What is The Meanest Thing You've Ever Seen a Superior Tell a Subordinate in the Office

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I read an article about Jeff Bezos grilling his employees. One of my favorite lines was, “Are you just lazy or incompetent?”

I know a Broker, “John”, who was repping a buyer, apparently the listing broker, “Dan”, had bad blood with “John”. Dan didn’t even present John’s offer, the place sold for $35,000 less than John’s offer. Was a dick move, board of ethics did nothing.

Got a couple that comes to mind:

1) After about a month in my FT position I got pulled into the corner office. My MD asked if my parents lived in town and I said no. He replied "Well, then you're not special to anyone in this city." and followed up with a 10 minute rant about how useless I was and that he could hire 100 other kids to do my job. All of this was because of a minor feeding problem from a Bloomberg terminal into a spreadsheet.

2) Said MD pulled another analyst from my class into the office to ask why he seemed to be unfocused at work. The analyst said it was because his gf had moved out and got cut off with "Do you wanna know why she moved out? Because you're a little whimp."

3) Senior trader in his sixties (Been around since the crash in '87) would walk over to an intern, who was clearly not cut for S&T, every day and ask him "So... What do you want to be when you grow up?"

There's also the general hazing, but that is usually between peers and more light hearted. You can't make this shit up.

At a deal screening meeting attended by many executives including the CEO. An analyst who modeled the economics of the project was asked to explain one of the assumptions in his model. After his somewhat unclear explanation, the CEO, with his deep and protruding voice, said "that is one of the most bullshit assumptions I've ever heard."

Heard my boss having a phone interview and he asked the kid if he was bothered by the fact that he wants to work for us more than my boss wanted him to.

To a woman on the legal team: "And you fucking cunts think you deserve health care?!"

Shit, the first one tugged my heartstrings there. If I was that kid, it would have been pretty damn tough to not lay into the senior analyst.

My coach to me: "get off the field and let the good players practice"

I've seen #3 before. Analyst was sending out multiple emails a day to data providers with "Any updates?" in the subject and cc'ing everyone in his command chain. VP finally got fed up and told the analyst not to email/contact him anymore.

psychopathic sober boss (who openly acknowledges how insane/mental/demonic he is) brought a senior associate to tears in the middle of the trading floor because of how badly he criticized him...it would be too long to repeat all of the ruthless things he said to him, but my personal favorite was, in the middle of the rant, "I haven't had a drink in 9 years! and Im this fucking close because of how crazy your incompetence drives me!"

Psychotic VP. I kept my pens in the drawers and not on my desk, personal preference, wasn't a big deal. Dude just had a baby and was running into a meeting on maybe 2 hours of sleep. "Oh, the fucking banking analyst doesn't have a single fucking pen on his desk, completely useless." As I turn around in my chair to hand him mine, he's out the door.

Comes back after an hour, and I say "You know, VP, instead of swearing at me and asking me for a pen like a human being, I have at least a dozen pens in my desk. I'm an analyst and I recognize that, but don't speak to me like that"

VP's response "You had a shit GPA from a non-target, you're lucky to even be here."

Bottom line, take hazing like a man, but don't allow yourself to be verbally abused. Stand up for yourself if you're mistreated.

Left the firm 3 months later voluntarily, VP was gone a month later. He picked a bad time to buy a house and have a kid.

We were consolidating a legacy satellite office into HQ about 2.5 hours away, and having monthly in person departmental meetings about the integration and other things. The longest tenured employee in the department's (who happened to work in the satellite office) wife was nine months pregnant. The new boss gave him shit in public about asking if he could call in because he didn't want to be that far from his wife when she was that pregnant.

They never set up a call-in. He did get the last laugh, however. His wife went into labor DURING the meeting, and the boss looked really bad.

Well, while insults/4-letter words are usually ranking quite high, i think it was something about asking someone else, how the have been able to finish school or why they are even here in the first place. After reading some of the other entries here on the other hand, i got the feeling my bosses are kind of missing in the pure-sadism area of leadership. Gross stuff.

These honestly don't seem that bad... I feel like I have seen a lot worse just from my own analyst days. I'll share just two prime examples.

First one: At a MM IB firm, I'm with my class of first year analysts, it's the first day. We are sitting around a conference table with an MD who is in charge of one of the most important industry coverage groups and he asks everyone to go around and tell a story about themselves that they think is interesting. He then proceeds to humiliate each person based upon what they say, which obviously makes each following person even more nervous. Won't repeat specific stories because they would be too identifiable but suffice to say it was a 20 minute exercise in pure sadism. No other reason for it.

Next one that comes to mind: at some sort of company party, maybe Christmas party or something, and it's probably the first time any analyst has been able to mingle in a slightly informal manner with senior leadership. A fellow first year, kind of nerdy Chinese guy with glasses, goes over to say hi to this up-and-coming young MD and join the circle. MD cuts off him off mid sentence and says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you work here for a second, I thought you were the Chinese delivery guy." He then proceeds to say to the other senior bankers, "Do you know why I love this guy? He has no life! No girlfriend, no friends, no family, nothing, he just sits at his desk and grinds for me all day, every day." This MD alone I could tell like 5 more stories about.

I’ve actually gave a boss a beat down for pulling disrespectful stunt before, years ago. Pulled up on him while he was getting coffee. I can deal with criticism, I don’t tolerate disrespect. You destroy personal effects of mine, I will catch you off work grounds.

Hazing from a self-proclaimed asshole Partner ("Partner A") during my first year as an associate at a MM IB firm.

1). It's about 1am, and I'm the most junior member remaining in the office (working late with two Partners, an MD, and two VPs to grind-out a deliverable). One of the VPs asks how my GF was doing (she had recently been going through some stomach issues). I begin to answer, but then Partner A suddenly turns to me and asks if my GF sleeps with me. Before I could respond, he says "hopefully she isn't pregnant!" I chuckle, and say "no, no she isn't", and let the VP know she's going to see a GI specialist the next day. Partner A chimes in again and says "fuck that, you should take her to a veterinarian!"

2). Partner A routinely calls one of the assistants in our office a fucking retard. Both to her face and behind her back.

3). A couple of the assistants complained to HR about Partner A, which let loose a minor shit storm with false allegations being thrown around, so Partner A brings all the analysts and associates into his office one by one for interrogation. By the time it's my turn, I let him know that I wasn't involved, and vouched for another colleague as well. Partner A says, "yeah, I figured that much. (Colleague) is a bigger pussy than you are."

4). (Not mean, but still interesting). Was able to leave work early on Valentine's Day to get dinner with the GF. Partner A told me to make sure I get a BJ.

In my second year now, and now Partner A treats me with respect (or as much respect as he's capable of treating others with). He may be an ass, but he's incredibly smart and I've learned a tremendous amount from him.

We had one guy who was kind of a bumbling associate, but a really nice guy. We'll call him Burr.

After another instance of Burr messing something up, I, the analyst, remark to the senior MD to whom Burr reports, "Well, to Burr is human." He laughs and responds, "To Burr, is to err."

He would constantly kvetch about this guy's fuck ups, but he was nice enough to do it behind his back at least.

"A first year analyst at Jefferies can model this correctly, unlike you" - VP to 2nd year PE associate, not jokingly

Happened a long time ago... A 3rd year Analyst wanted to move from an office abroad for family reasons. He interviewed with this Partner and a VP and left to catch his plane back home. While coming back to their resp. offices through the open-space floor full of juniors, the partner said to the VP (while rubbing his hands): "I've just taken the piss out of this kid, he'll join as a 1st year Analyst. So we get an Associate for cheap Analyst money". I was a fresh associate at the time and we all looked at each other in astonishment.

Kid joined, was not bothered by that treatment (he eventually heard about it from us over some drinks), a hard working very smart guy, got a double promotion one year later.

Fast forward a few years later, the kid left to join the M&A dept of a big client, a large blue chip. Needless to say he was not interested in hearing from this partner, when the latter slimed during his farewell (and pitching for business thereafter). Moved to close some of the largest deals in his industry globally (multi-billion transactions).

I wonder how the savings this partner made when hiring him compared to the potential fees foregone... but hey, you can't change some people!

15 years ago I saw an MD throw a stapler at the back of the head of his secretary. Knocked her right out. She was walking away from him so didn't see it coming. He wrote her a $75k check as soon as she woke up just so she wouldn't sue. I think he got off easy. She could have taken him for much more.

"an analyst wouldn't make this mistake" to a VP2.

If you're in your early 20s and complaining about personal stuff (that's not immediate relative sickness/death), then it wouldn't surprise me if some of your older school seniors gave you some shit (or even worse remain silent and put a cross against your name - believe me this is a great way to ensure you don't progress within the company).

If you sign up for shit like M&A, you ARE signing away your 20s. They're not hiring you because they think you're just smart, they think you have the time, stamina, and focus to devote the majority of your life to the task at hand. You are also being paid as such, with the prospect of making a lot more in the future. If you want your work life balance then go back to a normal job that pays less and doesn't require a lifestyle change.

That said, managers who are unable to direct their frustration in a constructive manner are simply inferior to ones that can't. There are some fields where it can be constructive to turn on the fire for fuckups, but a lot of the examples here don't seem to be that.

"Hey you are wrong again..."

and this happened when the senior suddenly got into the junior's work folder at midnight and decided to check his incomplete work before the junior handed in his work

From my old boss: "What are you thinking?" asks this often of the team. It's kind of mean sounding, but he wants an answer also, so it's kind of unclear if he's just unable to talk like a human being.

In front of others he'd often say "He did this wrong. Nothing new there."

"Fucking child." when someone tells them they did something he doesn't like, like book a different flight, or something minor.

“Get back to work bitch” to me, a 23 year old male in a conference room.

I want to say he tried saying it jokingly, this was in front of another female mid level manager (his buddy).

I didn’t even bother going to HR. HR doesn’t work to protect you, they work to protect and serve the company. I’ve been trying to find another gig elsewhere as it’s not the best work environment

Meh, some of these stories are good, but I figured there would be some more juice. The stapler guy should have been fired if not imprisoned.

When Charles Ponzi got his scheme up and running, he purchased the business where he held his first job just so he could fire his former boss.

Other stories; Boutique MD to accountant - "Jim, you're a cheap Jew, maybe you can help me with this."

I'll keep this vague, but an subordinate and senior were getting emotional behind an office door regarding a day off when the subordinate said they had a doctor's appointment. Senior didn't believe him and demanded to know the real reason. Subordinate stormed out and slammed the door to the point the glass divider in the frame cracked. He wasn't fired. He then successfully sued the senior for a sizable sum when said senior tried to validate the doctor's appointment by calling the hospital directly to know the reason for the visit. Senior was fired not long after.

Some hack on the team known for sloppy work and a bad temper threw the phone at the receiver from which it bounced and knocked a monitor off of his desk causing it to crack. He was not fired.

Some outsourced support was not being supportive nor helpful. I may or may not have gotten an ovation when I barked loudly into the phone, "Well if you have a fking problem doing your fking job correctly, then come fking see me on xx floor of xx building in NYC so I can straighten you out!"

A complete control freak I worked for would check up on my work constantly, none of which was bad, and say improve that, fix that, bla bla bla. It got old. One time I took a long lunch. The next day he asked how lunch was and I was evasive and said fine. An awkward pause ensured and he said, "Are you interviewing elsewhere?" I snarled back, "Should I be!" and went back to work.

"Analyst, bring my oil!"

In my previous ER internship, my MD once said " fuck you" to me through a phone call. Now why is that? I made a typo in an email I sent to him. It was my fault yes, but it was middle of the night cranking a research note out for him and the email was not meant to be sent to any clients. A very minor typoo like this. Really? "F you"? Had a chance to continue working for him or transfer to that bank's IBD. No thanks because I personally know someone who was in prison for 2 years and still ends up in their IBD

Thieves, perverts, parricides, dictators: the kind of pleasures they enjoy.

The worst I've had was coming back from a pitch gone wrong.

After relegating my MD to fly back coach for a job poorly done, it was just me and my firm's CEO on the company jet.

"I don't get what I pay you for. You're nothing but a post-box. When I was your age (23), I'd raised $25mm for my VC. What have you done with your life? Nothing."