A certain project leader has to be the craziest boss I ever encountered. He was the kind of boss who would make up lies to tell someone else, claiming that they came from you and if he was ever questioned he would counter with change-of-topic accusations so that the focus would be deflected from him. He was sexist (an error was always caused by some ?little gal?), paternalistic (he loved to speak to you confidentially with his arm around your shoulders *shudder*), a tattletale to his superior (where he made up the tales himself), a steamroller, bully, information sink-hole, control-freak - you name it. Of course, he considered himself the technical superior of all us IT people there, too.

The first phase of the project was rolled out, and to our dismay, there were lots of errors in the data. He was in his element, accusing others, dropping hints of knowledge of hidden subterfuge, and noisily taking control while making sure he belittled what everyone else had done ? until one of the analysts found all the error reports under his desk. He had hidden them instead of giving them to the clerks to correct.

One time I sent him a document identifying a politically sensitive issue that needed a decision. He edited the document and sent it to his superior as his own. The superior was so impressed he deigned to show us the document as an example of what a good job Project Leader was doing.

Crazy bosses do not exist in a vacuum. Even when Project Leader was caught being ?entertained? by a 16 year old prostitute under his desk after hours, he was not fired. He was given a golden retirement package and hired by a subsidiary company.

Chalk that one up as a learning experience.