Bad bosses: Yelled at for being a minute late... during a hurricane

JULIANA was treated so badly at her company she moved to another continent. You won't believe what some Aussies have to put up with.

BAD bosses. We've all had them, or know someone who has. But has your boss ever not spoken to you for six weeks straight, except via text message? Or gone through 17 staff in a four-person business in one year?

News.com.au readers recently dobbed in their bad bosses' unreasonable behaviour with relish and exasperation, mixed in with a dash of disbelief.News_Image_File: Juliana Plahn-Brewer.

Media sales worker Juliana Plahn-Brewer had such a terrible experience she ended up moving continents. She had a plum marketing job in New York when it was dashed by her VP boss. During Hurricane Sandy, Plahn-Brewer was bollocked for being one minute late on a conference call dial-in. That the whole city was under siege was not an excuse.

Plahn-Brewer said: "The way she treated us was incredibly shocking, you wouldn't treat someone you met off the street the way she treated us."

Juliana Plahn-Brewer.

Plahn-Brewer believed one of the reasons for their fractious relationship was because her boss thought she wasn't 'New Yorker' enough which, given Plahn-Brewer is Australian, wasn't really something that could changed.

Around the eight-month mark, her boss allegedly went to HR and told them things about her that weren't true. Faced with having to sign a false performance review and continuing under the dictatorship, Plahn-Brewer quit, even though it put her work visa in jeopardy. She was back in Sydney soon after. News_Image_File: Devil Wears Prada Imperious fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) dumps her coat on the desk of new assistant Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway).

HR manager Jenny Grosvenor had the misfortune of unwittingly disclosing some information about her boss to the wrong person and in retaliation he would only talk to her through text message for six weeks. Even though his office was mere metres away. When she finally confronted him about it, he told her, basically, to stick it.

Trent Joel once worked in a PR agency where the el supremo went through 17 staff in a four person company in less than a year. He said: "She was a terrifying boss who was a terrible bully. She would belittle everyone and paid peanuts. My colleagues and I would stagger our leaving so she wouldn't catch on we were all hanging out at the pub after work."

In the end, Joel and his three colleagues all resigned within days of each other. Still seething, they started a Facebook group for survivors of their boss' reign and very quickly amassed 30 members. Yikes.

As strange as these stories are, they're also far too common. And often the workers at the centre of them get sucked into a cripling emotional spiral.

News_Rich_Media: The true cost of a bad boss

Fashion retail employee Karen* was so scarred by her experience with a bad boss, she has become withdrawn from society. "Because of my extensive abuse," she confessed. "I am going through depression, anxiety and panic attacks." Karen said her boss would emotionally abuse her on a regular basis and when she threatened to leave he would be super nice to her, but only for a month and then the cycle would start again.

Organisational psychologist Helen Crossing, director of Inspirational Workplaces, said people often get caught by that abusive relationship and feel like they can't escape from the situation.

Why working for a psychopath can be great

However, the psychologist added, companies are increasingly aware of the mental health and productivity impact of bullying and harassment, and are taking action to address it. Fixing the situation depends on the individual boss' willingness to acknowledge the problem and work on a solution through coaching or mentoring.

Crossing said she had one company whose case she worked on was costing the business millions of dollars in lost productivity and other factors.News_Image_File: Actress Meryl Streep in scene from 2006 film Devil Wears Prada, where she played a horrible boss.

Online jobs network OneShift.com.au founder Gen George said most bosses know they can't get away with treating staff badly.

"Modern employees are much less tolerant of bad managers and will quickly find a new job if they're not happy," she said. "In fact, bad management is the number one reason most people leave their jobs. If you regularly lose your cool with your employees, terrify them or push them around, you'll soon find them heading out the door."

But a tough boss doesn't have to be a bad boss, it's about knowing where the boundaries are and communicating in a healthy way. Sarah* had a supervisor who was renowned for speaking his mind and giving people a serve. When she was asked to work for him she initially panicked but realised she could learn much from him. She said: "He was very tough but he taught me so much about accuracy, presentation and process. He never asked me to do more than he would himself."

She recounted one incident in which he berated her for something but he later found her, apologised and explained why he was cross. More than a decade later, Sarah still keeps in contact with him and counts him as one of the best bosses she's ever had.News_Image_File: Tennis player Li Na of China believes tough love is the answer.

Earlier this week tennis star Li Na credited tough love with her round four victory at the Australian Open. She said she wanted to please her coach Carlos Rodriguez after she had pissed him off.

*Names have been changed.

Has a tough boss motivated you to do better work? Or have they motivated you to walk out the door? Join the conversation below or on Twitter at @newscomauHQ | @wenleima