You’ve probably heard horror stories about nightmarish bosses who seem to enjoy torturing their employees. It seems they love treating people as lesser and controlling them. It’s always a pity seeing their employees go to work. It feels as if they’re going into boot camp daily.

This is the exact situation of a Reddit poster’s story. He parked his car in a parking spot that his boss considered “his,” and the boss got his car towed and impounded. His car ended up being held at the impound, and he could only get it back by paying a huge fee.

More info: Reddit

Dealing with tow companies is bad enough, especially when your own boss tows your car

Image credits: Karen Apricot (not the actual photo)

The poster’s story begins with him saying that his boss has been abusive for a long time

Image credits: Gregoryx7

Image credits:  Jimmy Chan (not the actual photo)

The boss is obsessed with “his” parking spot, which doesn’t belong to him, but he berates people for parking there anyway

Image credits: Gregoryx7

The poster had parked his car in that spot because there were almost no other spots and the boss had the car towed and impounded

Image credits: Gregoryx7

Image credits: bfishadow (not the actual photo)

With suggestions from the community, the poster started contacting higher-ups, after getting his car back

Image credits: Gregoryx7

An area leader arrived to investigate the situation at work and whether the boss had actually gotten the car towed

Image credits: Gregoryx7

The area leader had the boss removed, but said they won’t be compensating the poster for his trouble, giving him tea from a vending machine instead

Image credits: Gregoryx7

Image credits: Gregoryx7

The poster started downsizing by moving to a smaller apartment so he could quit the job

Image credits: Gregoryx7

Image credits: Jellaluna (not the actual photo)

In the end, he quit to work Uber full time, now living in a cheaper apartment

Image credits: Gregoryx7

In the end, the poster mentions that he will seek further compensation for the troubles the boss caused, but is taking it slow

The story is long and winding, but the gist of it and its updates go something like this. The original poster (OP) had a boss who would abuse his employees, speaking down to them, scapegoating them, and even stealing when he got the chance. 

But the thing that he was absolutely obsessed with was a parking spot the boss considered his. He’d berate people who would try to park there, saying it’s for people who are “important to the company” and OP made the fatal mistake of parking in it.

The boss, seeing the car parked in “his spot,” got it towed and impounded, coming up to OP to say so to his face, knowing full well that OP couldn’t afford the impound fees even though he was working two jobs.

Since then, OP has provided 7 updates to the situation: OP managed to retrieve his car; He started contacting higher management; Two lawyers on Reddit reached out to consult OP; He reached a regional leader; The regional leader reviewed camera footage and started making inquiries to tow companies, while the boss almost got physical with OP for it; The boss was removed, and the only thing OP got for his trouble was a drink from a vending machine from the area leader; Following the fallout after all this, he moved into a cheaper apartment, quit that job, and started Ubering full-time.

But how do you figure out if the things that your boss is doing are abusive? Well, you may be surprised to hear this, but researcher Bennett J. Tepper created a 15-item checklist for recognizing abusive supervisors all the way in 2000. You’d have to mark the frequency of each item coming from your boss from 1 to 5, with 1 being “never” and 5 being “very often.”

The list includes such items as “blames me to save themselves embarrassment,” “is rude to me,” and “lies to me.” You can find the list in Knowable magazine, in their article about bad bosses.

Image credits: Alper Çuğun (not the actual photo)

According to the research, if you can check three or more items off the list with a 4 or 5 score, your boss may be abusive.

An abusive boss is extremely effective at one thing – perpetuating a toxic work environment. A supervisor that makes employees feel fear or anger will have them redirect those feelings towards their work or coworkers, who also reflect those feelings. In short, it’s a great way to decrease your workplace’s performance while making your employees more stressed.

Entrepreneur suggests several steps that you can take if your boss is set on giving you a tough time. One thing you could do is give your boss no heed, focusing on your job, as you have complete control over your performance, but not your boss. You should also strive to understand your bully boss’s behavior, as they are likely insecure and selfish at heart. If you know what tactics your boss takes, you can defuse and disengage from them. 

You must also set physical and verbal boundaries. Turn away from your boss, maintain strong body language, and they will be less likely to go after you. Tell them the facts of your performance – they’ll help you distance yourself from emotions and the boss themselves.

Finally, if none of this helps – document everything, talk with your coworkers, and report the boss to HR and higher up. 

Ultimately, the best way to stick it to an abusive boss is to simply quit when finances allow, rather than attempt to implement strategies for dealing with it. Another way people have dealt with similar issues is by participating in a phenomenon known as “quiet quitting,” where you do the absolute bare minimum of your job. If you’d like to read more about it, this article by Bored Panda has you covered.

The original post collected more than 20k upvotes and 1.5k comments. Commenters were supportive of OP, suggesting possible legal solutions to his problems. Some people also chipped in for OP’s impound fees, according to the comments. Do you have similar stories of awful bosses? Let us know in the comments.

Commenters suggested possible legal options for the poster and actually chipped in for the impound fees

Image credits:  Adam Lowly  (not the actual photo)

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