Getting boss-ed around?

You might have felt, on many a manic Monday morning, that even in the 21st century, the ���master- slave��� mindset is still alive and kicking ��� in the workplace. And the cruel master is now your boss from hell. Here are a few avatars of the boss from hell.
The slave driver
Ramneek, a young business development executive working with a management consultancy firm, says, ���My boss thinks nothing of floating in after a meeting at the fag end of the day and heaping a 50-page tender document on me.��� He disapproves of any dissent, his stance being, ���I pay you money, so you���re my slave.���
The cleaner
The whimsical boss can leave you stumped by his ingenuity in making you scamper and grovel.Recently, the head of a software company purportedly got his team to do some serious ���spring cleaning��� in a bid to make them learn how to write a defect-free code. The team members were asked to clean up their work area, which involved mopping the floor, cleaning the pantry and the loos! They had to look for ���defects���. For example, an extra chair was counted a defect. On the fourth day, the staffers got fed up and complained to the HR.
Explains Rohit Mandal, director of a private equity fund, who has had his share of run-ins with his superiors, ���The colonial mindset of intolerance has transferred to the corporate world. It���s chamchas that bosses want and not people who look them in the eye.���
The critic
Media professional Reema feels, ���Insecure bosses run you down. They criticise you till they break you.��� She recounts how during her previous stint with a publication, her boss, who was feeling irked with this particular employee, accused her of stealing a measly gadget, which she had misplaced herself. ���It was very humiliating,��� she says.
The femalevolent
And does gender have anything to do with your boss being good or bad? Meera, 23, who had a harrowing time working with an event management company as a business developer, thinks it does. ���Female bosses are the worst because they take things personally,��� rues Meera, whose highly unappreciative boss used execrations to show just how disappointed she was. Meera quit after a particularly foul-mouthed reprimand, and now works with another firm.
Manik Shergill, who now owns a company in the outsourcing business, recalls how, when he needed leave for his father to undergo a heart surgery, his boss debated the ���wisdom of giving him leave��� with her superior. She talked about it in his presence as though he was just a piece of furniture. ���Such behaviour is cruel and insensitive,��� says Manik.
The landlord
Rues Varsha Ray, an advertising executive who is now a trainee with a magazine, ���It seems I work for a personal fiefdom, because much of my time goes into doing personal work for my boss ��� like getting his air and rail tickets booked!���
(Some names have been changed to protect identities)