The Lie.

Spend enough time around a bad boss and eventually you will witness:

The Lie.

Usually drawn forth by the neutral inquiries of a disinterested but informed third party.

The bad boss is doing their usual bad boss thing of saying a lot without saying anything.

Then the question comes whose truthful answer will put the bad boss in a bad light.

The bad boss knows you know the truth.

Thus - the long pause as the bad boss does a quick mental calculation of the pros and cons of telling the truth and being shamed by their inquisitor - or telling a lie and you being a witness.

The bad boss always chooses the Lie.

‘Yes,’ they answer, when you know the answer is ‘No’. There’s no fudging the Lie when it comes.

The bad boss chooses their reputation with third parties over their reputation with you because the bad boss assumes you’ve stuck around this long, you’ll overlook and forgive the Lie. The bad boss counts on you buying the story that the Lie was necessary to protect the organisation that you rely on to pay your mortgage.

Neither you nor the bad boss will ever speak of the Lie.

But know this.

The bad boss routinely lies.

Including about you.