The worst boss I ever had was Paul. He was a workaholic, and he wanted everyone else to follow his lead. To make matters worse, he was a perfectionist, and insisted that everyone stay until everything was absolutely perfect. (In most cases, everthing was just fine -- he just liked to modify and change things until the last minute.)

Mind you, this was an office job, where you would expect to work eight to ten hours at most, unless there was some sort of an emergency. I didn't, and still don't, mind working long hours when needed. The trouble was, Paul viewed everything as an emergency.

I remember one night, about 10:00 p.m. at night, I looked across the desk to Paul and said, "I'm fading." This was after about three weeks straight of very late nights. Without any smile or commiseration of any sort, her replied "dig deep."

One night my girlfriend was coming to town to visit. (I had recently moved to a new city.) I told my boss beforehand that I had to pick her up at the airport at 7:00 p.m., and he wouldn't let me go. I showed up very late, and she was very worried and angry.

As I understand it, he has since been fired.

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