Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant™ (TOT): How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job

Chapter 1. Bragging

About Bragging

Now your Terrible Office Tyrant (TOT) saunters in with Big TOT (his boss), and, the CEO. You can't believe your ears. In under 30 seconds, your TOT has taken credit for the reduced budget, the slide presentation you slaved over, the office's pristine look, and—oh no, he didn't—your snickerdoodles?

Before you can register your disbelief (or even introduce yourself to the CEO), your glory hog TOT has planted the big boss in his office—and snagged all of the treats to boot. During the closed-door session, you hear phrases like: "When I saw we could cut ..." and "Then I thought of an amazing, much cheaper way to achieve ...," punctuated by loud praise from the CEO, "Excellent! You are running a tight ship."

By the time they emerge to go eat sushi, it's hard to believe you even exist. Your boss has taken credit for everything. In fact, he's painted himself to be the only functioning asset in the office.

"Yikes," you think, "He'll claim he invented the Internet by the end of lunch."

But Why?

What just happened here? You realized that your boss is either the Most Powerful Man in the Universe—or the Biggest Hype in Town. When it was showtime at your office, your boss blew his own horn—at everyone else's expense.

Self-promoting TOTs are everywhere. It's a common trait in the working world, especially when the need to sell goes into overdrive. Talking yourself up ...