Workplace

Every culture has its own technique for lashing out at the boss, said Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times. In France, there’s recently been a rash of “boss-napping” incidents, in which fed-up workers have actually taken their higher-ups hostage. Workers in America seem to prefer more humorous ways to take the boss down a peg. In one recent case, a managing director at a San Francisco investment bank reportedly sent an e-mail instructing staff to show up for work on Good Friday unless they were “an orthodox something.” One employee subsequently set up a Twitter account in the boss’ name and created imaginary status updates from the boss: “Analyst slacking again. Headed to mosque to get him back to work.”

It’s only human to fantasize about getting even with the idiot in the corner office, said Jeff Schmitt in BusinessWeek. But such a “gesture” probably isn’t worth losing your job over, much less having to explain that “hole” in your résumé for years to come. Your best defense may be to grin and bear it. “You know your boss’ flaws.” If you can do your best to patiently tolerate them, you just might discover that he’s not such a jerk after all. And, if he truly is, “chances are the clock is ticking on him or her” anyway.

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