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10 Tips for Dealing with a Bully Boss

10 Tips for Dealing with a Bully Boss

Do you have a bad manager? Someone who makes your life miserable all week by criticizing your every move?

How to Handle an Off-the-Wall Boss

If you feel compelled to improve your situation so that you can at least coexist with your crazy boss, Stern suggests tactfully talking to the tyrant. Take extreme care, and use diplomacy when broaching the subject, he advises. "Don't take an accusatory tone," he says. "Instead, put the burden on yourself. Begin by outlining the problem, and suggest ways you and your boss can work together."

A safer strategy is to lie low and stay out of the way of the tyrant boss. Do your job well, and avoid confrontations at all costs.

Only you can decide what will be the best solution, Stern adds. Whatever you do, remember that no job is worth enduring constant misery five days a week - not to mention obsessing about pending torture come Monday.

Yet Robert Mueller, labour attorney and author of Bullying Bosses: A Survivor's Guide, says you don't have to take a bully boss's constant abuse - and he doesn't endorse copping out by finding another job. Mueller contends that all victims of workplace bullying can become what he calls "workplace warriors" and use self-defence strategies that can restore power, dignity and options to the bullied employee.

The more you know about your despotic boss, the better you'll be able to handle him. There are many types of bully bosses. Mueller has identified seven types. Do any of the following strike a responsive chord with you?

1. Subtle bullies: They torment their targets with quiet but piercing techniques.

2. Abusive bullies: These bosses hound a target employee without mercy.

3. Crude bullies: These people throw their weight around loudly and physically.

4. Raging bullies: These people intimidate everyone in the vicinity with their out-of-control anger.

5. Echo bullies: Not normally abusive, they mimic bullying behaviour with their subordinates.

6. Ghost bullies: These bosses guide, mentor and supervise lower-level bosses in bullying techniques and tactics.

7. Satellite bullies: These are people of stature who undermine the target by contributing to someone else's bullying.

Next: Preparing for Battle

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