My boss is a tough nut to crack ….my boss is a bitch(awwchhh!!)……my boss is simply unbearable…..i could go on and on about ugly statements employees who are having rough time with their boss at work places utter most time.
There has been an unending debate why women who hold top positions at work places find it difficult to have pleasant working relationship with their staff. Are women who hold top positions actually difficult to get along with? If yes, why is it so or rather, why are they the way they are? Is this a natural stuff with women or such women simply turn into a terror due to their work positions? What effects does such ugly work relationship has on work productivity?
I personally have not come across a female boss who is a terror in the course of my work and the only female boss i had was years back and she was great.
I once worked closely with a belgian woman married to a Nigerian man and i cannot remember ever having any conflict working with her. She was very nice, kind and we got along pretty well. I even learnt lots of good attitude from her and each time i remember her as i do right now, i remember her with good memories. This may not be applicable to lots of women and men i have spoken to trying to find out how their work relationship with their female boss is.
Most men and women i spoke with felt hurt even talking about their experience with one or two female boss they have worked with or working with presently.
Larry an IT expert living in the united states told me how his former female boss who also happenend to be a black American made his work period with her a hell till he was forced to resign. His regrets was that, he left a very good company that would have helped him build a profitable and long lasting career because of the woman’s ugly attitude towards him. He said he tried all he could to be nice to the woman but the more he tried to be nice, the more wrath he incured. What was actually your offence? Why did she hate you so much? Sorry i used the ‘’hate’’ word because it looks like that was the case..i asked him.
Larry got worked up and angry and told me that i was not wrong using the hate word because as far as he was concerned, that woman actually hated him since he could not pinpoint any wrongs he was doing while working with her. He was not lacking in doing his job, he was very respectful yet the woman never saw anything good in him so it could as well be that she hated me…Larry concluded .
Bose, a young lady who is presently working with a female boss in a top corporate firm in Abuja is planning to leave her present job as soon as she lands a new job. She is seceretly hunting for a new job because her present job pays very well but her boss is a total bitch! What is the issue with you and your boss …i asked!
Jackie, this woman is not within my age range and i try my best to do my job as a front desk official without getting on her lane but there is no week that passed that she will not find one problem or the other with me. Are you the only one she is having issues with at your company?.. ..i asked. No…she answered but it looks like i am on top of her list. Have you been doing your job well as a front desk official because here in Nigeria, most front desk officials have very bad customer service…i said. Oh…i understand what you mean jackie but i must confess to you that i am doing my best when it comes to treating our customers well.
By the way jackie, not all front dest official are like what you just said. My apologies Bose…(we laughed )Do you answer your phone while keeping a customer waiting to be attended Bose? I conered her…oh jackie you are one –hell-of –a –chick…..whaaattttt? E-eemmmm…..(answer me Bose….are you seriously thinking about what to answer…) i asked her. She laughed and said….i will be honest jackie….i am not a saint here when it comes to this…at times there are very vital calls that comes through while a client is on me and i just have to take the calls. Is this bad? She asked me. Seriously Bose…are you asking me if it is bad leaving your customer moping at you while you chat away on phone…when you should be attending to him/her? I shook my head and told her that i will also be a very mean female boss to her if i discovered this is her habit to my clients at work. Maybe your boss have noticed this or some of your clients have complained to her several times and this is her issue with you. Do you know you can lose clients because of this one attitude only? Are you aware that your company’s image could be dragged to the mud because of this? Infact, if it is abroad and you are caught doing this, you will be fired instantly!!
Bose opened her mouth and said…’’fired’’? For answering a phone at work? Yes, i said because this is a very serious offence especially for front desk officials. As a front desk official, you are the first contact a customer has so you must even be more efficient more than your boss to each person that walks up to you. Ohh….i guess i have learnt this today. She concluded looking very gulity and confused at the same time.
It is quite obvious most women executives can be a pain because most of them have no patience to start correcting anyone or making amends. It is either you get it right with them or they give you hell or fire you.
Come to think of this, is it not irritating watching a front desk official chatting away on phone for 5-10mins while a client is standing waiting to be attended? If there is a vital call that comes in at the same time you are attending to a client, simply tell the caller, you will call back or give time for the caller to call you back. The client will appreciate you more once he/she hears you say this and this add up to the way he/she will value your company.
In the case of Bose, i guess if i had seen the boss and asked her, this will be one of the reasons she does not get on well with Bose. She is also one of those people who do not talk much but only waiting for the right time to act or else she would have called Bose and warned her about this bad attitude at work.
The phone issue is just one out of hundreds of acts employees do but do not feel they are wrong while at work. So if you are an employee, take time to scrutinize your work habits and check where you are wrong. How about those who chew gums so loud at work that you want to cut off their mouth as you watch them?
How about those who frown/hiss when their boss talk to them? How about gossiping with the same woman that you feel that hates you and you feel it is normal?
How about allowing your boss repeating same instruction over and over and not taking corrections? How about coming to work dressing like a drag queen with a makeup and hair style that will put most makeup artist out of business?
So many mistakes lots of employees do that create serious frictions between them and their female boss which the employees themselves hardly see as wrong.
Finally as a female boss, rather than create tension and fear among your staff, make out time to call each one to order in a friendly manner and if that one refuses to change for good, take your proffessional actions. It is better you make your employees know when they are falling short than allow them see you as a terror due to your cold/mean attitude to them thereby spoiling your career reputation and entire self image at work.
JACLYN IWU
