When your "Superior" is talentless and unintelligent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The woman I have to report to offers nothing. It's so frustrating. She knows nothing about my area of expertise. And on top of that, she really has no talents and no brains. Her one quality is ambition, which is why she is in this role. By the way, I don't want her job. I just have to report to her because of the structure of our company. It sucks. Anyone else in this situation who can offer some words of wisdom and inspiration to get through our ridiculous "check-in" meetings?

Find a way to build rapport with your boss' boss, and develop good relationships with your peers.

At some point, all useless folks get fired.

[Anonymous]

OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember the thread about the person who loved their job but her colleagues and boss were taking parts of her portfolio? I guess it can be crappy if your boss does know your work.

I once had a boss who was not technical AND a terrible manager, but he desperately wanted to do our work. We assigned him "busy work".

I guess I'm saying there are lots of bad managers and some understand your job and some don't.

Hey, that was me! Thanks for remembering me, ha.

Yeah, it sucks in the other situation too. I've taken to caring less and trying to pretend I'm on an episode of The Office. Trying to care more about my family, less about work, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

You are a professional and a grown-up.

Unlike OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

You are a professional and a grown-up.

Unlike OP.

Only beggars can't be choosers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice is that you change your attitude. I realize that this may be "just a rant" but saying that your supervisor "has no brains" is over-the-top.

I wouldn't say that to her face or at the office. This is an anonymous forum and I am venting, looking for inspiration. She is, by fact, not very intelligent, by the way. Question - are you a supervisor?

I'd be curious to hear her assessment of your talent and intelligence. I'm a supervisor, and I often find the folks with the biggest attitudes are the ones with the most overinflated opinion of their own talents.

Read up: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

"The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate."

I've been working for 25 years; perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had a stupid boss. I've had a wide range of talents, but none have been stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

As I said, my attitude is fine at work. I am well liked. What part of venting on an anonymous post don't you understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice is that you change your attitude. I realize that this may be "just a rant" but saying that your supervisor "has no brains" is over-the-top.

I wouldn't say that to her face or at the office. This is an anonymous forum and I am venting, looking for inspiration. She is, by fact, not very intelligent, by the way. Question - are you a supervisor?

I'd be curious to hear her assessment of your talent and intelligence. I'm a supervisor, and I often find the folks with the biggest attitudes are the ones with the most overinflated opinion of their own talents.

Read up: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

"The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate."

I've been working for 25 years; perhaps I'm just lucky but I've never had a stupid boss. I've had a wide range of talents, but none have been stupid.

this year i have been working for a boss that is stupid. out of his league. He fell into a promotion after another round of layoffs. He doesn't do anything other than shuffle people around and do cya. everyone knows but the managers at his peer level are the same ethnic group so they cover for him. very demoralizing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

As I said, my attitude is fine at work. I am well liked. What part of venting on an anonymous post don't you understand?

Oh, I understand venting on an anonymous board just fine, OP. What YOU don't seem to understand is that people on the same board will respond to your venting and try to help you understand the faults you display that contribute to your need to vent. People here are trying to help you with their responses, and you only seem to care about your venting. That's fine. Buy yourself a diary and vent where no one else will read and react to your words. If you choose to put it out here, you're going to get responses. Clearly, you don't appreciate the responses and help being offered.

Hear this. Your attitude is not "fine". You may be portraying a fine attitude at the office, but you're a fake. You're judgmental and bitter. That is your true attitude and it is apparent from your very first post. Own it, because if you don't, the disconnect between your fake work persona and your real attitude will continue to frustrate you and cause you to think "venting" is an appropriate way to deal with your issues.

Either change your attitude or find a new job. Those are productive ways to deal with the frustrations you are experiencing. Otherwise, you're just whining and excusing yourself by calling it "venting".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

As I said, my attitude is fine at work. I am well liked. What part of venting on an anonymous post don't you understand?

Oh, I understand venting on an anonymous board just fine, OP. What YOU don't seem to understand is that people on the same board will respond to your venting and try to help you understand the faults you display that contribute to your need to vent. People here are trying to help you with their responses, and you only seem to care about your venting. That's fine. Buy yourself a diary and vent where no one else will read and react to your words. If you choose to put it out here, you're going to get responses. Clearly, you don't appreciate the responses and help being offered.

Hear this. Your attitude is not "fine". You may be portraying a fine attitude at the office, but you're a fake. You're judgmental and bitter. That is your true attitude and it is apparent from your very first post. Own it, because if you don't, the disconnect between your fake work persona and your real attitude will continue to frustrate you and cause you to think "venting" is an appropriate way to deal with your issues.

Either change your attitude or find a new job. Those are productive ways to deal with the frustrations you are experiencing. Otherwise, you're just whining and excusing yourself by calling it "venting".

Geesh, so harsh. I think the bitter person might be you...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice is that you change your attitude. I realize that this may be "just a rant" but saying that your supervisor "has no brains" is over-the-top.

I wouldn't say that to her face or at the office. This is an anonymous forum and I am venting, looking for inspiration. She is, by fact, not very intelligent, by the way. Question - are you a supervisor?

I am not a supervisor. I have worked for several people that I did not think were particularly good supervisors. Some of them did not have a very good grasp of the subject area we work in. Others had terrible people skills. Others had terrible organizational skills. ALL of them had some valuable qualities. I found a way to work with all of them.

Question- how do you know that she is "by fact" not very intelligent?

Because she clearly does not grasp very simple concepts that I have to explain to her.

My advice for you is to do whatever you can to make her look good. I am a supervisor (now) and have worked with people like this in my past.

First, evaluate yourself. Another poster mentioned it. You are explaining concepts to her that are complicated and she isn't getting it. Maybe you aren't relaying the information in a way that is easy to follow. Sometimes, it helps to start at the beginning and give a back story instead of jumping right into the current issue. Sure, it takes longer, but it gives you the whole picture.

One of my team members has a great philosophy with regard to supervisors. It is his job to make sure that nothing he does surprises the supervisor (good or bad). This means I get 15 emails a day on correspondence that he has (with regard to answering questions that someone could potentially ask me about). Do I read it? Not unless I have to - but I glance quickly to make sure it isn't something important that I need to act on. It is overkill- but I understand his want to make sure I stay in the loop.

[Anonymous]

This post sure does make a lot of you uncomfortable. Seems to me there are a lot of:
1 - Incompetent supervisors who are afraid of being discovered. So they pull the "attitude" card
2 - Subordinates who are afraid to question authority, even in their own private thoughts
Pathetic!

[Anonymous]

OP has an attitude problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - hahaha, I love the assumptions made on this forum. I actually DO have a good relationship with the woman I report to. I keep all of this to myself. I don't share my thoughts with anyone at work. I am venting on an ANONYMOUS forum, like all of you do. My attitude comes across as very positive at work. Also, I am not at all bitter about my job, having advanced as far as I can in my area at this company. It's perfect for me right now, with young kids at home. The truth is, there ARE unintelligent supervisors out there, and mine is one of them. I can see that this fact really frightens all the supervisors reading these posts.

NP here. Maybe you are projecting a good attitude, but you don't actually have a good attitude and that is coming through in all your posts.

Yes, there are unintelligent supervisors out there. There are also very intelligent supervisors out there and you may have one whose talents you don't get to see. The larger issue is how this impacts your work life. I work for a woman who doesn't have the subject matter expertise I have and knows it. I wish she were wiser in my niche field, but she isn't, so I have to do more work advancing my subject matter expertise than if she were more knowledgeable in my area. That said, it would not occur to me to dismiss her as being stupid or useless or unintelligent. I don't know the intricacies of her job and I have better things to do than to dismiss her because she isn't the mentor I hoped her to be.

What I choose to do is to work as best I can with the situation I have. I tell her upfront what I need and she helps me develop my skills. I don't judge her. I just do my job and remember that not everyone is an expert in everything and I need to work with her to get the job done.

The problem with you, OP, is your attitude.

As I said, my attitude is fine at work. I am well liked. What part of venting on an anonymous post don't you understand?

Oh, I understand venting on an anonymous board just fine, OP. What YOU don't seem to understand is that people on the same board will respond to your venting and try to help you understand the faults you display that contribute to your need to vent. People here are trying to help you with their responses, and you only seem to care about your venting. That's fine. Buy yourself a diary and vent where no one else will read and react to your words. If you choose to put it out here, you're going to get responses. Clearly, you don't appreciate the responses and help being offered.

Hear this. Your attitude is not "fine". You may be portraying a fine attitude at the office, but you're a fake. You're judgmental and bitter. That is your true attitude and it is apparent from your very first post. Own it, because if you don't, the disconnect between your fake work persona and your real attitude will continue to frustrate you and cause you to think "venting" is an appropriate way to deal with your issues.

Either change your attitude or find a new job. Those are productive ways to deal with the frustrations you are experiencing. Otherwise, you're just whining and excusing yourself by calling it "venting".

I'm not OP but a PP who responded that I understood her position because I find myself in a similar one. Though I don't think my supervisor is talentless and unintelligent, just not the right fit for the current job and one of those male supervisors who underestimates and doesn't listen well to women, which is not just my perception - my (male) teammates and I have openly talked about it and engage in strategies to work around it. Things have improved over time as he has spent longer on the project and seems to be starting to recognize and respect my knowledge and contributions, at least a bit, but it is still difficult and frustrating.

So I frequently vent about my boss because it lets me blow off steam in a way that enables me to then deal better with him. Sure I could find a different job, but the other perks of the one I've got (interesting work, good working relationships with team, lots of flexibility) would be difficult if not impossible to replicate and make it overall worth it to stay.

In some ways it's similar to my marriage. There are things about my husband that drive me up the wall yet will never change. So I vent about those things to my friends so that they don't drive me crazy and I don't throw away an otherwise good marriage with a man that I love and respect.