35 Bosses That Could Have Chosen Empathy But Chose Toxicity Instead - 1

35 Bosses That Could Have Chosen Empathy But Chose Toxicity Instead

Empathy is now widely recognised as essential for effective leadership. Good managers not only help employees feel heard and supported but also translate upper management’s policies into a positive workplace culture . Unfortunately, not all leaders act with empathy. Some individuals in authority exhibit dictatorial or high-handed behaviour, making it difficult for their teams.

Conflict resolution skills are crucial for those in leadership roles, yet many employees still encounter toxic bosses who may lack these abilities. People have taken to sharing their experiences of dealing with such challenging managers online—some venting, some detailing clever retaliations, and others describing polite yet satisfying responses. We’ve collected the most upvoted screenshots and included them in the gallery below.

#1 Logical

35 Bosses That Could Have Chosen Empathy But Chose Toxicity Instead - 2

#2 “You Are Replaceable” “Okay, Then I Quit” “No, Not Like That”

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#3 Quit My Job Last Night, It Was Nice To Be Home To Make The Kids Breakfast And Take Them To School Today. Off To Hunt For A New Opportunity, Wish Me Luck

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#4 Never Told A Boss Off Like This. And It Felt Amazing

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#5 Just Found I’m The Single Lowest Paid Paramedic At My Ambulance Company, Despite Having The Most Experience By Several Years

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#6 Boss Wouldn’t Accept My Resignation Letter

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#7 I’m Still In Shock

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#8 Proved My Boss Wrong (By Getting A 40k Raise)

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#9 What Kind Of Psycho Asks That, Expecting The Answer To Be Anything Other Than Family?

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#10 Just “Turn It Off”

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#11 Old Manager Texting Me

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Old manager keeps texting me, blocked him by phone number the first time but just checked again months later and he found me on facebook. I worked with this man when I was 16 years old. Pretty gross if you ask me.

#12 I’m Quite Annoyed And Want To Reply Accordingly, But I’m Unsure If My Words Hold Any Truth

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#13 Why Is Working While You’re Sick A Badge Of Honor? It’s Dumb

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#14 Convo Between My Coworker Who Quit And My Boss

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#15 My Boss Says “I Suck” For Being Sick And Then Uses His Own Record To Make Me Feel Bad

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#16 Boss Ate Half Of My Lunch While I Was In The Bathroom

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#17 Call The Health Department And Tell Them What That Restaurant Is Doing

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#18 I Have Been Wanting To Quit My Job Of 10 Years Took A Mental Health Day To Think About It This Is What I Wake Up To

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#19 Today Is The First Official Day Of My Vacation. I Barely Made It 4 Hours Before Some Trouser Stain Texted Me For Help, And Wouldn’t Take “No” For An Answer

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#20 Boss: “As Your Boss, I Don’t Have To Answer Your Calls. But You Do Have To Answer Mine”

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#21 What If I Get Fired Because I Take The Bus To Work?

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#22 Between A Friend And His Manager At A Small Packing Plant

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#24 I Got Fired And They Still Expected Me To Come In For My Shift

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#25 Just Rotten To The Core

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#26 At My Significant Other’s Workplace (Which Is Also My Old Workplace), Absolutely Terrifying

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#27 Got Fired For “Telling The Boss How To Do His Job” When All I Did Was Say “We Can’t Obstruct A Fire Escape”

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#28 Imagine Paying Poverty Wages And Then Demanding Loyalty

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#30 My Boss Denied My Medical Request A Month In Advance, The First Time Ever, Even Requesting A Day Off

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#31 My Boss Knew I Was Moving Into A New Apartment The Day Before My Summer Holidays. She Fired Me And Didn’t Let My Coworkers Know

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I was meant to start the shift in August, nobody knew I wasn’t coming.

#32 My Boss Fired Everyone And Didn’t Even Tell Us

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#33 Boss Called Me In The Middle Of Fixing The Day Shifts Mistakes On Top Of Doing My Own Job To Chew Me Out For Refusing A Customer

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Needless to say, she won’t have to worry about getting anymore complaints about me.

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#35 Got Fired After Having Allergic Reaction To Second Vaccine Dose

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Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.