In my early years, I worked for a monster and his wife. They had a little monster kid who was the receptionist. They were rude, ignorant, and unfairly demanding. I was told on my first day that "...Programmers come and go. If we don't like you, we can get another that looks just like you." I should have known it wasn't going to work out.

When I travelled, the boss said he "didn't pay for driving time", so I would drive for 6 hours a day, work on-site for another 2, and end up OWING the company 6 hours! (As he reminded me, he didn't pay for "driving time.") I suffered lots of snide remarks from both the owners and their little monster daughter. They removed my cube walls so that the daughter would have more privacy (people now went to the bathroom by walking around my desk.) My father died, and after my 2nd day off work the boss called, telling me, "Your father is dead, but you still need to make a living!"

After 11 months, I was in charge of a 3 million dollar account--the one that kept the company affloat. I was told that my coding improvements on that account had kept the company from taking a 33% loss in contract negotiations. I got a "thank you" for it, and that was the only kind word I can ever remember getting at that company.

Finally, I gave my two weeks notice. I had just been offered $10,000 more a year. My immediate supervisor (Rodney) knew the value I added to the organization, and tried to get my company to match the offer. The monster boss told Rodney, "No way I will pay that little son of a b**** another $10,000!"

So I quit. From what I've heard, the company quit progressing with the application. They hired two people to replace me. The company went under within 2 years.

If they had just been civil during my tenure there, I probably wouldn't have looked for another job. Will these tyrant bosses ever learn?

-Brian