Dealing with sadistic bosses and 'psycho' superiors

A boss once calls his assistant and asks him to bring the day's newspaper. The extremely submissive subordinate fetches the paper in a jiffy presuming that the boss would read it.

Instead, he is directed to tear the newspaper into shreds. Oblivious of the boss's intention, the perplexed assistant, who has grown up believing that the 'Boss is always right', follows the diktat.

The newspaper is turned into a pile of trash in a fraction of seconds. Then the assistant is asked to glue all the pieces together and restore it to its original form so that the big man could read it after coming from his morning walk.

This scene from a Telugu movie makes for a humorous refresher on the one side while on the other it portrays the traits one sees in a boss, who is a sadistic psycho.

A person who takes pleasure in inflicting pain, punishment or humiliation on others is a sadist, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Similarly, a psycho is a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviour.

I am sure you either experienced or heard of such bitter experiences with cranky bosses or persons with authority.

I have yet to come across an employee who sincerely talks good about his or her boss. The most common comment one comes across these days is "My boss is a sadist of the most torturous order."

The very mention of the individual's names is taken with a smirk while a good number of the most competent employees shiver to take a phone call from the boss and for obvious reasons. Lost for words, they fumble or stammer to talk with an unfriendly supervisor.

Thecommon presumption is that power corrupts the boss, who is otherwise 'a good soul'. A highly educated friend of mine, vexed with the boorish behaviour of his bosses all through, has come to a conclusion that 'unethical egoist liars' have 'bright' chances of becoming bosses or managers. Over a period of time, while calling the shots, they become sadists and psychos.

I can't fully agree with this version but the 'highhandedness' of bosses is a global malady, and is not confined to any one sector or profession. It not only adversely impacts the mental health of employees but also harms their productivity levels and by extension the reputation of the company.

Thankfully, many IT, Pharma, Financial and other companies have an internal mechanism to set right the 'monster'. In the absence of such an in-house system, even the best of productive employees across private and public sector and educational institutions are tortured by the in-charge, head or team-leader.This is also visible in the armed forces where officers allegedly ill-treat the lower cadre with a brutish authority.

The brutality of some civil servants, especially IAS and IPS officers, come to light every now and then. A recorded conversation between a district collector and his staff that went viral stands testimony to the arrogant and inhuman levels they can stoop down to. Recently, I came across a boss, a former civil servant, known for his vitriolic comments and highly derogatory remarks against employees.

If he wants to pull you up, he holds you responsible for the cobwebs in the office corridors. Should anyone dare to 'suggest' that this should be brought to the notice of the housekeeping department then the boss questions your commitment and loyalty to the organisation.

In case a meek employee surrenders and offers to clean it right away (to satisfy his ego), then our great man sermons about how the individual has failed to understand the basic concept of managerial functions.

"When are you going to learn, you fool! Make appropriate use of decentralisation and get things done by those paid to do the job. Although, you have put in donkey's years in the job, you are unable to learn.

I am sorry to say this," is the conclusion. If you try to give an explanation, the boss sees it as insubordination and indiscipline. Lo Presto! A memo lands up on your desk in double-quick time.

Unable to deal with such everyday humiliation meted out by sadistic bosses, some senior employees go in search of another job, where perhaps the atmosphere is more conducive and employee-friendly. Research has proved that 57 per cent of employees quit because of their cruel manager.

An additional 32 per cent have seriously considered leaving because of their horrendous managers. Sadists are omnipresent.

All sadists in the world come under four broad categories: Political sadists; Workplace sadists; Domestic sadists, and Academic sadists.

Oncoming to power, many politicians become sadists. You have a plenty of such 'men of eminence' in the two Telugu states. Foisting false cases against opposition leaders and incarcerating voices of dissent, including journalists, have become commonplace.

The blatant denial of welfare schemes to eligible beneficiaries who support opposition parties is political sadism of the worst order.

Workplace sadism takes away the mental peace of employees and their families. The hurt caused by a boss has a dangerous trigger-effect on the employee, who carries the frustration home and vents it on family members. The comments or allegations made by the dirty boss ring in the mind and a sense of insecurity give sleepless nights.

This in turn gives birth to the equally horrifying domestic sadists. Meek women are the worst victims of domestic sadism and no law is able to curb this. A sadist husband or mother-in-law can ruin a woman's life.

A recent survey revealed that in post-Covid scenario, domestic violence is on the rise and the perpetrators of such crimes carry all the traits of sadists and psychopaths. Of late, instances of sadist sons killing parents and psychopathic mothers killing her children out of frustration are on the increase.

I have witnessed academic sadism from close quarters. It is causing enormous damage to the country's future generations. Some primary teachers resort to corporal punishment to vent out their frustration unmindful that students get highly demoralised when subject to brute force.

I still remember the abusive language and harsh punishments used by my school teachers.

Fear-psychosis kills the desire to learn. Ill-tempered professors tend to trouble research scholars. A PhD scholar narrated the nightmarish experience she had with her guide, a female. "I broke down thrice due to my guide's malicious text messages and harsh mails this week.

Instead of guiding and supporting me, she has been constantly scolding although I am not dumb at work. Is this how they teach students? For sure, I am not going to behave like this when I get into teaching."

Sadism is in fact an illness and there is no one-pill remedy for this problem, which is even more aggressive in unorganized sectors. Happiness, the ultimate aim of every human being, is crushed by sadistic bosses and mangers.

Victims find six characteristics common in all sadists-favouritism, narcissism, nitpicking, bloodsucking, wrong reporting and sycophancy. Inefficiency of the bosses is directly proportionate to their unreasonable, uncivilized and unprofessional behaviour.

The heartless bosses stoop down to any level to push employee they don't like to the corner. I saw a boss who tries to correct every sentence of a draft note prepared by an officer he disliked. Finding fault with creative work is always easy. A US survey revealed that taking credit for an employee's good work is the worst behaviour a boss can have at the workplace.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 has come as a shot in the arm for women employees, who are victims of sexual exploitation by unscrupulous bosses. Internal Complaints Committees are coming to the rescue of such women, who are now openly speaking against such devious bosses.

Mind you, sadism is not gender-centric. I was told by few friends that some of their women bosses belong to this loathsome category going by the manner they misuse the power in their hands.

It is, however, unfair to conclude that all bosses are dictators and all subordinates sincere and hardworking puritans. I have found that there is no dearth of inefficient employees who brand their bosses as villains even if the person is considerate to the subordinates.

Those who strictly adhere to rules to force subordinates to work are also defamed by a section of the staff.

One should understand that bosses are also human beings and even they are under tremendous pressure to deliver. They are forced to be strict to jack up production, meet deadlines, reach targets and take the growth curve skywards. Cost-cutting and downsizing are part of their job and they shouldnot be projected as demons when they are actually discharging their managerial responsibility.

At the same time, every boss should always keep in mind that the subordinates are not slaves. Every employee, irrespective of the official hierarchies, deserves respect, dignity and mental peace during and after the office hours.

(The author, a PhD in Communication and Journalism, is a senior journalist, journalism educator and communication consultant)

(The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of The Hans India)