SG employee says 'toxic' manager contributes little beyond 'Claude decks and gossips'

SINGAPORE: Having to remind your boss to check her emails, turn up for meetings, and find a presentation you have already sent her five times is one thing. Having her take credit for your team's work on top of that is quite another.

One Singapore employee says he is at his wits' end with a manager he calls “toxic” and "useless,” claiming her main contributions are only “Claude decks and gossip” while the rest of the team does the actual work.

In a post on the r/singaporejobs subreddit, the employee complained that his manager regularly forgets things and interrupts meetings and presentations to make irrelevant comments, apparently without knowing what her own team is working on.

“She always criticises other people's outputs... she has something bad to say about every previous executive and intern, but it never occurs to her to wonder why her turnover rate is so high. Please, lah, you can't even do intern-level work. 8 years working at this company—everything is still damn messy.” 

He also claimed that she was hardly ever in the office, regularly turned up late because she refused to take public transport, and bragged about spending S$1,600 a month on Grab rides.

Apparently, other colleagues have noticed her absence too.

“Obviously, people have eyes and can notice that she's never around. I think they feel sorry for our team and invite us to give our presentations to them instead,” he said.

For all his complaints, though, the employee cannot simply tell his boss what he thinks and walk away. His contract runs until December, and he is worried about needing her recommendation when applying for his next job.

“I have pushed back against her on a few occasions when she makes stupid decisions, but I don't want to push my luck. I probably still need her recommendation for my next job... I am on good terms with my previous managers but I paiseh to go back (normally HR asks for recommendation from the most recent manager, right?)”

At the end of his post, he asked if others had dealt with similar managers before.

‘Do not ever list her as a reference’

In the comments, other users shared stories of managers who had tested their patience too.

One recalled a former boss who offered to help employees in front of everyone, only to admit privately that the promise was all for show.

“My ex-manager used to tell me that I could go to her anytime for any problem at work. When I really did, she told me that she told this in front of everyone just to make herself look good. She said she is not going to help me with anything. When I asked her about a work issue, she said she had no idea how to solve it and told me to find a solution on my own.”

Another shared that they once worked with a manager who falsely claimed they “knew everything.”

“I had one that claimed to know everything but couldn’t do [stuff]. Not to mention her understanding of terminology is so warped that she tried to gaslight everyone, saying that she was right when it was obviously wrong. Oh, and blame the wrongs on everyone else when she approved it!”

A third user recalled working under a manager who became angry when pressed for answers.

“I was new. The manager was oddly avoiding most of my questions or only replying after hours. Found out later; she replies after hours to her whole team. Anyway, she can’t answer most of my questions and will get angry when I ask. I realised it’s because she’s blur and doesn’t know the answer.”

Meanwhile, a fourth user urged the post author not to list his manager as a reference.

“Do not ever list her as a reference for your next job,” they wrote, before adding: “Half of the managers who worked for us were toxic. The worst one was a narcissist who treated everyone well except his own team. He bragged about himself, terrorised us, and kept gaslighting us—e.g., said how lousy we were, said how people were complaining about us—and gossiped and spread lies behind our backs to turn everyone against us.”

Read also: ‘I let my struggles become an excuse’: Singaporean man regrets taking ex-girlfriend for granted