Almost everyone has a boss, and that person usually had the power to make your job a joy or a misery.
A story this week looking at how bosses can help – or hurt – their employees’ careers left many readers talking about how their bosses had done them wrong.
More than half of the nearly 6,000 readers who took our vote said their boss had hurt their career.
One common complaint: The boss who is just looking for a ‘yes’ man (or woman).
“If you disagree with mine at all, then you can forget going anywhere else. No bonuses, raises or promotions. All they want to hear is Yes,” one reader wrote.
Others complained that their bosses had undermined their success, or actively worked to get them fired or demoted.
“I had a boss that hid promotion opportunities from me, because I was so good at the job I was doing,” one reader wrote.
Many readers did praise their bosses for being strong, supportive leaders. But even those readers lamented that they had had bad bosses in the past.
“Current boss is a great person and has helped me get to where I want to be. Remember, no one is looking out for you but you,” one reader wrote.
Still, some readers noted that there are plenty of bad employees, too.
“How many of the respondents are incompetent or just plain poor employees but blame their boss? … While many do have bad bosses, there is also a lot of ‘it's not my fault’ going around. I fear it will only get worse with the way kids are raised today,” one reader wrote.