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I work for a local county politician in a small town. When my old boss retired, no one in the office wanted to run for the position, and this idiot got elected. During his campaign he emphasized that he was the only candidate with "real experience", although he has no idea what he is doing, he has no college degree or any training in this field at all whatsoever.
He has to go to a school and get certified in order to run again in 4 years. He skipped the first and third class (at the county's expense) and nearly failed the second. He bought 2 paintings at a charity auction soon after being elected, and paid for them with a county check! One is hanging in the office, no one knows what he did with the other.
He re-floored the office recently. The entire staff wanted carpet in order to help muffle the noise and make a nicer work environment. He insisted that tile would look more "professional". I agree that it looks nice, but you can't even roll a chair over it without a rubber mat, because the installer said that it would chip the tile. It also cost quite a bit more than the carpet would have (at the taxpayers expense, of course).
He is constantly on the phone and having meetings in his office. It would appear that he is a very busy man, until you start listening in on his conversations. Baseball, fishing, golf and his kids are about the only topics of discussion. He will actually make people wait for 20 or 30 minutes in the lobby before he talks to them because he is on an important call. I agree that helping your kids get into a good school is important, but do it on your own time!
He hired a new receptionist soon after taking office. She's an OK receptionist, but that's not why he hired her. She's a cute blonde who's getting married to one of his friend's grandkids, although he claimed to not know anything about her when he hired her. Sometimes she spends all day in his office with him with the door closed. You can hear them laughing and whispering. It's sickening. She's less than half his age, he's married and she's engaged. Whether any thing is actually going on or not, that behavior is very inapropriate!
Now, if you were a local politician, making 100+ thousand a year, wouldn't you make an effort to be at work? We are constantly having to take messages and tell people, "I'm not sure when or if he'll be back today." He just leaves without telling anyone he's gone, or when he'll be back. Since being elected, he has been in this office maybe 60% of the time, but to hear him talk about it, it sounds like he's the hardest working guy in the county.
Although it's unethical (and possibly illegal) he caters to his friends like crazy. He has me do research for his lawyer friend who is too lazy to come to the courthouse to do it himself! Sometimes I spend all day on projects for him, neglecting my own work. He's also had me do specific projects and reports without telling me why, and then I find out that he's using it to help with his re-election campaign. This makes me especially angry, because he had a new handbook written when he was elected. It plainly says that we are in no way to contribute to a political campaign, whether for this office or any other, while on county time.
I really could go on and on. I haven't even touched on his arrogant personality, and on how he plans to have his desk elevated six inches so that he appears more intimidating to people who come in his office. (I can still hardly believe that one myself)
This used to be a pleasant work environment.
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