How do you deal with bad bosses?

If it was me I would start looking for a new job... I don't want to tell you what I would really do because it may end you up with no job and we don't want that to happen.

 

Your situation sounds like mine when I was 19 and started out in construction.
The boss might have the experience but he probably has forgotten what it's like to be "Green".
First off, you lack the the experience, big deal, every boss had to start at the bottom.
What they have and I now have is "Selective Memory" and they "forgot" what it's like to be new.
Just keep at it and don't give up. If anything, it's just a job, and you wouldn't be there if they didn't pay you.

 

Couldn't agree more with Ron-MARS. Sometimes I get unnaturally frustrated with 19 year olds because they are 19 and I ain't. Some guys will give you a rough time and call it "paying your dues". Paying your dues is what you do as a matter of course. Oldest truck, lowest pay and lousiest routes are dues paying. Dealing with a jerk is just a pain in the butt, but some jerks can justify anything to themselves.

On the other hand. With your experience level, you may not be seeing some very tiny things that are not right with what you are doing. Things that he does. Some guys get ridden hard because they are idiots and need to be driven away. Other guys get ridden hard because they are on the edge of being really really good and could use some tempering.

 

I really wouldn't know the "Why" here but I can give you a little advice to stop it. First, you'll have to stop any comments you make about this guy to anyone. That's inportant because you never know who you might be complaining to and that person may just turn right around and tell him what you said with little additions. You can come here and vent, we like stories like that! You can keep yourself a notebook of all the times when he comes at you. Go buy a small notebook that can fit in your pocket and let no one know what it's for. If he sees you writing in the book and wants to know what it is just tell him it's notes for the job. Keep track of the time and place and try to be factual as much as you can. Leave out any comments that you have about him. All you want is a record of what he did and where along with the time.

Change the way you react to him might help too. After he yells at you for doing something wrong just calmly ask him how would he like it done. If he goes off write it down. If you stay calm he looses any feeling of being superior to you. Alot of times just the way you react is what he wants to see so he can go off. If you are calm it changes the game and believe me he will think why he was yelling at a worker when the worker was very calm and receptive.

Do this for awhile, maybe a couple of months and if nothing changes ask if you can see his boss and him too. I can guarantee his boss will take action if you calmly explain what has be going on where it's been going on and what time it's be going on. Keep your composure and just explain you're trying to do the best job you can do.

This might be extremely hard to do because you'll always want to react. Even us old timers still run our mouths when we shouldn't so it will be tough. But you are 19 and it sounds like you've got a good job. You're probably making more than most 19 year olds so you might want to keep this job. Plus you have experience on the job so you're way ahead of most your age. And I'm sure it's tough finding a driving job at your age. So you can change the way the boss reacts to you but it's going to take some work. Good luck and guard that notebook.

 

I have to agree with Gashauler's post. There just may be something that you are not seeing. Or you may just be working for a jerk.

Unfortunately, there are some jerk bosses in almost every company. A great many of them act that way because they are trying to hide their own inferiority complex. Some may actually have serious mental problems. And then some, are just plain ornery and like to screw with people, particularly rookies or kids.

See if you can get inside his head and figure out where he is coming from. You may be able to avoid a lot of his garbage if you are prepaired by knowing what sets him off.

If nothing else works, ignore him as much as you can. Give yourself a couple more years, until you are 21 or over, and hopefully the economy will be better by then. At that time, if you are still having problems, find another job.

Good Luck!

 

Miget I caught something in your post, you said "I have an attitude problem" I'm a retired truck mechanic that ran a large shop for many years. I have trained several technicians over the years and dealt with a multitude of drivers. A bad attitude will cause you more grief than anything else in life, it doesn't matter if you are a driver, a mechanic, or a janitor, attitude can make you or break you.
The apprentices that worked under me did things one way, my way and at times I was a bit hard on them for one reason. I wanted them to learn, I wanted them to become the best technician they could be. The other side was the drivers, the drivers that had a good attitude always got my best effort, and the ones that coped a crappy attitude seemed to get put at the bottom of my things to do list.
Now I'm a student all over again because at sixty years old I'm transitioning to becoming a driver. I will listen to those who want to teach me the ropes with both ears. I will do the best that I can to perform my job the way they want it done. Most importantly I will treat them with respect even if they don't show me the same courtesy. I once had a sign on my desk, it said "Hire teenagers while they still know everything"

 

There's something to be said about "Going with the flow".

 

That's something you'll learn as you get along with the yob (as Brick calls it).
Determine if this is what you want to do and treat it as a career if you choose to stay.
Attitude is something you either change or you will have a change happen to you.