Ever been lied to by your boss? Share it.

I think this sums up my situation. Twice I was told I'd be considered for higher-profile work within the organization, and twice the new hire was announced before I had a chance to interview.

Also, the managing editor of a suburban daily repeatedly told us, in some cases when directly questioned by the best reporter on staff, that the paper would not be sold to the parent company of a nearby major metro. This was in early 1999. The sale was finalized in June 1999.

 

That's horseshit.

Probably a guy who has a ribbon decal on his car, too. A real winner.

 

My ME is like that. We complain about the same things to him over and over again, and every time he says it's the first time he's heard it.

It's like Groundhog Day.

 

True that.

 

Could not agree more, Frank.

Two guys who had been "one of us," one a writer rand the other a copy editor, showed their true colors when they were promoted to management. First chance they got, they went running to suck up with fabricated-out-of-whole-cloth versions of why a story fell through, why a page was late, etc. Never trusted the SOBs again. Fortunately, both were hoist on their own petard when it turned out how bad they were as managers.

 

Thirding this as a happening in other shops. If you're not going to seriously consider me for the in-house opening, or at least humor me with 30 minutes for an interview, then don't waste your time or mine telling me I'm a candidate, preparing a proposal and such and then not even giving me the time of day.

 

What also sucks is interviews for a job, inside or outside, and being told that you're a finalist and "Where can we call you next week?"

And then the fuckers never call back, and then you read of the hire in your own newspaper.

Last time this happened to me, I wrote a dirt-bomb letter to the CEO. Too late to get hired at that point, but the CEO apologized to me by email, and then he made the hiring manager write me a long, apologetic letter.

At least you can throw it back on them if you do it right. Throw some pressure back on the one who blew you off. I'm sure the hiring manager felt some heat after that.

 

Being told I'm getting a raise and not getting it.

 

Three, two months after 9/11 you were deployed, and they didn't give you your job back or a comparably paid position? My understanding is a large company is required by law to employ you upon your return. I hope you didn't let the dirtbags off the hook. They owe you a job or back pay while you were looking for your next job.

 

I had this happen at one stop. And it was a shame, because a really good guy turned into a paranoid, lying scumbag.

Without this guy, I don't think I get the shots I did in the profession in the beginning. Two years in, an SE abruptly leaves, mainly because he and another are treated like absolute dirt by upper management. Completely understandable ... the paper and its readers never had it better.

Anyway, my colleague gets the nod as SE. First, he gets too hung up on his authority - those last two words were exactly as he termed it. Secondly, he hires another little sniveling weasel to complete the staff.

Ugliest two years professionally of my life. And a loss of a really good guy. The other one got slimier as he poisoned the SE. A disaster all around.

 

I got the go-ahead from my boss to produce a project for the paper that involved utilizing the expertise of a high-profile sports figure. Worked out a deal with the sports figure and ran the first installment. I guess my boss got the finger from his bosses about the project -- he never would say -- but he suddenly hated the feature, couldn't recall green-lighting it although another editor was present and told me to abort the project.
I had to apologize profusely to the sports figure who thought we had a deal and was participating primarily to keep his name circulating. I was embarrassed because our paper came off looking unprofessional and my professional reputation was compromised.
To say I wanted to challenge my boss in the octagon would be an understatement.

 

How about "our budget has been approved for 2009, there will be no more cuts"

One month later came the 2 percent pay cut.