Two years ago, I updated Singapore Armed Forces as the latest place of work on my Facebook page. Not particularly proud of letting the entire world know what I am doing at that moment, but I use Facebook as library of my past. I have worked at Golden Village (Marina Square), Royal Bank of Canada, SaSa Cosmetics, Tang+Co. (Tang Orchard), and, of course, Singapore Armed Forces now.
Most of the jobs I had were front-line sales and the rest are just office clerical work. Front-line sales is definitely to my preference. Everyday is a challenge. You get to see different clients day after day, and you have no idea what is up for you next. Clerical work is down right boring. Of course I love to be managing something in front of the computer than running in the fields under the merciless sun now. Clerical work is the job that millions of guys will die for.
Thinking back, I just realized today that out of the five workplaces (including the SAF), all my direct superiors are female! I am talking about direct superiors here. Even if we talk about the manager level, I only had one male boss at SaSa Cosmetics. The rest are all females. You may be thinking "Hmm..female bosses are not easy to work with". Mmm..I'll say 80/20. Majority of them are awesomely nice people. Maybe I am just lucky, or maybe I am the thorn among the roses? I don't know =P
Whatever it is, it is not about the sex that determine whether they are a good boss or a devil arsehole. I don't mind working for someone who makes ridiculous request like "firstly go to Starbucks and get me the a caramel macchiato, non-fat milk, extra hot. Then go to Bakerzin and buy 100 macrons for the meeting later. You have fifteen minutes. GO!" so long he is reasonable and not a mad cow spending more time raging than letting you solve the problem.
As usual, I always like to research (simply Google) random stuff that comes to my mind. So I researched on sign you have a bad boss. BAD BOSS. I stumbled across this website written by Ailson Green on 10 Signs You Have a Bad Boss. Jackpot! Here's the 10 points I exacted from the site:
1. Yelling. Managers who yell actually diminish
their own authority because they look out of control. After all, a
manager confident in her own authority doesn’t need to yell because she
has far more effective tools available to her. Don’t yell, and don’t
work for yellers.
2. Fuzzy expectations. If your manager doesn’t
communicate clear, concrete goals for your work, and convey to you what
success in your position would look like, she’s falling down on one of
her most important jobs. A good test: If you and your manager were both
asked what’s most important for you to achieve this year, would your
answers match?
3. Unreliability. She says she’ll review your report
by Tuesday, but it doesn’t happen. She promises to join you for your
important meeting but doesn’t make it. She says she’ll forward you a
client’s contact info, but it never arrives. You need to be able to rely
on your manager to do what she says she’s going to do, just as she
needs to rely on you for the same.
4. Unwillingness to make decisions. This often takes
the form of managers neglecting to address performance problems or not
firing low performers. But it surfaces in other ways too, like not
taking responsibility for moving work forward or punting in favor of
trying to reach consensus.
5. Unreasonable demands. Holding staffers to a high
standard is a good thing. But insisting that people work over the
weekend to complete a project that isn’t time-sensitive, or demanding
that an employee do the truly impossible, is the mark of a tyrant.
6. Indirectness. When a manager sugarcoats to the
point that her message is missed, or presents requirements as mere
suggestions, staffers end up confused about expectations, and the
manager ends up frustrated that her “suggestions” weren’t acted upon.
7. Ruling by fear. Managers who rule through rigid
control, negativity, and a climate of anxiety and fear don’t trust that
they can get things done any other way. Of course, it backfires in the
end because fearful employees won’t bring up new ideas for fear of being
attacked and won’t be honest about problems. Moreover, very few great
people with options are going to want to work for a fear-based manager.
8. Defensiveness. Managers who respond defensively
when their decisions are questioned end up quashing dissent and making
employees less likely to suggest new and different ways of doing things.
Managers who are secure in their authority aren’t threatened by
dissent, and they recognize that others’ ideas are sometimes better than
their own.
9. Drama. A good manager minimizes drama, rather
than causing it. If everything is a crisis around your manager, she’s
probably what’s at the center of the problem.
10. Fear of conflict. If your manager avoids
conflict and tough conversations, chances are high that employees don’t
hear much feedback and problems don’t get addressed.
After reading that, deep in my heart I know immediately I once had a female superior who committed all ten sins of being a bad boss. Compare her with Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda loses face down. At least Miranda's Prada earn some of my respect. Ha! Not gonna say from where this demon works at. Go figure.
Is being good boss that difficult? I had led many teams on work, studies, games and things work out perfectly fine for me and my team. I ponder how the demons' mind work to drive people crazy and yet they sit above you commanding with their trident and scratching their head with their pointy tail.
Oh well, you may be wondering why the hell am I spending the night writing about bosses being an arsehole. It just bothers me whenever I encounter someone being so unreasonable and you can't do a single thing. Sigh.......
Alright. Guess I had vent my anger fairly enough. Time to bed. Good night and peace out!
Welcome to Ocean Park kids!
Watched the panda walk on his fronts and pee on the wall.
Taking the MTR..
Enjoying the night scene of Hong Kong..
He has been very lazy and refused to walk. Ended up carrying him around. 
Climbing all over the seats on the plane and running down the aisle before I could....
..buckle him tight to his seat!
