Working America’s Second Bad Boss Winner: A Real Loser

by Mike Hall, Jul 7, 2006

Years ago in the movie “The Jerk,” Steve Martin was a clueless, but lovable buffoon. Working America’s My Bad Boss Contest is uncovering lots of clueless jerks out there, but they are far from lovable.

As a matter of fact, the second weekly winner in the Bad Boss Contest falls into the category of despicable. Voters found Dr. X, boss of Cat Scratch, to be such a jerk he was the top vote-getter out of the 7,000 votes cast this week, as the contest wrapped up its second week of looking for the most vile, wicked and loathsome boss in America.

So far, nearly 1,200 folks have nominated their current or former bosses for the honor, and the entries continue to roll in.

Cat Scratch worked in Dr. X’s dental office and says Dr X was a massive cheapskate:

Dr. X proved himself to be the worst kind of person imaginable during the week of 9/11.

That day, the patients all canceled their appointments. Perfectly understandable, if you ask me—there’s a national tragedy, and the last thing on anyone’s mind is their oral health.

But this meant no income for Dr. X. His response? Taking $100 out of every employee’s paycheck. Mind you, we were paid hourly, not based on production. Not that it was even necessary. Dr. X earned over $1 million a year. He owned a mansion. Did he really need my $13 an hour that badly?

Not wanting to endure the “negative energy” a lawsuit against the bad doc would entail, Cat Scratch moved on to another job, secure in the knowledge that as for Dr. X—“his karma will catch up with him.”

Cat Scratch won this week’s prize, The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit: An A to Z Lexicon of Empty, Enraging, and Just Plain Stupid Office Talk by Lois Beckwith, and is now in the running for the grand prize—a one-week vacation getaway and $1,000 toward airfare, compliments of Union Privilege.

Click here to read about the top Bad Boss from week one. If you want nominate your current or former boss, here’s how.

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