Member-only story
No, no, no. Don’t get me wrong. I love my current boss and my company. — Keith So
Consider yourself lucky if you haven’t met a bad boss in your career: One study says three out of every four employees report that their boss is the worst and the most stressful part of their job.
I am delighted working in my current workplace, but my career journey didn’t have a good beginning. A small start-up hired me when I graduated not for long, and this place consists of most attributes of a bad company — rigid rules, micro-management, extra working hours without compensation, giving unclear instructions, below-market rate salary… you named it.
The worst of all is the boss being very disrespectful and never appreciate our effort. She once gave a verbal warning to a worker came in half an hour late, even he worked till 2 am the night before!
Despite a few years passed by, I still remember how dreadful I felt when I walk to work every day. I even vomited once at work due to stress — I think I was really close to getting PTSD. (I’m not exaggerating. There are researches prove that they could make you physically ill.)
