I once worked for a department that I knew was going to be absorbed by the parent organization of the company. The company had done several secret studies to determine the extent to which such a change would have a negative impact on customer perceptions, and had determined that the impact would be minimal. Nevertheless, I knew the change would be some time in coming (a year or more), because there were a number of operational details to be ironed out (major changes to computer systems, etc.) before a change could be made.

I left the department for two reasons; the foreseeable demise of the department, and the hiring of a new manager with whom I could not get along.

This new manager had his work cut out for him. Most of the employees had quit or transferred either just before or just after he was hired, and there was much work to be done in the next year or so. He had to rebuild the department in order to get the work done, and do it quickly enough to have an impact on the bottom line before the year was out. He went on a hiring spree.

Several of the new hires asked him during their job interviews whether the department would be absorbed into the parent organization. He told them no; that indeed, there were no plans to do such a thing, and that their jobs would be secure. He lied to them as he said this. I do not speculate here. He was privy to the same information as I was; he just lied.

Over the past few months many of these people have left the company, as they've seen the handwriting on the walls. Just today I heard that most of the others were forced out. It seems the parent company has decided to absorb the department. So these good people, most of whom left good jobs to come to the organization, soon will be unemployed. By the way, the total elapsed time from my leaving the department to now is 18 months, so it all happened pretty much on schedule.

The liar? He took another job in the parent organization six months ago. Got a big raise, too. Word is, people aren't very fond of him there. Why doesn't that surprise me?

Do you have a bad boss? Have you ever had one? Would you like to earn $10? If you'd like to tell the world about your experience, e-mail us at info@employeesurveys.com. If we like the story, we'll print it here on these pages. If we print it, we'll pay you ten dollars. Please include your name and address for the purposes of mailing a check if we use your story . . . rest assured that we won't include either in the web site.