Asshole boss expected my wife to wait 2-1/2 hours for a meeting.

[ozymandius]

The new boss used to be a peer at wife's work. Even then he was known to be an asshole. Now that he's received a promotion, he's decided to go pro.

He has scheduled meetings with the staff. These meetings are designed to be a "get to know you" session. Because these meetings are during the daytime (wife works overnights) she cannot attend. So the new boss has decided to schedule meetings with overnight staff at an hour that would be somewhat "convenient".

Such was the case yesterday when wife and boss had scheduled, at his inviation, an 8am meeting. She was there. He was not. Wife waits 40 minutes until he walks in the door. He does not acknowledge her presence in the waiting area outside his office. He walks past her, into another office where he stays (she learned later) until 10:30.

At 9am she walked out of his office after having been in the building for 12 hours. She sent him an e-mail stating that she had waited at his office after being unable to find him and left because she needed sleep. This meeting also meant that she (and I) had to rearrange our lives to accommodate the meeting. I had to leave work early to pick up our son at school as wife would normally do.

She related this story to a colleague. He said that boss had done the same damn thing to him the day before. Colleague also sent boss an e-mail detailing the effort he made to attend their meeting.

Boss replied to his e-mail after 48 hours stating: "Secretary will call to reschedule the appointment." Wife has not yet received a response.

Neither an apology in the e-mail nor an explanation for his absence. No phone call at any time either to explain that he was going to be late for the meeting or to apologize for his absence. No personal appearance. Nada.

Word among the proles is that this is standard behavior for this asshole. Word travels fast.

I have encouraged my wife to file a formal complaint with HR over this. Due to the formality of ths complaint, any attempt to make her life difficult could be construed as retribution. This could result in him getting fired.

As this is a new situation with a new boss we want to nip this jerk behavior in the bud.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[NewJeffCT]

1. I would only file a complaint if colleague went to HR, too.

If just your wife went, the boss could write her off as a disgruntled employee ("oh, she's just upset because I was promoted while she was not. And, I had an emergency to take care of for MY boss, I didn't have time to seek her out & apologize...")

However, if two complained and had documented emails, it carries a lot more weight.

[ozymandius]

6. I like this.

The colleague is a 10+ year veteran. There's solid ground there.

[lateo]

2. It is difficult to comment...

All asshole bosses are different and sometimes it takes a while to find the weak spot in their armor. I can tell you this though...document EVERYTHING. Get a notebook and write down every time you or she comes in contact with this person even if it isn't something you find particularly egregious. Review this often to look for patterns of behavior.

I spent 8 months documenting my psycho ex-bosses behavior and at the end of it my lawyer told me I had an open/shut case for a lawsuit. She had broken 3 Federal Employee privacy laws numerous times not to mention other things.

[meegbear]

3. I would report it to HR ...

and I would have the other person file with her. One person filing a complaint should be enough, but 2 people getting the exact same treatment should be a flag. She should also find out if it happened to anyone else.

If he gets fired, so be it. Attitude like that shows this guy isn't management material.

[caty]

4. If a complaint can be filed without

retribution---go for it.

[ozymandius]

5. Thanks everyone.

The documentation of every encounter is a good one.

I'll check back later.