My boss is a... jerk. Yes. Ahem.
 

So. My boss is a jerk.

It isn't really just a thread about 'oh this guy sucks he's so mean wah wah wah.' This man really is a jerk.

First of all, he's painfully sexist and generally biased. I work with two women in our office (it's very small, only the four of us working there) and he never listens to anything we say. I'm 19, which makes me young and inexperienced. He's pointed this out. However, if an older man (40+ years?) in a suit comes in and says THE SAME THINGS WE HAVE SAID, he will immediately listen to it and believe it to be correct. Automatically. No matter what.

Now, when I was first hired, it was as a general tech support person. I go in two hours a day and got paid $7.50 an hour to make sure that the computers are working smoothly and to show the women how to work them, since they're both older and not so tech savvy. I love them both so much, but there were many days that there was NOTHING for me to do, yet he wants me there anyway.

Nevermind that I'm within walking distance and could come in if there's a problem. Hell, I'd do it for free, but whatever, if he wants to pay me to do nothing, I've got no problem with that. It's a nice job, anyway.

However, recently he's asked me to help with his website. Okay, that's cool, whatever. I do that kind of thing, it's what I'm in school for. The place is an RV resort, and honestly, their website sucks. It looks dead and dreary. Not the kind of place you wanna go for a vacation, eh? So I explained this to him, the psychology of colours, etc. He needs a FRESH look. He gets tons of hits per day, I've already checked that. The problem is, frankly, it looks like crap. It needs a redesign to be friendlier and nicer. Not to mention their host is a small LOCAL host with almost no reputation which is quite apt to simply collapse at any point in time.

Now note, this host gives no access to coding or site management. You can change the text on certain pages but you can't change the coding or the design or even ADD pages. All changes like that must be made THROUGH THEM at their discretion. Also, my boss has no backups of his site. He's all like "Oh well they have them over at the OFFICE of the host!" but they won't SEND THE BACKUPS TO HIM. This is a very very bad thing. If they decide to shut down, he'll have NOTHING.

Basically, he's getting screwed. So I told him this. And another professional TOLD HIM THIS. And he agreed to let me redesign the website since I'll do it cheaper than anyone else would. Everything was peachy. I've been researching the best colours for the business and working on layouts to maximize the appeal to his crowd.

I come in today and what do I hear? "Oh, I already paid our host for another year. I don't want to change companies. But it's okay, you can work with them, right?"

NO. NO I CANNOT. I CANNOT WORK WITH THEM YOU IDIOT AND YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE EVERYTHING AUGH.

Well okay. I didn't say that. I just told him 'fine' and that I wasn't dealing with the website anymore. I'd go back to my regular job. He didn't say anything, so I guess that's that. But that really irritated me. Everything I've been doing, what he said he was GOING to let me do. You know what it is? The people from the company talked to him and because it was an OLDER MAN (I've talked to him before, I know) he listened. I'm younger, so I'm less important.

Nevermind that they're ripping him off and I have shown him documentation of prices on other webhosts. They're charging him way too much for basically nothing.

There are a lot of other things wrong too... but I don't have the energy to write on them right now. Maybe later. This is what really irritates me though. REALLY irritates me. Everyone that works in the park hates him. Hell, the residents hate him. This place used to be really popular but now he's losing customers. Why? Because he doesn't want to do ANYTHING. Ugh.

I'll rand about that later. =_= I'm disgusted now. I just had to get that off my chest. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do? I mean, is there ANY way to persuade someone like this? Because I mean, I have a good job. I got a raise and I'm basically getting paid $10 an hour (though only 10 hours a week) to do nothing.

But I really like this place and it's upsetting that such a jerk is running it. He's KILLING it, I promise you, and he's even a lying prick to his employees.

But I hate to see this place collapse. =_= It has such potential.

That's what I'm afraid of... but see, I'd have to do it secretly. Because if he knows that WE brought someone in to back us up he won't listen, you see? We tried that. But every person who comes in and tells him things that isn't associated with us, he listens to.

Maybe I should just hire someone to come and explain it to him, but not tell him I know that person. -_- lol.

You guys suuuuuck. I want an awesome boss. Mine's just a jerk. -_-

That's what I've been thinking. He... doesn't want to change. And I think he is a fool. I don't like to overvalue my own abilities, but I've seen what others are charging him for what he CLAIMED he wanted me to do, and... he'd getting a much better deal with me. And I actually CARE.

Not that it matters.

I can't think of anyone around where I live who is closer to his age. Perhaps, but I highly doubt anyone who's his age. At best half? Maybe a little more? He is sixty-something, I believe.

I guess I can't be too irritable. I know about him. He's rich. He's got a two million dollar condo on the beach he visits randomly, and he's got several other houses. He owned a trailer park before (which is what he's TRYING to run this place as, even though it's supposed to be a RESORT, and trust me I've been in both and there is a huge difference) and I guess it failed - since it isn't like he's running it any more, eh? Now he's gonna drive this place into the ground...

He thinks people only want peace and quiet, too. Nevermind it's a RESORT. Oh no, I don't want to do ANYTHING on my vacation.

Wtf?

I honestly think he's just a bored rich guy trying to do something with his time. But he's stubborn and likes to think he knows business.

He doesn't. And he sure as hell doesn't know people.

I might try to find someone older to talk to him, anyway. I really like this place and I'd like to see it work. It's such a nice resort.

I suppose that's true.

Can I get another job? Sure. I'm good at what I do, I'm people-friendly, etc. That's not the problem. I guess I'm just a perfectionist. I like this place. I like working there, I guess. Of course, I've been planning on moving anyway... I can't take it, really, and there are better opportunities out there.

I guess I'm just grasping at straws. Like I said, this place has such potential...

GAH. This is so frustrating.

It would be nice if he'd just leave everything to me though. *chuckles* Unfortunately I highly doubt that happening.

Perfectionism is a great thing. People have this false postulate that nothing can ever be perfect. It's false.

But you can't force a mind. If it all belongs to him, and he refuses to see reason, it's just hopeless. The trick I guess is not to get too invested in something you know you can't save.
Wait, no it's not!
My theory I guess is just remove the negative factors.
If you want a kick ass resort, go make one. Of course that's expensive, but you can still try. And when you actually have one, you'll make more money, be more recognized, and drive him out of the business. In fact, if you did really well you could probably buy him out and then, huzzah! It's yours!
Or you could just go to work for someone else who sucks less. Whatever, I'm sleepy so I hope I'm making sense. Just don't turn into Eddie Willers. If you didn't read Atlas Shrugged, Eddie Willers refused to let go, and so he got dragged down along with everyone else. Poor Eddie.