even partake in your own birthday cake or treats. Despite working at the company for a number of years and everyone knowing she has a nut allergy, this woman’s boss brought donuts to celebrate her birthday but bought some covered in the very thing she’s allergic to.

It shows that for some bosses, their employees are just a number and a body to fill a seat. Why even bother doing the nice action of bringing donuts if the birthday girl can’t even enjoy one?

There are several things wrong with the text exchange between this guy and his boss, Robert. Firstly, Robert feels it’s perfectly fine to message his employee at 3:00 am to tell him to come to work on his day off!

Secondly, lambasting your employee and telling them to be ready for work at all times is rather unreasonable, especially after the employee has mentioned that they had a few drinks in their personal time. There’s a line, and Robert has overstepped it with his ridiculous request.

Expecting your staff to work for little to no money is one thing. Add talking down to them and things can only end badly. Nick stood up for himself after just one shift of working at this restaurant and very quickly let his boss know that he wouldn’t be returning.

We sure hope that what Nick has said will sink in and give the boss something to think about when he considers how he treats his staff.

Poor Jonathon just can’t catch a break when he comes under fire for what his boss called “not following tardiness procedures.” He was only seven minutes late for his shift. Yet, his manager punished him by not giving him his management shirt, which he mentioned to another employee.

Jonathan’s boss seems pretty unreasonable. We’d hate to think what would happen if he hadn’t texted at all and just been late.

Sometimes, life happens, and you need to take some personal time off from work. This seemed to be completely unreasonable for this boss who punished his employee by cutting his hours.

Rather than discuss it with the employee first, he simply hired more people and cut this guy’s hours in half. This is when a good HR manager is needed, or perhaps a quick call to corporate to report unfair practices.

Wage inequality and paying less than minimum wage are big problems for many people. Mr. Molson Hart couldn’t understand why there weren’t more people jumping to work for him when he was paying so little. He was quickly shut down by a woman named Mikki, who added in some calculations to back up her argument.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When you’re offered less than minimum wage for grueling work, you know you need to look elsewhere for a job.

This is more of a funny one than an example of a horrible boss. For Christmas in 2019, this boss gifted their employees one “work-from-home” day to be used in 2020.

Little did they know that almost every company would switch to remote working in 2020. We hope these employees can cash in this coupon for a different year.

This boss sounded like a complete tyrant when he texted his employee that only a case of Ebola would suffice as an excuse for not going to work. Calling in sick is the responsible thing to do when you need to recover and avoid spreading whatever it is that you have.

But for some bosses, even being sick isn’t a good enough reason to miss work. In fact, this boss thinks that the only thing that excuses an employee is EBOLA. Wow!

It seems that even charging your mobile phone at work isn’t allowed anymore, as this employee shows with his company’s strict policies on the use of electricity.

What is this company thinking with these ridiculous policies? We wouldn’t be surprised if they soon found themselves short of a few employees.

Expecting an employee to work for 16 hours is just crazy. Yet, that’s exactly what this boss did when he texted his employee about “accommodating” him when he was clearly dealing with something in his personal life. After a threat to send the messages to management, the boss seemed to back down from his crazy suggestions and the employee was left to get on with whatever he was dealing with.

Sometimes, there’s just no empathy from bosses when their employees are dealing with personal issues, which is why staff turnaround rates are so high.

Some companies will do everything they can to cut down on expenses. But when they start charging employees for water, you need to question where the company is headed. Paying a dollar seems rather excessive for a cup of water. Yet, this boss clearly sees no issue with charging employees to hydrate.

This is one of those times when employees should really question their worth and value to the company. Water is a basic human right and this boss is taking advantage of his employees.

Imagine looking for the pie you packed for lunch, only to discover the empty dish is on your boss’s desk! That’s exactly what happened to this guy when he brought in his favorite pecan pie to enjoy at work.

After searching high and low, he found the culprit, who just happened to be his boss. What would you do in this situation? Do you confront your boss or grab the empty dish and walk away?

Good on Braylon for standing up for herself and her co-workers with this scathing text to her boss, who gave her hell for lying about being sick. Mental and physical health are both important, and working for a boss that’s not concerned with either of these can be a nightmare.

We especially love the part where Braylon states the reason for her resignation, and we’d have loved to see her boss’s reaction when she read this text.

Some bosses are just horrible. This poor woman lost her father and was still expected to be at work to cover her normal shift. While she texted another manager to say that she wouldn’t be in, her boss felt it was okay to call her out and mention that he, too, lost a family member and is back at work.

Thankfully, she found the courage to quit. No one needs toxic people like this in their life. The worst part is that the boss says the employee is playing the victim RIGHT AFTER he made it about himself!

Food poisoning can hit at any time and can leave you feeling flat, dehydrated, and exhausted. This employee texted their boss to let them know they wouldn’t be coming in to work and was absolutely criticized for their actions.

Bear in mind that this is their first time. This, however, made no difference, and they accepted their termination with their head held high. It can be exhausting dealing with a horrible boss, and sometimes you just have to walk away.

It’s common practice for employees to give some form of notice before they leave their current job. This man’s new boss was having none of it and expected them to be at work in a few days.

Unwilling to accept that they needed to give their work notice, the boss quickly got angry, which was enough to make the man retract his acceptance of the position. If a company truly values your skills and time, they’ll be more accepting of your notice period and allow a smooth transition.

Haha! We would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall when this boss got to work to find all their employees had quit! With very little information to go on about why everyone quit or the events leading up to this, it’s safe to assume that the employees were not happy with how they were being treated or the policies the boss had put in place.

This just goes to show that treating employees badly can have dire consequences. We just wonder what the boss thought when he got to work and saw this sign. What a reaction that must’ve been!

In 2020, countries worldwide went into strict lockdowns which saw many businesses working remotely and others shutting their doors completely. For this boss, however, having his car fixed by his employees was considered essential work.

We’re hoping he got a fine for operating during a lockdown and that his employees at least enjoyed some form of compensation for their “essential” work.

It’s a sad day when you have no other option than to quit your job after being put in a difficult position by your boss. This boss wanted his employee to come into work (on less than 24 hours’ notice) due to being short-staffed for an event.

The employee, however, already had plans to attend a memorial service, which was clearly not a good enough excuse for the boss. Some bosses just don’t have a sympathetic bone in their bodies.

Receiving a gift card from your boss for a job well done, your birthday, or some other event is always a nice gesture – until you get your paycheck and see that you were the one that paid for it.

Sure, the company isn’t obligated to give you a gift but deducting the gift from their paycheck is just ridiculous. We’d rather save our $50 and spend it ourselves, thanks.

Katrina’s boss seemed to push her too far for the last time. We’re not sure what led to this drastic course of action. But we can’t blame Kat for how she handled what was possibly a toxic workplace.

Staff retention rates are at an all-time low. This is mostly owing to how many companies and bosses treat their employees.

In the middle of winter, power outages can wreak havoc on your health and your ability to care for your family. This poor woman’s boss was unwilling to let her stay home to manage things while her power was off and demanded she come to work.

Even though she stated it wasn’t in her control, her boss continued with his ridiculous tirade, giving her an ultimatum. We’d love to know how this turned out…

All employees are entitled to paid vacation days. But every now and then, we encounter a situation in which a boss feels they can cut short their employee’s well-earned vacation time to suit their needs.

Rather than make an alternative arrangement, this boss quickly fired their employee. Thankfully, the employee doesn’t seem too bothered by this rather drastic (and unreasonable) reaction.

Some companies have a mobile phone that they use for emergencies. This employee was well within their rights to refuse to answer the phone after hours. This is especially true when it wasn’t in their contract to do so.

This company should think about changing how they do business rather than expecting their employees to work overtime and not be paid for it.

We obviously understand that your work should be informed that you’re sick and can’t make it into the office. But there are times when it’s impossible to do so. This employee suffered an allergic reaction which saw them admitted to the hospital unexpectedly.

This boss showed little concern for the employee’s well-being. He was more focused on reiterating the company policy on sick notes and days off.

This employee responded perfectly when their boss texted and told them to come in the next day even though it was their day off. When questioned about how much they’d be paid, they received a question mark.

This showed exactly what they’d receive for coming in. After zero response to his last message, we can assume the boss found someone else to come in and cover the shift.