Ever been lied to by your boss? Share it.

always look them in the eyes...straight into the eyes...when they pull such crap. the eyes are always the giveaway. or, as offered earlier, "physical evidence." amazing how folks can twitch, squirm, etc., when they aren't telling the truth.

 

Had a boss go to bat for me with the publisher once on an issue I asked him to pursue. He came back and told us we lost, and then he says: "And I gotta tell you, I put my job on the line up there for you."

I was young then. Otherwise I woulda recognized the bullshit line that it was.

It wasn't a big deal, but I wish I was seasoned enough back then to laugh and say: "Oh, bullshit. Tell me another story, sir."

 

For my first job out of college (which I was grateful to have since I graduated into a "down" time in the early 90s), the ME decided to make my position "half sports and half news." I would start my shift helping the SE put out the sports section, then jump over to the news copy desk to help finish the paper. I would also put out the sports section once a week.

The sports staff had four positions and the slot opened up when one of the sports guys moved on to another paper.

In my three years, the ME and the news editor gradually moved me more and more away from sports, to the point where I was almost exclusively in news with occassional preps coverage.

At the end of my third year, the ME took me aside and said I wouldn't be doing any sports. I had a sit down with him and the news editor and reminded them that there were four positions in sports, and asked what was going to happen to that fourth slot.

"Oh, sports never had four positions," said the news editor, having a selective case of memory loss. (Later that day, the SE was told the same thing.)

However, they didn't know I was in the running for a job at another paper, exclusively in sports. And I was offered that job the next day. I quickly accepted.

When I gave my notice, neither the ME or NE was very happy.

Of course, I had plenty of BS to deal with at my next stop (that's for a different thread), but at least I was in sports!

 

Boss on Nov. 10, 2001: We'll see you when you get back (from your deployment).

Boss in early 2003: Sorry, you don't have a job anymore.

 

So he says:

 

The frank, and probably the beans too, should be left out of the man-to-woman discussions ...

 

Here's the thing:

I'm absolutely positive that people have been flat-out lied to, obviously.

But as I look back on my career, I can think of at least two cases where, if you look strictly at what was said and what ended up happening, I could say I was "lied to," when what really happened is that somebody promised me something with the best of intentions and then circumstances changed and there really wasn't anything anybody could have done. And in one of those cases, the person on the other end was an iconic name in our business.

I can also say that, to this day, a fairly big name in our business tells a story about me -- never naming me -- that makes me look like not only a liar but a weasel, and not only do I not remember making the promise in question, I also don't recall in the same way this person does what the final result of my "lie" was.

I guess the point is, there are purposeful lies and then there are situations where everything isn't quite as it appears -- or, at the very least, the person doing the promising overstepped their bounds in doing so.

 

I guess I've been fortunate this way. I can't recall having been lied to by a boss. Readers and sources? That's a whole 'nother thread ...

 

After a couple of years as a part-time guy at my shop, still just 23 years old out of college but putting in full-time hours to make the right impression, we had an opening for a full-time sports beat. Went to the boss, told him I was very interested and wanted an interview. He says no problem. Couple of weeks pass, and I make a passing remark again that I wanted to interview, which he acknowledges and indicates one would be coming. Scuttlebutt around the office is "definite minority outside hire" and that nobody inside, full-time or part-time, had a shot because we were without a minority sports employee at the time. A week later, I get the memo in my box asking us to welcome the new guy. I was prepared for the fact that I was a longshot and frankly wasn't bothered by not getting the job - there were people in-house who wanted it and were more qualified, hell the guy who got the job was more qualified. But what chapped me was no interview. At 23 I needed all the interview experience I could get, and I had at least earned the right, I thought, to get in front of not only the ESE but also the ME and some of the higher-ups who probably had no idea how much I had been doing for the section, and needed to hear it. And if the logic was why give me the interview if I wasn't going to even be considered, then at least sit me down and give me that explanation. Don't tell me no interview with a welcome so-and-so memo in my box.

 

Some people are dirtbags from birth and you can accept that. What's harder to accept is if someone's been straight with you previously and then they change into a weasel because they're afraid of their new boss or times have gotten tough and they no longer have the guts to do the right thing anymore. Then it's like, cripes, most of us got into this line of work in the first place because we didn't want to deal with corporate scuzzos at close range on a daily basis. Now you're gonna turn into one on us?

 

Unfortunately I can totally relate to Mr. Dangerously's experiences on this topic.

We once had the same boss, JD after me. He had no spine, no heart, no sense of decency.

And those were his good qualities.

 

ME: "It will take some time to find the right person to fill the sports editor position. We may not even have one until October."
New SE: "Oh, I got the job back in April. I was told I couldn't start until September or October to save money."

The ME got fired the next summer anyway because many of his lies were to his boss, and he got caught.