The Anthropological Reason Why You Hate Your Boss

With a little help from sociology and all the rest.

“I hate my boss.”

If I had to guess at the most-said phrase at happy hours around the world — but especially in the United States — I’d auger these are the top three:

• “Another one? Sure, why not?”

• “I hate my boss.”

• “Have you been to that new hipster cheese shop that’s also a distillery?”

I’m probably wrong on №3, but I’m not wrong on №1 and №2. I’ve been to maybe 19,000 happy hours in my life, and “I hate my boss” comes up a lot. This isn’t a surprising fact. The employee-manager relationship is somewhat doomed from the start in many cases, and it doesn’t help when stats like these exist:

• 68 percent of managers aren’t engaged in their employees’ career development

• Only about 34 percent of managers can name more than one strength of their direct reports

• 82 percent of managers end up being the wrong hire

• 60 percent of managers say they “don’t have the time” to respect their employees

All these are problems. You can’t sugar-coat it. So if you’ve ever uttered “I hate my boss,” I’m with you. I myself have hated many a boss, and been blessed (#blessed) with a few good ones along the way too. Remember: management isn’t intuitive to most people.

But have you ever stopped and thought about why you say “I hate my boss?” Is it just because your boss is a total f’n wanker? No. It’s actually very rooted in anthropology and sociology and psychology and the like.

I hate my boss: Let’s establish Paul Graham’s reputation first