'Your grandpa died? Big deal,' voted worst comment by boss on job website

(123rf)

South Korea's job-searching platform Job Planet on Tuesday revealed the results of its survey on the worst bosses, which asked users to vote based on company reviews posted on its website. The company reviews were organized into eight award categories, and survey respondents could choose up to two selections in each category.

First place in the "loss of humanity" category, with 51.2 percent of the votes, went to the boss of a company who ordered the reviewer to come to work, despite the death of the reviewer's grandfather. The reviewer was told, "Your grandfather died? Big deal. Come to the office and work."

The runner-up in the same category was a company order to "take turns getting pregnant," with 38.7 percent, while 36.3 percent of respondents voted for a boss who told the reviewer to stay put even though a fire had started at the shop.

In the "worst company president" category, 47.7 percent of users voted for a person who borrowed money from the employees. The runner-up, with 46.1 percent of the votes, was a president who ordered employees to take care of his personal business, such as cleaning his house and moving equipment for his wife’s hobbies.

Other categories included the "cheapest bosses" category, the "worst interviews" category, and the "actual crimes" category, which mostly highlighted incidences of sexual harassment.

One review said the CEO of a company was having an affair, noting that the CEO had asked an employee to take care of the situation. The reviewer noted that the CEO's wife came over and checked their phone out of suspicion of her husband.

The top pick of the crime category was a review that talked about sales representatives who bet on the underwear colors of their female subordinates. The review gained 53.9 percent of the votes in that category. Ranking next was a CEO who called up female workers during company trips and forced sexually suggestive penalties on them, with 51.6 percent of the votes.

According to the reviews, some other ridiculous comments by bosses included blaming an employee for their parents' divorce, installing surveillance cameras and recording devices to eavesdrop on workers, and tracking the internet records of Korean employees, excluding employees from the US or Europe.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)