Do you have a boss who yells at you at work?

Question

I live in Georgia, and the problem is that this is a free to hire free to fire state. In other words, an employer can fire you for any reason at any time without a justified complaint.

I work for an attorney, and he is a good man (sometimes). But he is EXTREMELY anal, and he gets angry at the most trivial of things! For example, the girls in the office put the stapler in the "wrong" place the other day, and he flew off the handle and started yelling at people! WTF??????

In any event, he yells at me sometimes, and it pisses me off. I just act calmly and remain professional, and apologize to him for whatever MORTAL SIN I have committed.

What would you do if you were me? How can one handle a nasty boss and not risk being terminated?

What I mean is 'mirroring.' I would like to yell at him at the same precise volume and tone which he uses when yelling at us. In other words, to demonstrate to him what it feels like tobe yelled at. Make sense?

But, I could be fired. ?

Answer 1

Here's the problem with the approach you describe...he's the boss, and you're not. Yelling at a boss can get you fired for insubordination.

Attorneys in general tend to have big egos and unfortunately the type of boss you describe is not all that uncommon in a law firm. The "act calm, remain professional, and apologize" approach works best. Try to think of it as dealing with a child who is having a tantrum - you know it's unreasonable, but you'll only aggravate the situation if you have a tantrum, too. Stay calm, keep your voice low and soothing. Picturing him wearing a diaper and holding a rattle may help. :)

If it pisses you off to where you can't stand it, it's time to find a new job and/or boss.

Answer 2

Hi, I'm in HR. In no way can you yell back at him. That's not only unprofessional and uncivil, but it will can should get you fired. The thing is that what you are describing is an abusive manager and unfortunately since it's probably his practice he's getting away with it. Here's a tip, lawyer's offices and real estate firms are abusive places to work. They may disagree but it's true. I've never heard of anyone who works with attorneys who doesn't get treated badly or yelled at. If I were you I'd start looking elsewhere for work in an environment where they won't tolerate that, because in law practices they do tolerate that and nothing you do will make them change. You can file a lawsuit for hostile work environment, but you won't win against a group of legal people and it will cost you big money. Get out of there and don't take it anymore. Good luck.