And one of the reasons I have is by identifying illegal or unethical behavior where I can, without letting the offender know it was me that brought attention to it. Like exposing that guy's affair. That would have gotten rid of him, though you need to have the mental and emotional mettle to figure out a way to expose it without him knowing it was you.

But you chose to kiss up to this guy, who apparently did not have an ethical bone in his body (how do you know he got those contracts without bribing somebody?), and that's why we have to deal with @$$holes in the workplace…because nobody takes a stand.

Something tells me that if your boss had told you to shred some important documents at Enron, you would have done it. It's deadwood like this that have thrown us into economic chaos.

Although I entirely and wholeheartedly agree with you that "managing the relationship" proactively, without whining or feeling victimized, is the key to growing and succeeding in the workplace…a truly BAD boss – and they DO exist – is a person of such toxicity that there IS no "relationship" to manage.

There is abuse. There are poisonous and even evil deeds. There is a black hole that all proactive, constructive, and mature behavior disappears into…as if it never existed.

A truly BAD boss is toxic human being who will hurt others without end, regardless of ANYTHING they might do, or not do. It doesn't matter. A BAD boss hardly perceives anyone or anything outside of their own self-involved sphere.

I can give some examples…but not right this minute. I'll wait to see if that kind of thing is of interest to anyone first.

My real intent is to open the possibility here that "bad bosses" DO exist, and they wreak havoc on people and on businesses.

You'll know it when you see it. It'll be vastly different than anything you've even hinted at, or alluded to, in this blog entry.

So, I invite you to consider – or reconsider – the catchy but false claim that bad bosses don't exist. This is far too facile a claim.

There are bad parents. There are bad people. There are psychotic people. There are – truly – real victims in this world. The workplace is no different. Like children with bad parents, there truly ARE workers with bad bosses – and in both situations, there's a vast power differential that cannot be overcome.

In the case of adults with bad bosses, sometimes their only power is to leave that workplace. Bosses who are psychically damaged – and in turn damage those around them – can be unyielding, unchangingly abusive.

So, regardless of one's emotional intelligence, nothing changes with a truly BAD boss. Those with high EQs usually choose to leave a bad boss; it's often the most constructive, proactive, and non-victim thing they can do in an unremittingly evil situation.