An Online Laugh at the Boss’ Expense

If you have a sense of humor about working for a living, you may want to check out the Jobhater Web site (https://www.jobhater.com), “the full-fledged site of hostility toward the workplace.”

Although Jobhater is linked with Jobvertise, a list of straightforward job postings, if you use Jobvertise without taking a look at Jobhater, you miss out on all the fun.

Jobhater includes such features as the Stupid Boss Quote of the Day. The day I logged on it was, “I know it’s low pay, but I’ve given you a lot of hours!” Linked with Jobhater is an online magazine called Disgruntled--for those workers who do not whistle while they do it. There are also links to the Dilbert Web site, the revenge story of the week, real taxi stories and a waitressing gripe page.

Disgruntled is edited by Daniel S. Levine, a former bureau chief for Adweek magazine. He invites readers to vent their unhappiness with their jobs and their supervisors. And if readers work with the public, they are invited to knock the customers.

The current issue of Disgruntled contains articles about a woman who has been fired from a “family” restaurant because she was a lesbian, a special report on an office building that causes cancer, and various stupid decisions made by people in power. The magazine also includes a variety of links specializing in subjects from readers’ tales to whistle-blowing.

At the bottom of most pages is a representation of the boss, an icon that looks like a grimacing happy face smoking a cigar. This is the panic button--you click on it if you are in danger of being caught reading Disgruntled on company time. It helpfully fills the screen with a generic page of what might be real work if you were a drone accountant.

This week’s Jobhater revenge story concerns an employee who had an opportunity to sew a shoplifting security disk into his boss’ coat so that every time his boss leaves the building, the shoplifting alarm goes off. If one is to believe some of the other revenge stories listed here, this particular boss got off easy.

The strange customers encountered by taxicab drivers and waitresses add an extra dimension to these weird screeds. Sometimes the reader can only stand in awe. One customer actually complained that his club sandwich was too big! He was neither the strangest nor most repulsive person mentioned on the site.

The stories and gripes on these sites assume that the bosses and customers are always wrong. Sometimes it is obvious that the reporting employee is dealing with people who are, in fact, crazy, stupid or just plain mean. But often, without knowing the circumstances that set these reporting folks off, it is difficult to know whether their vengeance is justified. After all, nobody is perfect. And anybody who works for a living at one place will surely be a customer somewhere else.