History Main / BadBoss

* In ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'', the head of the General Assistance Department Sir Gregory Pitkin is very tend of hitting One and Two or throwing something at them after they've messed up greatly on their assigments.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': Randall is very rude and abrasive toward his assistant Fungus, their relationship being totally opposite to Sulley and Mike's. It is telling that when Fungus is seen at the end without Randall, he is much happier.

** Ramsay Snow, during a twisted variant of GoodCopBadCop, kills five of his "bad cop" henchmen merely to mess with the mind of his captive, who believes Ramsay is rescuing him. He essentially killed his own men for fun. Later, he has no problem ordering his archers to fire upon their men when they are engaged with the enemy during the Battle of the Bastards and creating a mountain out of their corpses to trap Jon's forces.
** Littlefinger occasionally shows his true colours to his sex workers.
** Justified in most cases with Tywin, as he's SurroundedByIdiots. He's actually rather friendly with Arya, as he recognizes her as intelligent and competent. That is until he hands her over to the service of Ser Gregor Clegane.

-->'''Scout Trooper:''' ''[into comlink]'' Any update yet?\\

* In his first scene in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', Hopper takes out his frustration at his brother by punching out another member of his gang (since he promised his mother on his deathbed he wouldn't kill his brother). Later, he [[BuriedAlive buries his underlings alive]] just to prove a point.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l3xWlLGzi8 Busujima]] harassed her subordinates and forced them to work overtime, particularly Rin. One day, she canceled Rin's reservation at a restaurant using her computer. It turned out that the dinner was for a negotiation with another company.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkYrjDykjPE Bonkura]] mistreated Hiroshi at work. When the company money was missing (due to Bonkura not realizing the different drop-off time from the bank despite Hiroshi trying to tell him), he decided to frame Hiroshi for the theft and tried to get the CEO Minako to fire him. She refused and instead demoted him to a regular employee and cut his salary.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnYyTPqjwE Matsunaga]] used his power to harass, criticize and bring down his employees, especially Hiroshi. His targeted mistreatment towards the latter increased when Yurie Tanaka, the worker he had a crush on, was in love with Hiroshi and not him. This led to Matsunaga taking credit for whatever work Hiroshi did and getting him fired for a typo on copies of the manga ''[[Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba Hametsu no Yaiba]]''.

** Maleficent from ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' was also shown to be a very bad boss to her minions (granted, it isn't surprising due to her being the Mistress of All Evil). A very notable instance of this is when she electrocutes her minions with lightning after she learns that they spent sixteen years searching for a baby, not even being aware that Aurora would age. That being said she said averts this with her raven Diablo.

** Ursula from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' [[SubvertedTrope is an exception]], as she treats her pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam with genuine care; she even becomes extremely distressed after killing them by accident. Considering they were one of the rare Disney instances of subverting SurroundedByIdiots, it might be understandable.

** Ursula from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' is an exception. If something bad happens to her eels, then she gets pissed... Considering they were one of the rare Disney instances of subverting SurroundedByIdiots, it might be understandable.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Mammon views himself as owning his servants just as much as he owns his riches, and wants to make sure that they know this. When he drops in for a visit, his minions are expected to drop everything and make with the bootlicking, and will be made to perform a variety of menial, disgusting, and humiliating tasks for a few coins or a grubby handful of banknotes -- and this can range from serving him his meals to crawling around on their bellies, licking his shoes clean, or performing "more intimate services". Mammon will only mellow out once his is fully satsified that his servants know who owns them.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' the Clan Trueborns are very smug to other warriors. They consider Freeborns as inferior, and older warriors (anyone above 30) passed their prime as cannon fodder. The warrior caste as a whole consider the other castes as dispensable and wouldn't mind leaving them for dead, or spacing them when they don't have enough room for their spoils.
** In fact, the Clans have entire units, called ''solahma'', that are places to put old or deficient warriors, where they are specifically expected to give their lives in hopeless battles to buy time for the "real" warriors.
* Not uncommon in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventures, fanfics, etc.; demon generals and other epic -- level AlwaysChaoticEvil types often slaughter their own minions for thrills, sport, or out of frustration. Most of the lower -- level AlwaysChaoticEvil types are {{Explosive Breeder}}s relative to comparable good aligned races, in order to counter their high mortality rate. In fact, in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' the bottom level planar {{mooks}} spontaneously reincarnate.

* Emperor Hantei XVI from ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' may be one of the most prolific examples, if not the greatest. Aside from more standard atrocities like [[CainAndAbel killing all of his siblings]] to eliminate potential rivals to the throne, or humiliating a political rival and taking his daughter as his [[SexSlave concubine]], Hantei XVI also regularly rooted out conspiracies against him ([[ConspiracyTheorist many of which didn't exist]] [[ProperlyParanoid until his actions created them]]) and slaughtered large swaths of people for even minor slights. In the end, it was ''his own honor guard'' that took him down, right after he had [[TheDragon Hida Tsuneo]] kill his own mother in an [[YourHeadAsplode extremely gruesome fashion]].

* Encouraged for the titular Leviathans of ''TabletopGame/LeviathanTheTempest''. A Leviathan can propitiate its [[GodOfEvil divine nature]] and regain [[{{Mana}} Ichor]] by abusing one of its Beloved in an appropriate fashion (a Judge might hand down excessively harsh punishments, for example). Given that a Leviathan's Beloved have been {{MindRape}}d into fanatical allegiance, this abuse rarely has a deleterious effect on their loyalty.

* The Computer in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' is not just a bad boss to the entire Alpha Complex, it's an insane paranoid one, and the human-staffed bureaucracy under it reflects this at every turn.

* Used in-universe in the TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} game-setting, in which the top-rated independent TV show is called ''I Hate My Boss''. Given how thoroughly the MegaCorp mindset has taken over society, it's considered an ''extremely'' subversive program and airs only on pirate stations. This is also a common trope associated with Mr. Johnsons, many a runner has done a job for bad boss taking out his competition or silencing a complainer.

* Commonly invoked in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' for Imperial Guard leaders. At this point, it is difficult to determine if they are the exceptions or the rules. Most protagonists tend to avoid the trope, but almost always have to deal with other Imperial Guard leaders that do fit the trope. The Commissars are infamous for being this. Most of the time they would kill a guardsman for cowardice to get others back in line, but there are times that they would shoot an individual for something like uniform violation. However, as the titular character of Literature/CiaphasCain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!) notes, most Commissars who shoot Guardsmen on a whim end up [[UnfriendlyFire dying in glorious combat several miles away from the frontlines]]. Furthermore, the Catachans (think Vietnam Jungle Fighters turned [[ExaggeratedTrope Up To Eleven]]) have/had a special "Oops, sorry Sir!" rule, which meant that any Commissar attached to a Catachan unit has/had a 1-in-6 chance of dying before the battle even starts.

* Any high-ranking [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade vampire]] in ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' is almost guaranteed to be this. Not only is [[DecadentCourt the Camarilla]] a hive of corruption full of cronyism, nepotism and petty backstabbing, but many vampires simply consider it a RiteOfPassage to abuse the neonates. The only upside is that, at least, you're not working for [[AxCrazy the Sabbat.]]
** Note that this isn't much better with the other supernatural factions in ''The World of Darkness'' setting, either. As a general rule, as a character gets older, he is likely to become more powerful, to gain status, and to increasingly lose his grip on his [[KarmaMeter Morality]] and [[SanitySlippage sanity.]] As a result, your boss is likely to be among the most powerful, most respected, and [[SociopathicHero most insane]] people alive. Note that this is also true for the Player Characters.
** Also true in the [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem new Vampire]] setting as well, though to a somewhat lesser extent. This is because the Covenants of the New World of Darkness tend to work to mitigate the peculiarities of elder vampires, rather than simply giving them the run of the show.
** The vampires from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' may think they have it bad, as per above, but they should try working for the Earthbound in ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen''. Vampire elders at least have to obey some basic physical constraints. The Earthbound genuinely believe that things like logic and causality are pesky details that can be pushed out of their way if they just apply enough brute force, and they are even to some extent ''[[RealityWarper right]].''
--->'''Blaysiel:''' Imagine working for a boss who's got [[PointyHairedBoss no idea what year it is or how you do your job,]] but he wants you to take your job seriously. He wants that so much he's willing to [[YouHaveFailedMe kill you if you fail,]] just to make a point.

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': Big Jack Horner is a bullying thug who runs his family's pie-making business with an iron fist, [[CollectorOfTheStrange hoards magical artifacts]] (including [[WouldHurtAChild baby unicorn horns]]) because of [[IJustWantToBeSpecial his long-standing envy of magical creatures]], and [[WeHaveReserves carelessly sacrifices the lives of his employees]] in his quest to get the Wishing Star. He's also a CardCarryingVillain; when the Ethical Bug calls him [[YouMonster an "irredeemable monster"]], his response is to mockingly ask him what took so him so long to notice.

* Commonly invoked in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' for Imperial Guard leaders. At this point, it is difficult to determine if they are the exceptions or the rules. Most protagonists tend to avoid the trope, but almost always have to deal with other Imperial Guard leaders that do fit the trope. The Commissars are infamous for being this. Most of the time they would kill a guardsman for cowardice to get others back in line, but there are times that they would shoot an individual for something like uniform violation.

* Downplayed in ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'' -- while Madam won't abuse her housekeeper Eve outright, she ''will'' make some dubious demands, such as having Eve bring her ironing board while on vacation.