Random People Are Sharing Their Real Life Michael Scott Bosses, And They Are Hilariously Accurate (16 items)

• (#1) Kidnapping Drills?

  From Redditor u/homeschoolpromqueen:

  Worked with a genuine Michael Scott: i.e. a nice, well-meaning person who just did some absurd things.

  We had kidnapping drills one day, where we learned how to ‘not be kidnapped’. Notably, this was a regular, boring office in a regular, boring suburb. No reason why kidnapping would be on anybody’s radar...

  He and several of the guys randomly broke out into a push-up contest. Again. White collar office. Middle-aged dudes in khakis.

  Disappeared for four days. No call. No email. Wouldn’t respond to any of our attempts to reach him. Finally, someone drove out to his house to make sure he was alive. He was. He’d just forgotten to tell us he was taking the week off, and then lost his phone in a lake.

  There were many, many moments like these. Great boss. Genuinely cared about everyone in the company. Occasional moments of brilliance, where he really got things done. But OMG, so many moments of ridiculousness.
• (#2) Chewbacca Noises, Dated References, Improv - The Triple Threat

  From Redditor u/happydactyl31:

  I used Michael Scott as a reference point for an old boss of mine from the moment I started working there. He made Chewbacca noises on the regular because one of my coworkers’ names sort of vaguely sounded like Chewbacca (it didn’t), used voice to text extremely loudly in his office for no reason to send really personal messages, got really excited and wore a specific vest any time we had after-work outings scheduled, shouted the same like 7 references to old movies and extremely awkward hip-hop song quotes 100 times a day, and insisted on greeting all our international coworkers very loudly in their language (they all speak perfect English, of course), looking around for approval afterward, and then fully giggling at everyone’s French accents on conference calls. He also told me a lot about an improv show he did for a full year after it happened.

  That said - he had all the good parts too. He never hesitated go to the mat for any of us whether we deserved it or not, he gave really sage business advice and great examples of how to face challenges out of absolutely nowhere, and he came to every community play I did in the 4 years I worked for him - and told everyone else in the office how good I was in it for the following month and chastised them for not coming. When things really got serious or bad in my life, he couldn’t have been more kind, helpful, and supportive.

  Honestly? Probably the best boss I’ll ever have.
• (#3) Boss Is Terrible With Phrases - Wants A 'Golden Hamster Ball'

  From Redditor u/outofprintluv:

  My boss is certainly Michael Scott-esque. When I first started I was essentially Pam as well since I was both receptionist and his assistant to some extent. My favorite story was back when we were prepping for a conference. Some context, he’s terrible with the English language in general and will mangle phrases and descriptions to no end (how the turn tables...). So on a group call, he kept talking about wanting a “golden hamster ball” to do giveaways with. Was raving about how great it would be spinning around while people walked by, all the while everyone on the call was just sitting in confused silence. However by that point, I had become so good at decoding his nonsense that I knew he was referring to a gold raffle cage and sent him image privately asking if it’s what he was thinking. To this day he still talks about the fact I can read his mind and must be psychic. And he still refers to it as a hamster ball.

  All in all he’s a pretty nice guy and a solid boss. Hired me based on a gut feeling and has been decent to me ever since. I think I knew it would be a good fit when during the interview he tried to tell me about the four pillars of the company and forgot one. Told me later it was Knowledge.
• (#4) Boss Would Carry Backpack Filled With Hammers And Autograph Them

  From Redditor u/supersecretsecretary:

  My boss used to carry around a backpack full of hammers, and if you fell sleep at your desk, he started banging a hammer on your desk until you woke up, and then he would autograph the hammer and give it to you as a gift.
• (#5) Boss Requests Tucking Shirt Into Underwear - Gives Tutorial

  From Redditor u/paulfromatlanta:

  Long ago, my 80 year old boss pulled me into his office:

  B: "Paul, I've noticed that your shirts come untucked and that looks unprofessional"

  Me: I'm sorry about that Joel

  B: I want you to start tucking your shirts into your underwear

  Me: Uhhh...

  B: Go ahead and and try it now.

  Me: Joel, you know I have 15 women who report to me - I can't un-do my pants in the office.

  B: Sure you can. Drops pants. He is 80 and wearing Spiderman underoos...
• (#6) Furniture Store Boss Held Company-Wide Conspiracy Meetings Regarding Chemtrials

  From Redditor u/PAzoo42:

  I literally had a boss who would stop us in the middle of our work and hold company-wide meetings talking about 9/11 truther conspiracies and chemtrails. Mind you we were furniture-making company. He would get so caught up in his conspiracy theories that he forgot to order wood to make furniture one month.
• (#7) Redheaded Boss Holds Meeting About Using The Word 'Ginger'

  From Redditor u/RespectFar:

  I had a redhead boss who made us all sit down and watch a training video about how we shouldn’t refer to him as a “ginger” because it is bullying.

  No one had ever called him that.
• (#8) Needy Boss Who Got Secret 'Facelift' - Came Back With A Beard

  From Redditor u/Two_for_joy:

  I had one and these are just a few quick stories

  • He asked me how much I weighed during my interview.
  • He got on the intercom and interrupted everyone by yelling for someone to bring him the football team’s schedule.
  • I have video of him telling a really cringy joke during a sales meeting. You could see at least one person covering their face in embarrassment.
  • One time, he told me to call his assistant and have her bring him a bag of coffee and his 5lb dumbbell.
  • He had a ‘secret’ facelift. He was mysteriously gone for 3 weeks and came back with a beard.
  • One time I watched his business partner go down the pot luck line, tasting everything with the same fork. At the end of the line, he stuck his used fork into the cake. I haven’t eaten at a work buffet since.
• (#9) Asked Assistant To Find A Suitcase That Could Fit A Dismembered Mannequin Body

  From Redditor u/represent_represent:

  I worked for a woman as her “personal assistant/ cat sitter”. She was super rich and off the deep end nuts. She had me order a mannequin online, and then paid me to take one of the mannequin legs to Nordstrom to try and see what suitcase I could buy that would fit the dismembered mannequin body, because she wanted to fly with the mannequin to Pittsburgh to display “as her daughter”, dressed in her daughter’s clothes, at that daughter’s graduation celebration. Buying the mannequin was a whole thing too. She kept trying to get me to order from “adult doll” websites because she didn’t get it. lmao.
• (#10) Made Assistant Find A Pomegranate For Lunch (Out Of Season)

  From Redditor u/LemonsofLifee:

  He wanted a pomegranate for lunch and they were out of season, but that didn’t stop him from sending me on a quest to every grocery store in town in search of a pomegranate. Multiple produce guys laughed at me, but that was the easiest $13/hr I’ve ever made.
• (#11) Boss Asked If His Daughters Could Be Employee's Flower Girls At Wedding

  From Redditor u/holmen-2001:

  My a*s boss insisted his daughters be flower girls in my wedding. I declined. At the reception, he told me I was spending too much time talking to one person, and I need to work the room more.
• (#12) Boss: Get Cats To Get Rid Of The Rats

  From Redditor u/Languagecat:

  This company produced and sold GMO corn. There were too many corn sacks, so the company had a deposit somewhere in a field, about 15' from the office. When the annual (fiscal) audit came, my boss was worried he would have to take the auditors there. I asked "is it because your tax declaration is not accurate?" "No, it's just it's infested with huge rats" "Why don't you take a few cats to get rid of them?" "We did... The rats killed the cat". I later told one of the engineers "the rat situation can't be that bad, can it" and he laughed and laughed and walked away laughing
• (#13) Boss Spied On Worker Through Desk

  From Redditor u/harp*rv215:

  I had a boss that used to watch me through a gap in the glass partition between our desks. She wanted to see if I was paying attention during meetings. One day, I put a large folder to cover the gap, and she freaked. I still laugh when I think about it.
• (#14) Screaming About Not Screaming

  From Redditor u/BigShoots:

  We had an anonymous feedback program at work, and our boss was livid with the results, particularly with several comments that he frequently lost his temper in meetings and would yell at us.

  The more he talked about how incorrect and unfair and hurtful these comments were, the redder and angrier he got, until he finally pounded the table and shouted, "I DO NOT! SCREAM! IN MEETINGS! OKAY?"
• (#15) Boss Made Fun Of Resumes And Would Randomly Burst Into Song

  From Redditor u/cerulean03:

  Had a manager at my previous job that really, really tried his best to be everyone’s BFF. He loved giving pep talks and thought he could raise our abysmal morale by being Mr. Positivity (note: morale was low because we were always buried in work and paid sh*t). He’d crack jokes, randomly burst into song and sneak up behind you to yell “you’re doing a great job!”

  Unfortunately, he was also super incompetent at his job. He relied heavily on a junior colleague for help with technical stuff (they practically did his whole job for him), and spent days working on paperwork that should really only take an hour or two. If you had a problem, his answer was usually either to stare blankly at you until you left or to say “think positive and it’ll work itself out!”

  Thing he did I hated the most: whenever people would apply to work at the company, he’d print out the stack of resumes, sit at his desk and read aloud all of the parts he found “funny.” He’d laugh at people for working at McDonald’s or other fast food places. He loved finding grammar mistakes and making fun of them. If someone had a cringe-y objective statement, he’d guffaw over that too. This was all done loudly, and it was a open office so you couldn’t avoid hearing it. That definitely lowered morale too.
• (#16) Husband And Wife Boss Duo Would Terrorize Their Workers On Accident

  From Redditor u/downloadedpizza:

  My brother had two bosses at his first job that I think fit this. It was an old married couple that owned the gym across the street from us. Probably in their 70s when he started working there. The wife was from Germany and super strict, the husband was clearly losing it. Some notable mentions are:

  • The husband combined bleach and ammonia to clean the hot tub and sauna room, tear gassing my brother in the process.
  • Wife insisted the street be swept once a week, this was my brothers task. Almost every single time, the husband would come out halfway through with a leaf blower and destroy any progress my brother had made.
  • Husband would regularly sit in the sauna for way too long and have to be rescued by brother and coworkers.
  • Brother opened every Saturday. They never gave him a key so he would have to hop the fence to get in.

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