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What's On your Mind!

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Here's what People are saying!!:


Thanks for the Great site. I need a manager evaluation form to fill out for all of my fellow employees. You see we have the most stupid, air headed, idiot for a boss. She has no self esteem. Is very fat 350 lbs. !! The poorest boss in the world. Do you have a contest for the worst boss in the world?? She makes terrible decisions, is dirty, is very impolite, Mean with customers, rude to all of us. Thanks for your wonderful site, a good place to vent ! M...

Thank you guys for this incredible website. I have been looking for that for a while, and I am so happy I have found it here !
Your website should be recommended by doctors !!!
It is really the funniest site I have ever been to.
I look forward to seeing more cards and more funny drawings.

Thanks again,

L.W, Singapore.
PS- I am a boss myself !!!! Ha Ha Ha!


GREAT web site. The humor through Part One, had me realize that you can actually relate to my experience, and then your insights in Part Two were on target and helpful. You reminded me that, sometimes it just helps to step back and take a look from another perspective.

Kudos to you, Eileen E.


I couldn't have found your site at a better time! I myself have been feeling very let down by my boss lately. I've even considered moving on and checking out a new career. After completing your course on how to "Off My Boss", You can't believe how much better I feel !

Guys.....You gave me just the thing I've lacked these past few months. A way to look at it all and laugh. I read every single word there was to read and had to wipe the tears away more than once. Thank you so much for showing me how to find some humor at a time when I was beginning to think there was No such thing. I can assure you that when I go into work tomorrow I'm going to find it very hard to keep a straight face. I've sent a link to your site to a few of my co-workers.

Hey....share the wealth ya know? I'm sure we'll all feel a bit better about our "Little Complaints" now. Once again Thanks so much for bringing a little bit of laughter to what I was considering a Lost Cause.

Ever Grateful, C. Murphy


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I think that this website is one of the ultimate websites of all....Keep it up!

--B. Khat


Subject: The boss is REAL employee

Yes, I am a dreaded boss.. the curse of Middle-Management in a large hospital.  I take great pride in building relationships with the employees and breaking the rules and regs to suit their life. When I employ someone, I employ the WHOLE person.

I believe that ANYONE should follow the order of Priorities of God, Family, Self and then Work. If you respect those values, you get a much better PARTNER, NOT just an employee.

The threat of termination is very idle.. If that's the way you are managed, why did the boss hire you in the first place. Remember, we too are employees... but the difference is we should work to SUPPORT the employees, NOT have the employees support us. It is Ying/ Yang for all of the existentialists out there.

We middle managers are on yearly contracts and are in constant fear of termination. I empowered my inner boss LONG ago. I no longer live in fear of my unemployment... and more importantly.. I don't pass my paranoia onto my co-worker employees, because I don't have any. I have all the job security I need... Right between my ears. Just like everyone of my employees. We just have different jobs.. but we have the same mission.

I would suggest that employees not only shop for their next job.. but shop for their next boss. Don't work for the putz ! Demand more of yourself and look for a partner not a boss !!! I've had many offers for more money... I stay with the boss I have because I am treated fairly.. and she allows me to treat others with the same respect and level of dignity. That's what really matters.

--C.B.


Woesome! I find it (your site) wickedly fun!  Remarkably well put together and thank God, my own boss informed me of it! No Doubt, I shall send her some brutal messages. She will stand in awe in the illusion that her employee is a genius! Good work.
--N. H.


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Subject: Why things don't work/fall apart/quality stinks...

Next time a part you order doesn't fit, a shirt collar falls off with the first washing, the handle of your new car's door comes off in your hand, don't blame "shoddy workmanship" or "lack of pride in the American worker," blame the BOSSES who put arthritic old ladies on two production machines at once, deliberately do not train temps or new hires because they "don't want to waste the time on somebody who might quit within the week," pressure workers with dirty looks and snide remarks to keep them nervous while pushing out product faster and faster instead of better, etc. etc. Get the picture? Around here, somebody in a Union shop has to die for somebody from outside to get in--meanwhile, in non-Union shops around here, turn-of-the-century-era "sweatshop mentality" rules. And products sure look it and perform to this "standard," don't they?

--Keith B.


--Love your Site!! Still laughing because I just sent the link to my boss! Thanks a whole bunch...

--DONNA


--I’m an account assistant at a large firm here in the capital of “Redneck Heaven”! You think the boss’s you describe are bad... you should take all of the horrors you talk about in a boss, and add three parts tobacco chewing, two parts Chevys and gun racks, and one part “let’s see how long I can wear the same overalls to work before they walk away on their own” contests! Seriously! And they are the ones in charge! Everyone thinks of boss’s as at least washed and well dressed... but not the group of power hungry “hygienically challenged” road-kill I have to take orders from! I just bought your second edition of OFF THE BOSS, and see that you’re going to add chapters with each new edition. How about a chapter on Redneck Bosses in the next edition?

D.D., Harrogate, Tennessee


An intriguing idea, and one never even thought existed before. That’s why we love this “Water Cooler”... you people continue to educate us and give us great ideas. We’ll put on our hiking boots and trucker baseball caps and give it a whirl! And just for coming up with the idea... we’re sending you a batch of our no-nonsense OFF THE BOSS Postcards... Their message is so clear and to the point that your Boss doesn't even have to know how to read, which judging by your description of 'em - They Can't!!!  


--I work at a tiny (and I mean tiny) mail order company. It’s so small that there’s only me and my boss. A lot of what you and your readers talk about have to do with bosses with many employees and lots of departments. At least more bodies pulls the focus away from you for a few minutes each day! At my job, my boss sits at a desk facing me in a room that even Superman would have a hard time changing in... and he’s at me all day long!

Is there anyone else out there who has a situation like I have... where it’s just you and the boss and four walls? Please let me know... so I know I’m not alone in this two person living nightmare version of hell!

C.V., Regina, Saskatchewan


-- When you have a hot head for a boss, sometimes kindness is the key. I have a boss who yells at you every chance she gets and who makes you take the blame for everything even if you are not the one at fault and she is. I am the admin. in our department and on secretary's day she sent flowers to another admin. in the company who is not in our department. I got my laugh, when I sent her an email thanking her for including me in the decision to send this person flowers and for informing me I was no longer the department admin. She received this email and became irate. She wanted to know what it meant and I told her in a very kind voice, it meant just what it said and she dismissed me from her office in a hurry. Two days later she sent me flowers and wanted to take me to lunch. At lunch she admitted to yelling at me for the last few weeks.

--J. C. - San Jose, CA


J.C.,  Thanks for the very informative (and unfortunately, very common) message! It sounds like you really did the right thing! Don't know if you picked up such savvy on your own, or by reading our OFF THE BOSS: A SURVIVAL MANUAL, but you should definitely pat yourself on the back and print out the "Certificate  of Achievement" from our Website and hang it up in your workspace! You are a born "Off The Bosser"!


-- Hey! You guys are better than Viagra (and a whole lot less expensive)!  I felt totally “impotent” for years in my job until I discovered your Website, and bought your Manual! I thought it was just a great “novelty” book at first, but as I read it I discovered that you actually give some amazing advice that I used to “rejuvenate” my “libido” so that I could stick it to the boss (so to speak!). Since you showed me how to take my boss’s power away, and to make him invisible (and it works!), I find myself actually looking forward to going to work every day!

--L.G. Chicago, Illinois


--Just a thank you for being the perfect “gift store”! We have a new regional manager at our company, and I swear if she ever cracked a smile it would kill her. No one knew how to get to this woman. She’s really not all that bad a boss, I have to admit, but you never know what she’s really thinking, or where she stands... or more important... where we stand with her! On her birthday the men in the company were going crazy trying to figure out what to get her.

In this age of “say their hair looks nice and go to jail”, no one wanted to send her flowers, or candy, or anything that would smack of some kind of harassment or worse! Then I came across your catalogue, and saw the OFF THE BOSS SURVIVAL KIT. Since my boss has several boss’s above her, who frankly are making HER life a living hell, I thought this would be the “political correct” gift from all of us who work for her. Sure enough when it came in the mail, she opened it immediately, and I swear she couldn’t stop laughing! She came in to thank us, and gosh-oh-golly, I felt like I was in a production of “Good-bye Mr. Chips”! I mean, she actually got a little teary-eyed! Now, she smiles more than Marie Osmond on laughing gas, and our workplace has improved immensely!  Thank you all!

M.P. (and company), St. Petersburg, Florida


And thank YOU! The last thing we ever thought we were was “Politically Correct”! Yikes... sounds almost sacrilege! But what a nifty idea... since, as we say in our Manual, all bosses have bosses... so yes... why not give your boss an OFF THE BOSS SURVIVAL KIT... since, even they need to survive just like we do! Don’t they?...


-- Well not only do you keep me smiling each day I log onto your Website... but you helped my date life as well! When I bought an OFF THE BOSS sweatshirt, I received a free OFF THE BOSS bumper sticker as well. I immediately put it on my Jeep’s back bumper and the first time I stopped for gas a total babe in a Honda saw the sticker and spilled her guts to me about how much she hates her boss! Well, one thing lead to another, and we’re planning a trip to Atlantic City in two weeks! Thank you... and if things go as planned, you’re all invited to the wedding!

-- P.C. Denver, Colorado


-- Love your “Emergency Website”... it came to save me just in time.  I’m working in Hospital Administration, and my boss has her head so far up her butt she seems to digest her tongue every time she licks her lips!  We’re being taken over by a large chain HMO and I can hear the grinding stones spinning as axes are being sharpened for cutbacks. At first I thought your site would be just a few laughs to get me through the day... but there’s some really good stuff in there to help me deal with whatever's going to happen!  Thanks... 

J.D. - Globe, Arizona


-- Help! Anyone else work in a college bookstore (I’m a student there), with a boss who knows less about books than the cockroaches that live under the coffee pot in the breakroom? It’s driving me crazy! And she thinks she’s a genius! I need this job, plus I get a great discount on my books... but she’s giving everyone bad advice, talks all the time, has opinions on books it’s evident she’s never even read, makes huge mistakes, and thinks we’re so dumb we can’t catch on! Any other hard working student\slaves out there who can help me, or at least will write and let me know I’m not alone in this Kafkaesque nightmare I’m living??!!

M.T. - Westwood, California


-- Hey, to that New England Paralegal ... Believe me, you’re not alone. I could pass the bar with what I know (though never did have the money to go to law school... such is life)... and I’ve had my “boss lawyer” make me write up papers for them, and I’ve actually drafted contracts... then their clients are charged their $150’s an hour, rather than my $18’s an hour! And I’m a single mom! But what I’ve found to keep me sane is that I keep a nice neat record of all the “goings on” here. One day, I’ll have a great time seeing them get their comeuppance (remember Tom Cruise, in “The Firm”?), or hey, come to think of it... I could always write a book like you people did!  Thank you Off The Boss... you’ve given me the courage and vision to keep on going, and to know there are other options in life! Hey... did you know we charge our clients two dollars a page for a damn Xerox!?

M.S. - Lake Oswego, Oregon.


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-- I work in a wallpaper manufacturing company, and my exciting job is to cut the huge printed rolls (they come in four ton rolls!) into four foot rolls for sale. We keep a copper wire on the cutting table so that I don’t get a static-electric shock as I cut the paper. My boss who knows about as much about wallpaper manufacturing as I do about operating the space shuttle, came up to me this morning and noticing the copper wire, wrote me up for not having cleaned up my work area! And... he wants it removed!  I can’t wait until I send his complaint form to my union rep! Just thought I’d share that with you. Hey, love your Website... and wouldn’t “dumb things bosses who don’t know their job do at work”
be a great chapter?

B.V. - Watertown, New York


Good thought, BV.! Check out our “Boss Aptitude Test”... I have a feeling we found it in YOUR boss’ wastepaper basket! Once again, this only shows that some of our best material and ideas come from people like you! Yes, we’ll put our fine-tune team to work on your idea, and if others are listening... send in your stories about “dumb things” your non-brainer boss has done to you at work! And for giving us another great idea, B.V., we’re sending you a hundred foot roll of OFF THE BOSS wallpaper... just kidding... we’re going to send you a “Boss Aptitude Test” postcard to give to that road-scholar boss of yours, along with a bumper sticker and T-shirt.


-- It’s great to see you guys online! I bought a copy of the “Off The Boss Manual” over a year ago, and kept it with me all the time. I’m a salesman (yes, the kind all the jokes are made about!), and it was right next to my “Thomas” guide on the passenger seat. Lost it somewhere in Ohio some time ago, and now, thanks to an old laptop and your Emergency Website, I can read it all again! Just ordered two copies and some postcards to send to some of my least favorite distributors! Hey... you guys need a salesman by the way?

A.M. - Lima, Ohio


-- Just had to vent this. I’m a waitress at a truck stop (we call them Highway Rest Havens) in Barstow, California, and this morning my boss came up to us and informed us that we were now going to have to pay for parking, since we were taking up room from the customers! Oh, did I say that our parking lot is about fifty acres!?!?! Oh, and did I also say that I take the bus to work, because I don’t have a car... let alone a parking space!?!??!? And, oh, did I say that when I informed my boss of this tiny fact, he just said: “Well, you’ll have to pay for a space anyway, it’s only fair to the others!”  Fair?! Yeah...right.

Q.F. - Barstow, California


--To the waitress or anyone else who has had a boss make such a ludicrous demand. (She was told they would have to pay for parking, because they were "taking space" from customers...despite the fact they are on 50 acres. And that though she took the bus to work she had to pay too, because it's only fair) ASK THEM TO PUT IT IN WRITING....that usually scares them. Say, I understand that I am going to be billed/charged for parking. It is my understand that I will also be billed/charged even though I take the bus. Can you please put that in writing for me. It is always hard for a boss to deny such a reasonable request. And since a request from them for you to do anything, is in a way a policy, why not get it in writing. Usually that will scare them enough, you shouldn't hear anything more on the matter. Especially if the waitresses boss is the owner. He'll be afraid you are fixing to sue him. Just remember to ask them calmly and nicely. If asked why, just say that I want to be sure of the instructions and/or policy and would like a written copy to refer to. Do not at all be insubordinate. You can get fired easily for insubordination, so be polite. And don't be surprise if the matter gets dropped all together.
M.C.I.---these are my real initials too =)


-- Hey... to that lady (I think it was a lady) who works in Hospital Administration... I’m in Denver, in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. My “boss” is on the Today Show every time five people get the chicken flu!  His ego’s so big he has to hook his head up to a construction crane to give his neck a rest! I think all the hospitals right now are in such flux and limbo that EVERYONE is running scared! So just to let you know... hang in there... you’re not alone!  

R.H. - Denver, Colorado


-- Dear Off The Boss!  I see you had a whole thing in there about a cashier! (See our latest "Inner Winner") And I thought no one cared about us!  Wow... a whole chapter. Who would have “thunk”! God bless you! Is this my fifteen minutes of fame?

M.M. - Johnson City, Tennessee



>> Got Comments, Thoughts or just desperately need to Vent? Why not join the Gang around the Water
Cooler and let it out??!
E-Mail Us here: Watercooler@offtheboss.com


Continue Guided Tour of OFF THE BOSS Online
- Part Two


Part One  
 Physiological Differences   
 Employer Aptitude Test
 Bonehead Bosses |  Don't Fear the Inferior!

Part Two  
 The Tire Iron Story  |  The Bag Lady Effect  | Tap a Boss' Brain
 The Inner Boss  
 | Send Your Boss an OFF THE BOSS Postcard!
  Get The Goods  
Your Certificate of Completion  | The Credits

E-Mail Us Here:
Watercooler@offtheboss.com

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